Third Circuit Court of Appeals Rejects En Banc Hearing for Mumia Abu-Jamal

From:    "Political Prisoner News" <ppnews@freedomarchives.org>
Date:    Wed, July 23, 2008

Dear Friends,

We are sending you this legal update from Mumia's attorney, Robert
Bryan, knowing full well how disturbing this news is.  We will be
sending you further analysis, and plans for our continued work very
shortly, and hope to hear your feedback very soon. We already have a
Town Hall Meeting planned for August 9th in Philadelphia.  More on
that later.  But, mainly, we did not want to delay your getting this
news and hearing it for the first time from the mainstream media.
Vicious injustice continues to dominate every branch of this
government and society, the courts being a prime example, and the
attacks on Black revolutionaries never cease.  That is why we fight
back and RESIST!

a luta continua,

Suzanne Ross, for the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition
Date:       July 22, 2008

From:      Robert R. Bryan, lead counsel

Subject:  Federal ruling regarding Mumia Abu-Jamal, death row,
Pennsylvania [please circulate]

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Philadelphia  Today our
Petition for Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc, submitted on behalf of
my client, Mumia Abu-Jamal, was denied by the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Third Circuit.  Simply put, we did not receive the needed
majority vote from the nine sitting judges; at least five votes for a
rehearing were necessary.  However, Justice Thomas L. Ambro continues
to urge the granting of relief on the issue of racism in jury
selection.  That position, as detailed in his brilliant dissenting
opinion of March 27, 2008, will continue to serve as a beacon of hope
as we press on for a new trial and Mumia's freedom.  Judge Ambro said
that the "core guarantee of equal protection, ensuring citizens that
their State will not discriminate on account of race, would be
meaningless were we to approve the exclusion of jurors on the basis
of . . . race. . . . I respectfully dissent."  A copy of today's
decision is attached.

Reaction  Mumia and I had a legal conference this afternoon.  He, as
I, was stunned by the federal court's refusal to grant relief since
it flies in the face of established legal precedent in both the U.S.
Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court.  I am furious because
racism continues to raise its ugly head in this country, and should
have no place in our legal system.  The indisputable facts are that
the prosecutor engaged in racism in selecting the jury in this case,
and that bigotry lingers today in Philadelphia.  It would be naive
not to realize that this case continues to reek of politics and
injustice.

U.S. Supreme Court  We will be seeking relief in the Supreme Court.
The Petition for Writ of Certiorari will be filed by October 20,
2008, unless there is an extension.  The racism issue will be
presented, along with the fact that the prosecutor made
misrepresentations to the jury in order to obtain a murder conviction
against Mumia.

Conclusion  My goal remains a complete reversal of the conviction,
even though the federal court has already granted a new jury trial on
the question of the death penalty.  We will not rest until Mumia is
free.

Yours very truly,


Robert R. Bryan

Law Offices of Robert R. Bryan

2088 Union Street, Suite 4

San Francisco, California 94123-4117

Lead counsel for Mumia Abu-Jamal

[RobertRBryan@aol.com]


*As to panel rehearing only.
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
Nos. 01-9014 & 02-9001
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL,
a/k/a WESLEY COOK
Mumia Abu-Jamal,
Appellant at No 02-9001
v.
MARTIN HORN,
PENNSYLVANIA DIRECTOR OF CORRECTIONS;
CONNER BLAINE, SUPERINTENDENT, SCI GREENE;
DISTRICT ATTORNEY FOR PHILADELPHIA COUNTY;
THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE
STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA,
Appellants at No. 01-9014
(D.C. Civ. No. 99-cv-5089)
SUR PETITION FOR REHEARING
Present: SCIRICA, Chief Judge,
SLOVITER, BARRY, AMBRO, FUENTES, SMITH,
CHAGARES, JORDAN, HARDIMAN and COWEN*, Circuit Judges.
The petition for rehearing filed by appellee/cross-appellant Mumia
Abu-Jamal in the above-entitled case having been submitted to the judges who participated in the decision of this Court and to all the other available circuit judges of the circuit in regular
2
active service, and no judge who concurred in the decision having asked for rehearing, and a majority of the circuit judges of the circuit in regular
service not having voted for rehearing, the petition for rehearing by the panel and the Court en
banc, is denied. Judge Ambro would grant rehearing en banc.
BY THE COURT,
/s/ Anthony J. Scirica
Chief Judge
Dated: July 22, 2008
CMD/cc: Robert R. Bryan, Esq.
Judith L. Ritter, Esq.
Hugh J. Burns, Jr., Esq.
Ronald Eisenberg, Esq.
Christina Swarns, Esq.
Jill Elijah, Esq.


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