Mumia Abu-Jamal

Von: < RobertRBryan@aol.com >
Betreff: Mumia Abu-Jamal -
Legal Update on
U.S. Supreme Court [please circulate]
Datum: Montag, 20. Oktober 2008 07:07
 
Legal Update
 
 
Date: October 18, 2008
From: Robert R. Bryan, lead counsel, San Francisco
Subject: U.S. Supreme Court developments concerning Mumia Abu-Jamal, death
row
 
U.S. Supreme Court There are new developments in the case of my client,
Mumia Abu-Jamal, who is on Pennsylvania's death row, that are the most
significant and deadly since his 1981 arrest. The prosecution has advised the Supreme
Court that it is seeking reversal of the federal decision which ordered a
new jury trial on the question of the death penalty. Earlier I made an
appearance in the court on our ongoing effort to win an entirely new jury trial on
the issue of innocence, so that Mumia can be freed.
 
We are now at the crossroads of the case. This is a life and death struggle
in the fight for Mumia’s freedom. His life hangs in the balance.
 
Personal Translater 2008-Tanslation:
 
Oberstes US-Gericht:
Es gibt neue Entwicklungen im Falle meines Klienten, Mumia Abu Jamal, der in
Pennsylvania in der Todeszelle sitzt, die die bedeutsamsten und tödlichsten seit
seiner Verhaftung 1981 sind. Die Anklage hat dem Obersten Gericht übermittelt,
dass es eine Rücknahme der Bundesentscheidung fordert, die sich für ein neues
Schwurgericht über die Frage der Todesstrafe aussprach. Früher hatte ich beim
Gericht im Zuge unserer andauernden Anstrengung für einen ganz neuen
Geschworenenprozess interveniert, um die Unschuld zu beweisen, sodass Mumia
befreit werden kann.
 
Wir sind jetzt an einem Scheideweg des Falls. Dies ist ein Lebens- und
Todeskampf im Kampf um Mumias Freiheit. Sein Leben hängt an einem
Seidenfaden. (...)
 
 
The following are details as to what has been occurring in the Supreme Court.
Abu-Jamal v. Beard, U.S. Sup. Ct. No. 08A299 On October 3, I filed in the
Supreme Court a Motion for Extension of Time To File Petition for Writ of
Certiorari. Justice David H. Souter granted the motion on October 9. The
Petition is now due on December 19, 2008.
 
The issues I will be presenting on behalf of Mumia include racism in jury
selection and the prosecutor’s misrepresentations to the jury during the guilt
phase of the 1982 trial. These were denied last spring by the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Third Circuit, Philadelphia. Abu-Jamal v. Horn, 520 F.3d
272 (3rd Cir. 2008). The court was split 2-1 on the racism question.
The prosecution’s use of racism in selecting the jury is a strong issue
because of the powerful dissenting opinion by Judge Thomas L. Ambro. In voting
that relief should be granted, he wrote that "[e]xcluding even a single person
from a jury because of race violates the Equal Protection Clause of our
Constitution" and concluded that "everyone is entitled to a fair and impartial
trial by a jury of his or her peers."
 
A major problem we have encountered is that Mumia’s previous lawyers neither
developed essential evidence nor raised some issues of constitutional
significance. Such failings are inexcusable. For example his attorneys during
the period 1994-2001, failed to even get the racial composition of the panel
from which the jury was selected. They had the jurors’ names and addresses,
and could have gone out and obtained this information in a day. Once the
case went up on appeal it was too late to introduce this crucial evidence which
would have established beyond question that African-Americans were
underrepresented on the jury panel and that the prosecution used discriminatory racial
practices in jury selection. Justice Ambro pointed out in his dissent that
this deficiency should not serve as a basis to deny relief in view of the
other evidence we have of prosecutorial racism. Another issue concerning the
judge's racism and prejudice at trial was doomed from the start because it was
not even presented by the previous lawyers. Rather, they only argued that the
judge was unfair 13 years later at a 1995 evidentiary hearing. It was an
incompetent mistake that waived this strong issue. Sadly, Mumia is bound by
the errors of those lawyers.
 
Beard v. Abu-Jamal, U.S. Sup. Ct. No. 08A315 The Philadelphia District
Attorney is seeking reversal of the federal court decision which granted a new
jury trial on the question of the death penalty. Their intent is to see
Mumia executed. That was announced in an extension motion filed in the Supreme
Court. The court ordered on October 14 that the government petition must be
filed by November 19, 2008. We will then submit briefing in opposition to
the death penalty arguments.
 
Abu-Jamal v. Pennsylvania, U.S. Sup. Ct. No. 08-5456 In a ruling not
related to the present litigation, the Supreme Court on October 6 issued an order
denying the petition we had filed seeking review of a decision by the
Pennsylvania Supreme Court. That concerned the denial of a new trial based upon
the fact that the prosecution persuaded witnesses to lie in order to obtain a
conviction and death judgment against my client. This arises from adverse
rulings by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and the Philadelphia Court of Common
Pleas. The District Attorney successfully argued that Mumia’s previous
lawyers had failed to raise the misconduct issues in a timely manner. Even
though this evidence of fraud is not before the Supreme Court, I will certainly
be able to use it at a new jury trial.
 
Conclusion More activism and support is needed in the campaign to free
Mumia from the death penalty and prison. It is an affront to civilized standards
and international law that he remains in prison and on death row. We must
have hope and fight for justice.
 
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 _
 
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