Fatal dilemma

On the night of December 9, 1981, around 3.55:XNUMX a.m., police officer Daniel Faulkner stopped the car of William Cook, an African American, on Philadelphia's Locust Street for illegal driving. An argument between the two ensued, and after less than a minute, William's older brother Mumia Abu Jamal (then Wesley Cook), working as a taxi driver, and seeing his brother in trouble, stopped the taxi in a nearby parking lot and got out of the vehicle. A few minutes later, dozens of policemen arrive at the scene of the fight and find a dead colleague, Faulkner, shot in the head and back, in the lung area, and Mumia, who is wounded and sitting a few meters away, shot in the chest by a policeman's gun.

Jamal was sentenced to death, and has been in prison for twenty years awaiting its execution. Seven years ago, a big campaign to review his case began: flyers, brochures, leaflets were printed, pro-Mumija websites, bands were set up. Rage Against The Special, beastie Boys, Chumbawamba organize concerts raising money for the release of Abu Jamal, and several organizations dealing with the issue of human rights, including Amnesty International, are investigating his case. Support and moral strength are sent to him by Nelson Mandela, Harry Belafonte, Susan Sarandon, Sting, Paul Newman, Naomi Campbell, Danny Glover, Martin Luther King III, members of the European Parliament (mostly English) and Rubin Hurricane Carter, a famous boxer and former unjustly convicted prisoner. , which was released after years of protests, and whose case was recently made into a Hollywood romance version of the story, the movie Hurricane (content: maybe sometimes we make mistakes, so an innocent man spends 20 years in prison, but thanks to good people everything is sometimes corrected).

PREHISTORY: At a time of great racial tensions in Philadelphia, in the 15s, the politically aware 25-year-old Mumia begins a journalistic career in the Black Panther Party as the party's minister of information. After their breakup, he switched to radio and at the age of XNUMX he was already an established journalist, extremely popular at the local level. He is the president of the Association of Black Journalists of Philadelphia and the recipient of the prestigious award Peabody awards. He does not renounce radical writing about the struggle for black rights, and at that time he was close to black women Move movement, and the FBI puts him "under the measure" in the framework Cointelpro program, which, as recently revealed by the release of his 700-page censored file, has followed Jamal's work since the Black Panthers. Abu Jamal was classified by the feds as an "armed and extremely dangerous" radical black man, even though he had no criminal record or committed any illegal act. The measures against Jamal only stopped in 1990 (after eight years of his imprisonment).

In the court case of Abu Jamal, several things are in dispute that point to a politically colored and discriminatory process: witness statements, the selection of a judge, the work of the public defender, failure to take a paraffin glove, ballistic contradictions, an alleged confession of a committed crime, manipulation of Jamal's political statements from high school, inconsistency the caliber of the bullet used to kill Faulkner (caliber 33) and the caliber of the gun that Mumia legally possessed and which was found not far from the scene of the crime (caliber 44) . This generally poorly conducted court process, a large number of unexplained facts, disputed testimonies and other irregularities did not meet even the minimum of international standards that guarantee the accused's right to a fair trial.

PROMISING DEVELOPMENT: Immediately after the crime, the policemen take the wounded and accidentally additionally injured Mumia to the hospital, where he is surrounded by policemen under round-the-clock surveillance. As soon as he recovered a little, the case was processed expeditiously, the trial ended and the authorities chose Albert F. Sabo as the chief judge, known for his black record in the history of the American judiciary - in 14 years of work he sentenced 31 people to the death penalty (of that number, only two whites ).

Judge Albert seemed to be more interested in the speed of the trial itself than in seeing all the relevant facts related to the case, which he confirmed with one of the many statements during the trial: "I don't want to be held back by petty technicalities." What do I care?" He flatly rejected Jamal's request, even though Pennsylvania state law knows such a practice that John Africa is among the defense counsel, and he is not even allowed to represent himself in the process.

Out of a large number of eyewitnesses, only three people appeared in court (Cynthia White, Robert Chobert and Mark Scanlan) who testified that Mumia ran up to Faulkner, shot him in the back, and then, when Faulkner fell to the pavement, fired shots into his the head. None of them confirmed that Faulkner was the shooter, even when they were specifically asked to do so at the trial.

Due to the lack of financial resources, the defense did not examine a large number of eyewitnesses who saw the crime that night. William Cook, the brother of the convicted Mumjie and the main eyewitness, did not testify for either side in the trial, but was tried as an accomplice. In addition to his statement to the police on the night of the murder, he made another statement in 1995, this time to Abu Jamal's legal representatives. Neither statement is available to the public. Allegedly, out of fear of the police and possible imprisonment, if they brought him back into contact with his brother and found him guilty of complicity, he did not appear at the subsequent hearings.

Maureen Faulkner, the widow of the murdered police officer, tried to forget her husband's murder, and then Mumia Abu Jamal's image began to be printed on books, T-shirts, banners, and in newspapers. That's when she decided to start her crusade, reasoning "if they have the right to protest for the release of a murderer, I have the right to protest against them." When he learns about the protests of the opposite camp, he takes Danny's picture and flies a plane to the meeting place (he has been piloting for years), and tells his version of the case. Danny's colleagues also oppose a new trial for Jamal. Richard Costello, president of the Philadelphia Police Brotherhood, told Channel 10: "If somebody doesn't like this, they can join him (Jamal). We will bring out an electric chair, and we will make an electric couch."

The federal court granted a new trial, and on August 17 of this year, Mumia appeared before the Pennsylvania state court again. The reason for the new search is the new facts, and the signed statement of Arnold Beverly, in which he admits to the murder of police officer Faulkner. The American justice system already has experience with the "fatal error"; between 1973 and 1999, 84 death row inmates were released after a judicial review. It's time to find out the truth about who killed Faulkner, not repeat it fatal error and for a life to be taken just because of different political views and the wrong color of the skin. If the Mummy is proven innocent, his story could be another great script for a Hollywood movie.