Audio interviews on new Mumia crime scene photos
May 24, 2007 Infoshop News
AUDIO & PRESS RELEASE: New Mumia Abu-Jamal crime scene photos unveiled for
the first time in the United States, during the week of Abu-Jamal's May 17
oral arguments at the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
AUDIO FROM MICHAEL SCHIFFMANN'S MAY 18 PRESENTATION, WHERE HE IS JOINED BY
LINN WASHINGTON, JR. :
Note: refer to Abu-Jamal-News.
that Schiffmann refers to in his presentation
("Right click" on the link and "save link as" to download directly to your
laptop, or otherwise, listen directly from Abu-Jamal-News.
clicking")
----LISTEN TO THE COMPLETE 1HR., 28 MIN., FULL LENGTH VERSION:
http://www.abu-
----LISTEN TO THE SEPARATE CHAPTERS:
1) Linn Washington, Jr. on the Philly media's racist bias against Abu-Jamal:
http://www.abu-
2) Michael Schiffmann presents (part one):
http://www.abu-
3) Michael Schiffmann presents (part two) and begins to talk about Pedro
Polakoff's new crime scene photos:
http://www.abu-
4) Question: "Testing" Abu-Jamal's gun:
http://www.abu-
5) Question: The Missing Witnesses:
http://www.abu-
6) Question: What Happened to Kenneth Freeman and Cynthia White? Linn
Washington, Jr. details how the same person (eventually fired for making
false death certificates) wrote the mysterious death certificates for both
Freeman and White:
http://www.abu-
7) Question: What Other Cases Show:
http://www.abu-
8) Question: Where Was Robert Chobert and What Did He Tell Police?
http://www.abu-
9) Question: Getting the Facts Out to the Public:
http://www.abu-
10) Question: The Media's "Response" to the New Crime Scene Photos:
http://www.abu-
11) Question: Linn Washington, Jr, Reflects on Watching the May 17 Oral
Arguments:
http://www.abu-
12) Question: The Three Judges Deciding on Abu-Jamal's Case:
http://www.abu-
****PLEASE SHARE WITH YOUR FAVORITE MEDIA OUTLETS****
PRESS RELEASE: New Mumia Abu-Jamal crime scene photos unveiled for the first
time in the United States, during the week of Abu-Jamal's May 17 oral
arguments at the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
View the photos at: Abu-Jamal-News.
Speaking in Philadelphia on Friday, May 18, German author, Dr. Michael
Schiffmann presented findings from his new book (not yet published in the
US) "Race Against Death. Mumia Abu-Jamal: a Black Revolutionary in White
America," an expansion of Schiffmann's PhD dissertation at the University of
Heidelberg, just released in Germany. Professor Michael Schiffmann traveled
from Germany to Philadelphia to observe Abu-Jamal's May 17 oral arguments
before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
Along with original ballistics analysis, Schiffmann unveiled explosive new
crime scene photos from the morning of December 9, 1981, taken by press
photographer Pedro P. Polakoff, III.
In 1982, Abu-Jamal was convicted of killing Philadelphia police officer
Daniel Faulkner and sentenced to death in a trial that Amnesty International
has declared a "violation of minimum international standards that govern
fair trial procedures and the use of the death penalty."
Below are quotes about the crime scene photos from Robert R. Bryan, Linn
Washington, Jr., and Dave Lindorff.
ROBERT R. BRYAN
The newly discovered photographs reveal the fact that the police were
actively manipulating evidence at the homicide scene. For example, their
moving the police officer's hat from the roof of Billy Cook's vehicle to the
sidewalk to make the scene more emotionally dramatic was fraudulent and
criminal. It was as if they were setting up a scene, putting in props for a
movie to be shot. That is incredible.
Further, the incompetent manner in which the police at the scene dealt with
the evidence is mind-boggling. You would expect better from cops in some
little town in Alabama or Mississippi, than what we see in this case in
Philadelphia. The most stunning example was the photograph in which one sees
Police Officer James Forbes holding both pistols found at the scene in one
hand, bare-handed! This is unthinkable. A nitwit could do better. Why were
there no fingerprint tests? Why no ballistic examinations? It reminds me of
a scene from "The Keystone Cops," the way the evidence was being handled and
manipulated, except this was not funny. The fraud and incompetence of the
police had very tragic consequences for my client. Today Mumia Abu-Jamal
continues to sit on Pennsylvania'
Mumia was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death. The police and
prosecution trampled upon his constitutional rights. It is disgusting and
shameful, as I pointed out on May 17 to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Third Circuit.
My goal is to win a new trial and walk Mumia Abu-Jamal out of that courtroom
a free person. I want an acquittal, so that my client can go home to his
wife and family.
--Robert R. Bryan is the lead attorney for Mumia Abu-Jamal. He can be
contacted via email: RobertRBryan@
LINN WASHINGTON, JR.
This series of photographs damage the prosecution'
because they graphically show police tampering with and manipulating the
crime scene...which is totally improper. Of particular significance is the
fact that these photographs provide graphic evidence contradicting the core
of the case against Abu-Jamal. The account of Abu-Jamal firing at the fallen
officer is shown to be false because there are no bullet holes and/or
embedded bullets consistent with the physics of this account. Further,
claims that the eyewitness cab driver, Robert Chobert, was parked behind the
officer's car are also shown false because there is no cab in any of the
photos.
Given the ole "picture-is-
surprising that the prosecutor repeatedly rejected this photographer'
offers of assistance because his photos expose the structural flaws in the
case presented in court against Abu-Jamal. These photos provide additional
evidence that the jury did not consider all of the available evidence due to
misconduct by police and prosecutors. This misconduct fuels demands for a
fair trial in this case.
Sadly, this newly rediscovered photographic evidence has yet to stimulate
interest in mainstream media...showing once again how this supposed
information seeking institution shirks its ethical duties in the Abu-Jamal
case to "seek truth and report it."
--Linn Washington, Jr. is a veteran Philadelphia journalist who has been
covering the Abu-Jamal case for over 25 years. He is a columnist for The
Philadelphia Tribune newspaper and an Associate Professor of Journalism at
Temple University.
DAVE LINDORFF
I've seen these photos. They are explosive.
Of course, the key at this point is getting Mumia Abu-Jamal a new trial, so
that all this incredible evidence can come out. Clearly, if there is a new
trial, there would be a quite different verdict.
If there is not a new trial, then of course, the new evidence will have to
be used in an effort to reopen the case at the state level.
--Dave Lindorff is the author of "Killing Time: An Investigation into the
Death Penalty Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal"
SUMMARY OF FACTS FROM DR. MICHAEL SCHIFFMANN'S NEW GERMAN BOOK "RACE AGAINST
DEATH."
In May, 2006, Schiffmann discovered two photographs on the Internet that
were taken by the only press photographer immediately present at the 1981
crime scene - Pedro P. Polakoff, III. Polakoff arrived within 12 minutes of
hearing about the shooting on the police radio and about ten minutes before
the Mobile Crime Unit (responsible for forensics and photographs) arrived.
According to Polakoff, this unit had still not taken any photos when
Polakoff left after 30-45 minutes at the scene.
Upon contacting Polakoff, Schiffmann learned that three of his 31 original
shots were published in Philadelphia newspapers at the time, and five others
were lost. Schiffmann told me that he "published five of the 26 remaining
photos to show the following three points:
1) "The cops manipulated evidence and supplied the trial court with stuff
that was simply stage-managed. On Polakoff's photos, P.O. Faulkner's police
hat at first is clearly on the roof of Billy Cook's VW, and only later on
the sidewalk in front of 1234 Locust where it was photographed by the police
photographer who arrived 10 minutes after Polakoff!
2) "In court Police Officer James Forbes claimed that he had 'secured' the
weapons of both Faulkner and Abu-Jamal without touching them on their metal
parts in order to not destroy potential fingerprints. However, in the single
photo reprinted in the book you can see that Forbes is touching the weapons
on their metal parts, and quite a few of Polakoff's other photos make it
clear that Forbes touched and smudged these weapons all over, destroying any
potential fingerprint evidence that may have been on them.
3) "The second-most important prosecution witness, cab driver Robert
Chobert, simply was not parked in the spot, allegedly right behind Officer
Faulkner's police squad car, where he claimed to have been and from where he
claimed to have observed Abu-Jamal fire the shot that killed the officer."
Polakoff's observations don't stop there. Schiffmann writes in Race:
"According to Polakoff, at that time all the officers present expressed the
firm conviction that Abu-Jamal had been the passenger in Billy Cook's VW and
had fired and killed Faulkner by a single shot fired from the passenger seat
of the car."
"Polakoff further reports that this opinion on the part of the police about
what had happened was apparently based on the testimony of three witnesses
who were still present at the crime scene, namely, by the parking lot
attendant in charge of the parking lot on the Northern side of Locust
Street, by a drug addicted woman apparently acquainted with the parking lot
attendant, and another woman. As Polakoff later heard from colleagues in the
media, the parking lot attendant had disappeared the day after, while the
drug-addicted witness died a couple of days later from an overdose. Whatever
it was that these witnesses saw or did not see, we will probably never know
- the interesting fact in any case is that neither of them ever appeared in
any report presented by the police or the prosecution.
Polakoff told Schiffmann that he was simply ignored when he repeatedly
contacted the DA's office to give them his account--and his photos--of the
crime scene.
AUDIO FROM MICHAEL SCHIFFMANN'S MAY 18 PRESENTATION, WHERE HE IS JOINED BY
LINN WASHINGTON, JR. :
Note: refer to Abu-Jamal-News.
that Schiffmann refers to in his presentation
("Right click" on the link and "save link as" to download directly to your
laptop, or otherwise, listen directly from Abu-Jamal-News.
clicking")
----LISTEN TO THE COMPLETE 1HR., 28 MIN., FULL LENGTH VERSION:
http://www.abu-
----LISTEN TO THE SEPARATE CHAPTERS:
1) Linn Washington, Jr. on the Philly media's racist bias against Abu-Jamal:
http://www.abu-
2) Michael Schiffmann presents (part one):
http://www.abu-
3) Michael Schiffmann presents (part two) and begins to talk about Pedro
Polakoff's new crime scene photos:
http://www.abu-
4) Question: "Testing" Abu-Jamal's gun:
http://www.abu-
5) Question: The Missing Witnesses:
http://www.abu-
6) Question: What Happened to Kenneth Freeman and Cynthia White? Linn
Washington, Jr. details how the same person (eventually fired for making
false death certificates) wrote the mysterious death certificates for both
Freeman and White:
http://www.abu-
7) Question: What Other Cases Show:
http://www.abu-
8) Question: Where Was Robert Chobert and What Did He Tell Police?
http://www.abu-
9) Question: Getting the Facts Out to the Public:
http://www.abu-
10) Question: The Media's "Response" to the New Crime Scene Photos:
http://www.abu-
11) Question: Linn Washington, Jr, Reflects on Watching the May 17 Oral
Arguments:
http://www.abu-
12) Question: The Three Judges Deciding on Abu-Jamal's Case:
http://www.abu-
------------
--This press release is from Abu-Jamal News. For more, contact co-founder
Hans Bennett, whose email is:
hbjournalist@
To read the complete summary of Schiffmann's findings:
http://abu-jamal-
To read a summary of the four issues currently before the Third Circuit
Court of Appeals:
http://abu-jamal-
0The%20Four%
---
Source : Infoshop News
http://www.infoshop
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