Abu-Jamal's conviction upheld, death sentence questioned

COLLEGE KIDS march with his face on placards, chanting a mantra that has been oft-repeated throughout the world: "Free Mumia!"

Celebrities use their clout to demand his freedom and to raise money for his legal defense. Activists strive to make the name Mumia synonymous with racism in the criminal-justice system.

But others insist that Mumia Abu-Jamal is not the martyr supporters have tried to make him.

Instead, they say, he's a manipulative, cold-blooded cop-killer who used his talents as a radio reporter and his resume as a black activist to hoodwink his ill-informed backers into proclaiming his innocence.

Yesterday, in a decision that drew cheers and jeers from both sides, a federal appeals court agreed that Abu-Jamal did murder Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner on Dec. 9, 1981.

But while a three-judge panel for the Third Circuit upheld Abu-Jamal's 1982 conviction, the judges also refused to reinstate Abu-Jamal's death penalty, which had been overturned by a federal district judge here in 2001.

Abu-Jamal, 53, remains on death row at the state prison in western Pennsylvania's Greene County.

At a news conference yesterday, Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham applauded the Third Circuit's decision, but said she expects the case to be a continuing saga.

"The Third Circuit has finally decided in its wisdom . . . that Mr. Jamal was guilty when he was convicted and he's still guilty today," Abraham said, flanked by former Assistant District Attorney Joseph McGill, who prosecuted the case; Assistant District Attorney Hugh Burns Jr., chief of the D.A.'s appeals unit, and others.

Abraham said her office would assess its next step based on what the defense does.

But she flatly rejected the idea that the D.A.'s Office would allow Abu-Jamal's sentence to be commuted to life in prison.

"This assassination has been made a circus by those people in the world and in the city who believe falsely that Mumia Abu-Jamal was some kind of a folk hero," she said. "He's nothing short of an assassin. He's no more a hero than any other terrible killer in the history of this world is a hero. He is just a petty criminal. . . . "

Meanwhile, the ruling left others frustrated, and with mixed feelings.

"I want Mumia free and we're not resting until he is," said Robert Bryan, Abu-Jamal's San Francisco-based attorney. "He is not guilty of murder."

Bryan pledged to ask for a rehearing before all of the Third Circuit judges.

Maureen Faulkner, the officer's widow, called the ruling "generally a victory."

"I have to look at the big picture, and that is that Mumia Abu-Jamal will never get out of jail," said Faulkner, who now lives in California. "The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld his conviction. Everything the defense has brought forth has been confirmed as false, misinformation and untrue."

But she also said she agreed with radio talk-show host Michael Smerconish, with whom she co-wrote a book last year about the case and who said yesterday: "If there's a worse crime than murdering a police officer in the line of duty, then I'm not aware of it. And if the system is not going to have the courage to impose the death penalty in this case, then the system is a joke."

Abu-Jamal, who is black, has argued that his conviction was tainted and that he should get a new trial because prosecutors deliberately used challenges to keep blacks off his jury. Two of the jurors were black.

The one-time radio reporter, cabbie and Black Panther activist and MOVE sympathizer also argued that the jury instructions and verdict form in the sentencing phase of his case had been defective.

In yesterday's 77-page decision, the court rejected his plea for a new trial but agreed that the jury's instructions and verdict form were flawed.

Bryan, who has represented Abu-Jamal since 2005, said he spoke with Abu-Jamal for about 15 minutes yesterday afternoon.

He said Abu-Jamal had accepted the news "with humility" but was "disappointed" that the murder conviction hadn't been overturned. "He made a comment that 'the struggle continues,' " Bryan said, adding that Abu-Jamal's main concern has always been that his case will help other inmates on death row.

Bryan said he was heartened by a 41-page dissent by Judge Thomas L. Ambro.

Ambro said Abu-Jamal should also have gotten a hearing on whether race was "impermissibly considered" during jury selection.

Had either of the two other judges agreed, it could have opened the door to a new trial.

But Bryan said Ambro's dissent makes the case "ripe" for further appeal. If the Third Circuit rejects his appeal for a rehearing, Bryan vowed to take his plea to the Supreme Court.

Third Circuit Chief Judge Anthony J. Scirica said that the jury instructions and verdict form were "misleading" as to whether jurors had to vote unanimously on mitigating circumstances.

But Faulkner's supporters say that opinion shortchanges the intelligence of the jurors who sat on the case.

"They were very intelligent jurors," Maureen Faulkner said, "and if they had any questions regarding the jury form, they would have raised their hands and said: 'We have a question.' "

Meanwhile, one prominent Abu-Jamal supporter derided the appellate court's ruling.

"This is just another plot by the government to make us think we won something," said Pam Africa, MOVE member and spokeswoman for the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal.

"This is not good news. This is not a new trial, but a hearing on the sentencing phase, and all you get out of that hearing is life in prison or execution," Africa said.

Amnesty International echoed Africa's concerns.

"While Amnesty International does not take a position on Mumia Abu-Jamal's guilt or innocence, the organization believes that his original trial was manifestly unfair and failed to meet international fair trial standards. A new trial is the only appropriate way forward," said Larry Cox, the group's executive director.

Over the years, Abu-Jamal has become a cause celebre in many parts of the world, especially in Europe, where he is seen as a political prisoner.

The list of his supporters reads like a who's-who of Hollywood, religious and political bigwigs. It includes Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, Paul Newman, Maya Angelou, Sister Helen Prejean, Danny Glover, the rock group Rage Against the Machine, the Detroit and San Francisco city councils, Amnesty International, Whoopi Goldberg, Spike Lee, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins and Sting.

Faulkner's supporters hope that yesterday's ruling will quiet the Abu-Jamal supporters whom Maureen Faulkner has dubbed "know-nothings."

"I'm thrilled that the federal court has rejected every one of his cockamamie theories proclaiming innocence," Smerconish said. Every one of those claims of new witnesses, or coercion, or frankly, bulls---, has been rejected, and rejected firmly."

John McNesby, president of the Philadephia Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, agreed: "Wesley Cook [Abu-Jamal's given name] is a stone-cold cop-killer. And as a cop, I absolutely believe he should face the death penalty. Danny [Faulkner] paid the ultimate sacrifice for the citizens of Philadelphia, and we never forget that." *