Policeman's widow seeks execution of Abu Jamal
Dec. 8, 2007 (2 articles)
Policeman's widow seeks execution of Abu Jamal
By Jon Hurdle, Reuters
PHILADELPHIA - More than a quarter century after the murder of her policeman
husband, Maureen Faulkner wants the man convicted of the crime executed.
"If he is put to death, I would be able to have a normal life," said the
widow, whose husband, Daniel Faulkner, was killed on December 9, 1981.
Mumia Abu Jamal, a black former radio journalist and taxi driver, has been
on death row in a Pennsylvania prison since his 1982 conviction of killing
Faulkner, who was white.
Abu Jamal says he's innocent, and his supporters have turned him into an
international cause celebre for the anti-death penalty movement.
But the years of legal wrangling have failed either to exonerate him or
bring closure to Faulkner's widow. She has written a book, "Murdered by
Mumia," to make her case.
"I want to live a normal life and I have not been able to for the last 26
years," Faulkner said in an interview.
"That's why I wrote this book, so people can read the truth of what happened
when my husband was murdered," she said.
Abu Jamal's supporters say he deserves a new trial on the grounds that his
first trial was tainted by too few blacks on the jury and by a judge, the
late Albert Sabo, who was heard by a court reporter to say, "Yeah, and I'm
going to help 'em fry the nigger."
Faulkner, 51, said she is tormented by the high media profile of Abu Jamal,
who writes and broadcasts from his prison cell, and what she says is
abusive, threatening behavior of his supporters toward her.
"I have been vilified, spit upon, cursed at, chased down the street,
screamed at," Faulkner said. "They held their fingers like they were
shooting me, like there was a gun."
Abu Jamal's lawyers are seeking a new trial on grounds his first was tainted
by racism. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia could rule
on the request at any time.
Faulkner said Abu Jamal's supporters, who include South African Archbishop
Desmond Tutu, the European Parliament and Amnesty International, have been
deceived into believing he deserves a new trial.
"Tell a lie, tell it big enough, tell it often enough, and it becomes
truth," she said, citing a quote attributed to Nazi propagandist Josef
Goebbels.
Faulkner called for the U.S. justice system to be streamlined to trim the
number of appeals available.
"If someone is convicted of murder, and a jury of 12 find him guilty, and
put him on death row and the post-conviction relief act hearings -- have all
shown beyond a shadow of a doubt that Mumia Abu Jamal murdered my husband, I
think that justice should be carried out," Faulkner said.
---
Source : Reuters
http://www.reuters.
***
December 8 / 9, 2007
A Flurry of New Projects on Mumia Abu-Jamal's Case
Spotlight on Death Row
By LINN WASHINGTON, Jr., CounterPunch
In the storied history of Philadelphia few events match the controversial
case of death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal for generating creative projects
across the globe.
This 26-year-old case is the subject of a new round of projects from
feature-length films by Philly-based producers to a bevy of books about
Abu-Jamal authored from Chicago to Paris.
This flurry of creative projects coincides with the release of new evidence
contradicting core elements of the highly disputed prosecution case that
placed Abu-Jamal on death row.
This new evidence is previously unseen crime scene photos from the December
9, 1981 murder of Philadelphia policeman Daniel Faulkner.
The photos show investigating police tampering with the crime scene,
including failing to properly secure key evidence and manipulating other
evidence.
These photos, taken by a photojournalist before police crime scene
photographers arrived, also graphically highlight inaccuracies in ballistic
and eyewitness evidence presented at trial against Abu-Jamal.
These photos, for example, show no bullet holes in the sidewalk where
prosecutors told jurors Abu-Jamal stood over Faulkner firing multiple shots
before shooting the policeman once between the eyes.
"We are making the point that at minimum, [Abu-Jamal] needs a new trial,"
said Hans Bennett, co-founder of Journalists for Mumia, a Philadelphia-
support that sponsored a 12/4/07 press conference publicizing the photos.
A new book presenting the 'anguish and grief' of Faulkner's widow - Maureen
-received feature treatment recently in the Philadelphia Inquirer, that
city's largest daily newspaper.
Beginning on 12/2/07, the Inquirer ran three excerpts from this book
presenting Faulkner's story entitled "Murdered by Mumia: A Life Sentence of
Pain, Loss and Injustice."
This book is co-authored by Michael Smerconish, a right-wing talk radio host
and media personality in Philadelphia, who also writes a weekly column for
the Inquirer.
The three excerpted chapters carried a common theme raised repeatedly by
Mrs. Faulkner: Abu-Jamal is a cold-blooded killer and his "misguided
supporters.perpetua
system."
Those crime scene photos took center stage during a 12/6/07 NBC Today Show
interview with Faulkner and Smerconish that served as the national launch of
the "Murdered By" book.
The mere asking of a few probing questions by Today Show co-host Matt Lauer
about those photos and other irregularities surrounding the case outraged
Faulkner and Smerconish, a source close to this pair said.
Hours after that Today Show interview, a website connected with the
conservative Media Research Center blasted Lauer for taking "up the cause of
the convicted cop killer [by asking] skeptical questions.about the
legitimacy of Abu-Jamal's guilt."
But questioning all sides of an issue is what fair-&-balanced journalists
are supposed to do, reminded news media expert Dr. Todd Burroughs, who
teaches Communications Studies at Morgan State University in Baltimore.
"It was good to see Faulkner and Smerconish finally being asked some
critical questions about the legitimacy of Abu-Jamal's trial and all of the
evidence that points to a set-up," said Burroughs, who is writing a
journalistic biography on Abu-Jamal.
Mrs. Faulkner questioned why the photos took 26-years to surface when
responding to a question from Lauer - inferring an illegitimacy to these
photographs.
However, allies of Faulkner are largely responsible for the delay in the
photos surfacing.
The photojournalist who took these photos had offered them to Philadelphia
prosecutors in 1981 and during a 1995 appeal hearing for Abu-Jamal.
Failure of prosecutors to reply caused the photojournalist to think the
photos had no value.
Given the case-challenging nature of these photos, prosecutors had good
reason to ignore them, said Dr. Michael Schiffmann, who uncovered the
existence of these photographs during his on-going investigations of the
case.
"They didn't want them on account of what they might show: an investigation
that was incredibly sloppy and manipulative,
at the University of Heidelberg in Germany and author of a 2006 book on the
Abu-Jamal case.
Lack of interest in the photos by prosecutors coupled with the failure of
prosecutors to notify the defense of their existence as required by fair
trial procedures, Schiffmann notes, "might be reason alone for a new trial."
Schiffmann included the photos in his book - "Race Against Death."
Those photos are also contained in a critically acclaimed British made film
examining the Abu-Jamal case that premiered simultaneously at respected
international film festivals in London and Rome at the end of October.
The Mayor of Rome hosted the screening in that Italian city of this film
supported by the Noble Prize winning human rights organization, Amnesty
International.
"In Prison My Whole Life" - the first film ever publicly backed by AI - also
includes other startling evidence indicating Abu-Jamal's innocence.
This film focuses on a journey across America to understand this contentious
case by William Francome, a young Englishman born on the day of Abu-Jamal's
arrest: 12/9/81.
Mrs. Faulkner expressed regret to a reporter recently that the Sundance Film
Festival recently selected "In Prison" for its January 2008 screenings.
Francome, in a recent posting to his Myspace page, urged supporters and
opponents of Abu-Jamal to not "lose sight of the fact" that Mrs. Faulkner
"lost" her husband.
"In the course of making this film, I was honored to come across numerous
victim family members who are opposed to the death penalty and fight for its
repeal," Francome stated.
Dr. Schiffmann served as a technical consultant on the "In Prison" film and
is featured in the film during a sequence in Philadelphia where he walks
Francome through the crime scene.
Another creative project comes from Abu-Jamal himself.
The subject of this sixth book by Abu- Jamal is jailhouse lawyers - inmates
who help other inmates prepare legal appeals.
Harold Wilson, released from Pa's death row in November 2005 after 18-years,
credits Abu-Jamal's assistance in helping him prepare appeals.
Ironically, legal elements leading to a new trial for Wilson - prosecutorial
misconduct and ineffective assistance from his trial lawyer - are key
failings in the Abu-Jamal case.
Abu-Jamal's creative output of books and commentaries (print & audio) while
confined in death row cells the size of a small bathroom recently resulted
in his membership into the prestigious PEN, a worldwide human-rights
organization of prominent writers.
"In two decades of knowing each other, I have not seen Mumia so happy," said
Robert R. Bryan, Abu-Jamal's lead attorney about the PEN membership.
Bryan credits support of famed writers like E.L. Doctorow and Alice Walker
for the PEN membership.
Further Bryan is "especially grateful to the kindness" of former PEN
President Salman Rushdie.
"In a quarter of a century of being locked up.Mumia's literary output has
been prodigious," Bryan noted. "He has written five outstanding books that
are published in various languages, and also writes weekly commentaries that
are published and broadcast internationally.
The San Francisco based Bryan described the "In Prison" film as a "superb
movie which does much to expose the many wrongs including racism and
politics that have infected the case from the outset."
The focus of the latest project of Philadelphia-
is the very thing that drives many death penalty proponents crazy: the
phenomenon of the Mumia Abu-Jamal case.
Death penalty proponents bristle at the fact that Philadelphia born
Abu-Jamal garners international support, including many opposed to the death
penalty.
Death penalty proponents castigate demands that Abu-Jamal receive a new
trial from Hollywood celebrities and dignitaries of foreign countries.
South Africa's Bishop Desmond Tutu visited Abu-Jamal in late October, later
issuing a statement saying, "I oppose the death penalty on principle in
every case and I support the pleas for a retrial for Mumia Abu-Jamal."
The under-examined worldwide movement responsible for securing much of the
support of celebrities and dignitaries critical of this death row
journalist's conviction is the subject of Ted Passon's film project.
"Most [projects] focus on the 'whodunit' aspects of the Abu-Jamal case but
there is too little attention to the wider phenomenon, the 25-year People's
Movement surrounding this case," Passon said during a recent interview.
Often overlooked is Philadelphia'
movement - The International Concerned Friends and Family of Mumia Abu-Jamal
led by local activist Pam Africa.
"On paper, the Mumia Movement should not have happened," said Passon, who
grew up in a Philadelphia suburb and first became aware of the case when he
attended a pro-Abu-Jamal rally in the late 90s.
The Movement, Passon said, "had no money, no access to powerful politicians
or the media. The miracle of this Movement is that it has lasted so long."
Maureen Faulkner regularly receives fawning coverage in Philly area media in
contrast to the Mumia Movement that is regularly maligned in Philadelphia.
During the days before the Today Show book launch, Philly media devoted much
coverage to Faulkner while not a single Philadelphia media outlet attended
that Journalist for Mumia press conference presenting the crime scene
photographs.
Only an out of town reporter from the Reuters news service covered that
press event.
Further, Faulkner has the support of prominent politicians (local, state and
federal) and the active backing of police organizations nationwide.
Late last year the US Congress approved a factually flawed Resolution
demanding that the French city of St. Denis rescind its naming of a
block-long street in honor of Abu-Jamal, a measure initiated through the FOP
with the support of Mrs. Faulkner.
Another muscle move for Maureen Faulkner took place in 1994 when
Philadelphia'
support of then US Senator Bob Dole who stopped NPR from broadcasting death
row commentaries by Abu-Jamal.
Passon is one of two Philadelphians working on films about the Mumia
Abu-Jamal case.
The other Philly film project now in-production comes from Tigre Hill, maker
of the well received film on Philadelphia'
a City."
Hill declined comment on his project beyond saying that "this is a topic
with a lot of passion on both sides."
Interestingly, while publicity about Smerconish's book credits this lawyer
for thoroughly scrutinizing the 1982 trial transcripts to bolster his
conviction of Abu-Jamal's guilt, a book awaiting publication utilizes those
same transcripts to reach a different conclusion.
The author of "The Framing of Mumia Abu-Jamal" - J. Patrick O'Connor - once
served as an associate editor for TV Guide when it was headquartered in
suburban Philadelphia.
"As I read and reread the available material.I could see that Abu-Jamal's
trial was a monumental miscarriage of justice," states the introduction of
this book by O'Conner, now living in Chicago where he is editor of an
internet-based crime magazine.
Proceeds from the Faulkner-Smerconish book will be dedicated to a charity
founded by Mrs. Faulkner while French professor Dr. Claude Guillaumaud-
intends to donate proceeds from her September-published biography to
Abu-Jamal defense work.
Guillaumand-
universality" of Abu-Jamal. She emphasizes that her book is "not
anti-American. it shows that we were not born free but that we must fight
for freedom all our life."
While Abu-Jamal detractors demean authors like Dr. Guillaumaud-
pathetically uninformed about the facts of this case, she is an expert on
the US justice system as is German author Schiffmann.
Schiffmann's doctoral thesis is the basis of his book - which presents a
chilling examination of court procedures and physical evidence in the case
plus exploring American law enforcement assaults on the Black Panther Party.
The thesis of Dr. Guillaumaud-
unfair justice in Philadelphia - a city she has repeatedly visited for over
the past decade.
---
Source : CounterPunch (Dave Lindorff, Philly-based author of the seminal
2003 Abu-Jamal book "Killing Time" said the continuing creative interest in
this case arises from a "sore" unique to Philadelphia: deep racism in the
justice system and city at-large. - Lindorff, a frequent contributor to
Counterpunch, feels this case is "emblematic of everything that's wrong with
Philadelphia.
Tribune and a graduate of the Yale Law Journalism Fellowship Program)
http://www.counterp
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