Mumia Abu-Jamal
-
- Von: "MUMIA ABU-JAMAL" <>
- Betreff: !*U.S. Court Sends
- Back
Abu-Jamal DP Case
- Datum: Dienstag, 19. Januar 2010 18:52
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- From: Freedom Archives
-
- ======================
- U.S. court sends back Abu-Jamal death
penalty case
-
- James Vicini
- WASHINGTON
- Tue Jan 19, 2010 10:53am EST
- http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60I3GL20100119
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- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S.
Supreme Court on Tuesday granted an appeal by prosecutors
and set aside a ruling that invalidated the death
sentence of black political activist Mumia Abu-Jamal for
the 1981 murder of a Philadelphia police officer.
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- His case has become a prominent cause
for many death penalty opponents.
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- In a brief order, the Supreme Court
sent the case back to a U.S. appeals court based in
Philadelphia for further consideration in view of the
high court's recent decision in an Ohio case that had
raised similar issues.
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- The Supreme Court in the Ohio case
unanimously reinstated the death sentence of a neo-Nazi
convicted of murdering three men. The court's action,
which was not a ruling on the merits of the case, could
lead to Abu-Jamal's death sentence being reinstated, too.
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- The appeals court had ruled that
Abu-Jamal, 55, deserved a new sentencing hearing because
of flawed jury instructions.
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- Abu-Jamal, a former member of the
Black Panthers militant group, was convicted and
sentenced to death in 1982 for murdering white
Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner in an early
morning confrontation on December 9, 1981.
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- The officer was shot after stopping
Abu-Jamal's brother for driving the wrong way down a
Philadelphia street. Abu-Jamal, a former radio reporter
who was arrested at the scene, has maintained his
innocence.
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- Abu-Jamal's jailhouse writings about
the justice system have drawn the attention of many
people around the world. His case attracted the support
of many death penalty opponents, foreign political
leaders and Hollywood celebrities.
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- The flaw in the jury instructions
related to whether the jurors understood how to weigh
mitigating circumstances that could have resulted in a
sentence other than the death penalty. Under the law,
jurors did not have to agree unanimously on the
mitigating circumstances.
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- Prosecutors appealed to the Supreme
Court the part of the appeals court decision that
invalidated Abu-Jamal's death sentence. The Supreme Court
last year let stand the part of the decision that upheld
Abu-Jamal's murder conviction.
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- (Editing by Will Dunham)
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