ugh please. here is what we know about the case: 4 witnesses place him as the shooter. he was lying near the officer when found, with a wound from the officer's gun. his gun was fired and was lying next to him when he was found. the caliber of bullet from his gun was the same caliber that killed office Faulkner. and 3 independent witnesses claim to have heard him admit in the hospital that he killed officer Faulkner. dispute the witness claims as you wish, but the physical evidence is pretty clear of his guilt.
so yea someone else did it :roll:
I've already addressed all of these points previously in this thread - witnesses who were coerced and threatened by the police, and who subsequently changed their stories. No routine ballistics tests carried out on his gun to determine whether it had been fired. Witnesses who came forward later to testify that they'd seen another man shoot Faulkner and flee the scene before Mumia arrived and tried to assist Faulkner before he was himself shot and then beaten by the police.
Why are you choosing to ignore all of these points? What is it that you have against Mumia Abu-Jamal exactly?
On the subject of people with an agenda, all the evidence points to the Philly Police trying to frame Abu-Jamal - probably because of his history of political activism.
Life in the Balance
The Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal
Amnesty International February 2000
'...In 1995, defence lawyers obtained approximately 700 pages of files on Mumia Abu-Jamal maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), via the Freedom of Information Act. These documents represented only a portion of the total files and were heavily censored.
The FBI began monitoring Abu-Jamal in 1969 when he was 15 years old, because of his activities at High School and later with the Black Panther Party (BPP). According to a sworn affidavit by the attorney who examined the files, Abu-Jamal was under surveillance as part of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Program, COINTELPRO, which operated with the cooperation and assistance of the Philadelphia police.
According to the affidavit: “Mr. Jamal was subjected to surveillance, harassment, disruption, politically
motivated arrests and attempted frame-ups by the FBI, who worked in conjunction with the Philadelphia Police Department.” Although the FBI classified Abu-Jamal as “armed and dangerous”, he was not convicted of any crime during this period. The documents reveal that the FBI was continuing to monitor Abu-Jamal as late as 1990, recording the details of one of his visitors while he was incarcerated in Huntingdon Prison.
Witnesses to the crime: conflicting and confusing
Abu-Jamal’s attorneys contend that a number of witnesses changed their original statements regarding what they saw on the night of the crime after being coerced, threatened or offered inducements by the police. Based on a comparison of their statements given to the police immediately after the shooting, their testimony during pretrial hearings and their testimony at the trial, the key witnesses did substantively alter their descriptions of what they saw, in ways that supported the prosecution’s version of events.
Cynthia White and Veronica Jones Cynthia White was a prostitute working in the area on the night in question. At the trial she testified that she had seen Mumia Abu-Jamal run up to Officer Faulkner, shoot him in the back, and then stand over him firing at his head.
Prior to the trial, White had given four written statements and one tape-recorded statement to the police. In one interview she estimated the height of the person who shot Faulkner to be shorter than five feet eight inches. Abu-Jamal is six feet one inch tall. In her first court appearance at a pretrial hearing, she testified that Abu-Jamal held the gun in his left hand. Three days later she testified that she was unsure which hand he held the gun in. At trial she denied knowing which hand the gun was in. During her trial testimony, she claimed that the diagram she originally drew of the incident was incorrect and that her placement of the actors prior to Abu-Jamal’s appearance was inaccurate.
There is evidence to show that Cynthia White received preferential treatment from the prosecution and police. At the time of the trial, she was serving an 18-month prison sentence for prostitution in Massachusetts. She had 38 previous arrests for prostitution in Philadelphia; three of those charges were still pending at the time of trial. She was arrested twice within days of the shooting incident (12 and 17 December). According to Abu-Jamal’s current defence attorneys, there are no records of White ever being prosecuted for those arrests.
In 1987, a detective involved in the prosecution of Abu-Jamal testified in support of bail for White at a court hearing concerning charges of robbery, aggravated assault and possession of illegal weapons. Despite the judge pointing out that White had failed to appear in court on 17 different occasions and that she had "page after page" of arrests and convictions, the prosecution consented to the request that she be allowed to sign her own bail and the judge released her. According to information received by Amnesty International, White failed to appear in court on the charges and the authorities have since been unable to locate her. At an appeal hearings in 1997, the prosecution claimed Cynthia White was deceased and produced a 1992 death certificate in the name of Cynthia Williams, claiming that the fingerprints of the dead woman and White matched. However, an examination of the fingerprint records of White and Williams showed no match and the evidence that White is now dead is far from conclusive.
A second prostitute, Veronica Jones, witnessed the killing and testified for the defence. She claimed she had been offered inducements by the police to testify that she saw Abu-Jamal kill Faulkner, stating that "they [the police] were trying to get me to say something the other girl [White] said. I couldn’t do that." Jones went on to testify that "they [the police] told us we could work the area [as prostitutes] if we tell them [that Abu-Jamal was the shooter]."
However, Judge Sabo had the jury removed for this testimony and then ruled that Jones’ statements were inadmissible evidence. The jury were thus left unaware of the allegations that police officers were offering inducements in return for testimony against Abu-Jamal. In her testimony before the jury, Jones retracted her original statement to police that she saw two unidentified men leave the scene of the crime. Remarkably, Jackson had never interviewed his own witness (a standard practice) but Jones was interviewed by the prosecution prior to the trial.
In 1996, Veronica Jones testified at an appeal hearing that she changed her version of events after being visited by two police officers in prison, where she was being held on charges of robbery and assault. While cross-examining Jones, the prosecution announced to the court that there was an outstanding arrest warrant for Jones on charges of passing bad cheques and indicated that she would be arrested at the conclusion of her testimony.
In a sworn affidavit, Jones described her meeting with the plain clothes police officers:
“They told me that if I would testify against Jamal and identify Jamal as the shooter I wouldn’t have to worry about my pending felony charges...The detectives threatened me by reminding me that I faced a long prison sentence - fifteen years...I knew that if I did anything to help the Jamal defense I would face years in prison.”
After Abu-Jamal’s trial, Veronica Jones received a sentence of two years’ probation on the charges she was facing.
In January 1997, another former prostitute who worked in the area of the crime scene in 1981, came forward. In a sworn affidavit, Pamela Jenkins stated that she knew Cynthia White, who had told her she was afraid of the police and that the police were trying to get her to say something about the shooting of Faulkner and had threatened her life. Jenkins was the lover and informant of Philadelphia police officer Tom Ryan. In her statement, Jenkins claimed that Ryan "wanted me to perjure myself and say that I had seen Jamal shoot the police officer."
In 1996, Tom Ryan and five other officers from the same district went to prison after being convicted of charges of planting evidence, stealing money from suspects and making false reports. Their convictions resulted in the release of numerous prisoners implicated by the officers. Jenkins was a principal prosecution witness at the trials of the officers.
a lot more sketchy details in this case yet he is in jail.
f'd up isn't it?
it's fucked up that people half a world away have bought into the myth while no one in the city where the crime was committed (expect for a few radical groups maybe) believes (and knows) that no one other than mumia murdered officer Daniel Faulkner.
a lot more sketchy details in this case yet he is in jail.
f'd up isn't it?
it's fucked up that people half a world away have bought into the myth while no one in the city where the crime was committed (expect for a few radical groups maybe) believes (and knows) that no one other than mumia murdered officer Daniel Faulkner.
it's true that living in the same city or country does give you much more insight. You are privy to so much more knowledge.....
The new documentary, "Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal," chronicles Abu-Jamal’s life and work as a journalist, writer and public intellectual, even as he spent some 30 years on death row in Pennsylvania. In 1982, Abu-Jamal was sentenced to die for allegedly killing Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. He has always maintained his innocence. Then, last year, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals set aside Abu-Jamal’s death sentence after finding jurors were given confusing instructions that encouraged them to choose death rather than a life sentence. In January, prosecutors announced they would no longer pursue the death penalty against Abu-Jamal, and the imprisoned journalist was transferred to the general prison population. We air a clip from the film, out in February, and speak with director Stephen Vittoria.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to switch gears now and ask you about the new documentary that you have just worked on called Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal. The film chronicles Mumia Abu-Jamal’s life and work as a journalist, writer, public intellectual, even as he spent some 30 years on death row in Pennsylvania.
In 1982, Abu-Jamal was sentenced to die for killing Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner, always maintaining his innocence. Then, last year, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals set aside Abu-Jamal’s death sentence after finding jurors were given confusing instructions that encouraged them to choose death rather than a life sentence. In January, prosecutors announced they would no longer pursue the death penalty against Abu-Jamal, and the imprisoned journalist was transferred to the general prison population.
Well, in this clip from the film, Long Distance Revolutionary, we hear from some of the voices who have supported Mumia Abu-Jamal over the years. We hear from Rubin Carter, from Cornel West, Tariq Ali, Mike Africa, Greg Ruggiero, Linn Washington, James Cone, Ramona Africa and Dick Gregory.
RUBIN "HURRICANE" CARTER: Mumia Abu-Jamal is one of the lost souls of the revolution.
CORNEL WEST: Mumia, how are you dealing with all of this darkness and despair and despondency and so forth? He said, "Let me write about it. I’ll tell the truth about it. It’s a living hell. It’s a nightmare."
TARIQ ALI: They have moved heaven and earth to stop his voice being heard in the United States.
MIKE AFRICA: Anybody who has the ability to draw a crowd with their voice and then speak truth? Oh, my god.
GREG RUGGIERO: Mumia Abu-Jamal is a revolutionary person. So, he’s like a guerrilla in the jungle in a tent in the rain, writing to the community with next to nothing.
LINN WASHINGTON: So here we have somebody who defiantly says, "Yes, I’m not only a journalist, but I’m a revolutionary journalist. And, no, I don’t agree with anything that you’re doing. And, yes, I have an international platform—interestingly enough, a platform that I never use to talk about my own case." They want him ground up.
JAMES CONE: Powerful governments like to control. They love to control. And they love to silence people. They cannot silence Mumia.
RAMONA AFRICA: When you’re pushing the lie, the truth is very threatening.
DICK GREGORY: He come through at a time that the technology was there, that could go around the world. And one day we will find out that he was the voice of America. The Voice of America is a fraud.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s a clip from the new documentary, Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal, written, produced and directed by Steve Vittoria, coming to theaters in February. Democracy Now!’s Juan González and me, as well, also speak in the film. Juan will be introducing the film in November in New York City at DOC NYC.
The significance of what we have just heard and why you chose Mumia Abu-Jamal as your next subject for a film?
STEPHEN VITTORIA: Amy, unlike any other film, book, video, article written about Mumia, Long Distance Revolutionary does not deal with his case whatsoever. We mention it; it is not a focus of the film. The focus of the film is Mumia’s life as a journalist, a writer, a historian, a revolutionary, both prior to incarceration and after incarceration, 30 years on death row. Now he’s been in the general population for the last year or so. And that’s what really interested me about Mumia. We know about the case. There has been plenty of pieces produced about the case. I didn’t want to mine that information again. The forces that have been—that have been keeping Mumia where he is and put him where he is, they’ve had their narrative for 30 years. There is another narrative.
And the other narrative is that this was an incredible young man at 14, 15 years old that was a writer for the Black Panther newspaper. He was a reporter and a broadcaster for National Public Radio in his late twenties. He had an amazing career before December 9, 1981, when he was arrested and then later convicted for the murder of Faulkner. It’s just an incredible story that they have kept under wraps, and they want to keep it under wraps because he has—he has transcended prison for the 30 years after. And people like Noelle Hanrahan, who is my partner on this film, she’s been able to get his voice out from death row, a dark, dank hole on death row in Pennsylvania, and she’s delivered it to the world. And he has had an amazing impact on social and political discourse the world over. That’s what the film is about.
And the voices that you just heard, the outpouring of not only love but of intellectual respect and historical respect for Mumia Abu-Jamal, is absolutely incredible. And we capture it in this film. We talk a great deal about the ugly reality of mass incarceration in this country. Michelle Alexander is in the film, the author of The New Jim Crow, and she helps to frame how and why men and women like Mumia are where they are. And so, the film covers that arc of Mumia’s life. And we’re incredibly proud — Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam offered us some music, which is just absolutely incredible. And we have a stellar interview cast. So, we’re looking forward to sharing what, quite frankly, is a brand new story with audiences all across the world.
Comments
mmm because they are not true and made up by nut jobs with an agenda.
Amnesty are nut jobs with an agenda, are they?
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset ... 2000en.pdf
Life in the Balance
The Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal
Amnesty International February 2000
'...In 1995, defence lawyers obtained approximately 700 pages of files on Mumia Abu-Jamal maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), via the Freedom of Information Act. These documents represented only a portion of the total files and were heavily censored.
The FBI began monitoring Abu-Jamal in 1969 when he was 15 years old, because of his activities at High School and later with the Black Panther Party (BPP). According to a sworn affidavit by the attorney who examined the files, Abu-Jamal was under surveillance as part of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Program, COINTELPRO, which operated with the cooperation and assistance of the Philadelphia police.
According to the affidavit: “Mr. Jamal was subjected to surveillance, harassment, disruption, politically
motivated arrests and attempted frame-ups by the FBI, who worked in conjunction with the Philadelphia Police Department.” Although the FBI classified Abu-Jamal as “armed and dangerous”, he was not convicted of any crime during this period. The documents reveal that the FBI was continuing to monitor Abu-Jamal as late as 1990, recording the details of one of his visitors while he was incarcerated in Huntingdon Prison.
Witnesses to the crime: conflicting and confusing
Abu-Jamal’s attorneys contend that a number of witnesses changed their original statements regarding what they saw on the night of the crime after being coerced, threatened or offered inducements by the police. Based on a comparison of their statements given to the police immediately after the shooting, their testimony during pretrial hearings and their testimony at the trial, the key witnesses did substantively alter their descriptions of what they saw, in ways that supported the prosecution’s version of events.
Cynthia White and Veronica Jones Cynthia White was a prostitute working in the area on the night in question. At the trial she testified that she had seen Mumia Abu-Jamal run up to Officer Faulkner, shoot him in the back, and then stand over him firing at his head.
Prior to the trial, White had given four written statements and one tape-recorded statement to the police. In one interview she estimated the height of the person who shot Faulkner to be shorter than five feet eight inches. Abu-Jamal is six feet one inch tall. In her first court appearance at a pretrial hearing, she testified that Abu-Jamal held the gun in his left hand. Three days later she testified that she was unsure which hand he held the gun in. At trial she denied knowing which hand the gun was in. During her trial testimony, she claimed that the diagram she originally drew of the incident was incorrect and that her placement of the actors prior to Abu-Jamal’s appearance was inaccurate.
There is evidence to show that Cynthia White received preferential treatment from the prosecution and police. At the time of the trial, she was serving an 18-month prison sentence for prostitution in Massachusetts. She had 38 previous arrests for prostitution in Philadelphia; three of those charges were still pending at the time of trial. She was arrested twice within days of the shooting incident (12 and 17 December). According to Abu-Jamal’s current defence attorneys, there are no records of White ever being prosecuted for those arrests.
In 1987, a detective involved in the prosecution of Abu-Jamal testified in support of bail for White at a court hearing concerning charges of robbery, aggravated assault and possession of illegal weapons. Despite the judge pointing out that White had failed to appear in court on 17 different occasions and that she had "page after page" of arrests and convictions, the prosecution consented to the request that she be allowed to sign her own bail and the judge released her. According to information received by Amnesty International, White failed to appear in court on the charges and the authorities have since been unable to locate her. At an appeal hearings in 1997, the prosecution claimed Cynthia White was deceased and produced a 1992 death certificate in the name of Cynthia Williams, claiming that the fingerprints of the dead woman and White matched. However, an examination of the fingerprint records of White and Williams showed no match and the evidence that White is now dead is far from conclusive.
A second prostitute, Veronica Jones, witnessed the killing and testified for the defence. She claimed she had been offered inducements by the police to testify that she saw Abu-Jamal kill Faulkner, stating that "they [the police] were trying to get me to say something the other girl [White] said. I couldn’t do that." Jones went on to testify that "they [the police] told us we could work the area [as prostitutes] if we tell them [that Abu-Jamal was the shooter]."
However, Judge Sabo had the jury removed for this testimony and then ruled that Jones’ statements were inadmissible evidence. The jury were thus left unaware of the allegations that police officers were offering inducements in return for testimony against Abu-Jamal. In her testimony before the jury, Jones retracted her original statement to police that she saw two unidentified men leave the scene of the crime. Remarkably, Jackson had never interviewed his own witness (a standard practice) but Jones was interviewed by the prosecution prior to the trial.
In 1996, Veronica Jones testified at an appeal hearing that she changed her version of events after being visited by two police officers in prison, where she was being held on charges of robbery and assault. While cross-examining Jones, the prosecution announced to the court that there was an outstanding arrest warrant for Jones on charges of passing bad cheques and indicated that she would be arrested at the conclusion of her testimony.
In a sworn affidavit, Jones described her meeting with the plain clothes police officers:
“They told me that if I would testify against Jamal and identify Jamal as the shooter I wouldn’t have to worry about my pending felony charges...The detectives threatened me by reminding me that I faced a long prison sentence - fifteen years...I knew that if I did anything to help the Jamal defense I would face years in prison.”
After Abu-Jamal’s trial, Veronica Jones received a sentence of two years’ probation on the charges she was facing.
In January 1997, another former prostitute who worked in the area of the crime scene in 1981, came forward. In a sworn affidavit, Pamela Jenkins stated that she knew Cynthia White, who had told her she was afraid of the police and that the police were trying to get her to say something about the shooting of Faulkner and had threatened her life. Jenkins was the lover and informant of Philadelphia police officer Tom Ryan. In her statement, Jenkins claimed that Ryan "wanted me to perjure myself and say that I had seen Jamal shoot the police officer."
In 1996, Tom Ryan and five other officers from the same district went to prison after being convicted of charges of planting evidence, stealing money from suspects and making false reports. Their convictions resulted in the release of numerous prisoners implicated by the officers. Jenkins was a principal prosecution witness at the trials of the officers.
a lot more sketchy details in this case yet he is in jail.
f'd up isn't it?
it's fucked up that people half a world away have bought into the myth while no one in the city where the crime was committed (expect for a few radical groups maybe) believes (and knows) that no one other than mumia murdered officer Daniel Faulkner.
it's true that living in the same city or country does give you much more insight. You are privy to so much more knowledge.....
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/10/22/ ... tary_tells
The new documentary, "Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal," chronicles Abu-Jamal’s life and work as a journalist, writer and public intellectual, even as he spent some 30 years on death row in Pennsylvania. In 1982, Abu-Jamal was sentenced to die for allegedly killing Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. He has always maintained his innocence. Then, last year, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals set aside Abu-Jamal’s death sentence after finding jurors were given confusing instructions that encouraged them to choose death rather than a life sentence. In January, prosecutors announced they would no longer pursue the death penalty against Abu-Jamal, and the imprisoned journalist was transferred to the general prison population. We air a clip from the film, out in February, and speak with director Stephen Vittoria.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to switch gears now and ask you about the new documentary that you have just worked on called Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal. The film chronicles Mumia Abu-Jamal’s life and work as a journalist, writer, public intellectual, even as he spent some 30 years on death row in Pennsylvania.
In 1982, Abu-Jamal was sentenced to die for killing Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner, always maintaining his innocence. Then, last year, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals set aside Abu-Jamal’s death sentence after finding jurors were given confusing instructions that encouraged them to choose death rather than a life sentence. In January, prosecutors announced they would no longer pursue the death penalty against Abu-Jamal, and the imprisoned journalist was transferred to the general prison population.
Well, in this clip from the film, Long Distance Revolutionary, we hear from some of the voices who have supported Mumia Abu-Jamal over the years. We hear from Rubin Carter, from Cornel West, Tariq Ali, Mike Africa, Greg Ruggiero, Linn Washington, James Cone, Ramona Africa and Dick Gregory.
RUBIN "HURRICANE" CARTER: Mumia Abu-Jamal is one of the lost souls of the revolution.
CORNEL WEST: Mumia, how are you dealing with all of this darkness and despair and despondency and so forth? He said, "Let me write about it. I’ll tell the truth about it. It’s a living hell. It’s a nightmare."
TARIQ ALI: They have moved heaven and earth to stop his voice being heard in the United States.
MIKE AFRICA: Anybody who has the ability to draw a crowd with their voice and then speak truth? Oh, my god.
GREG RUGGIERO: Mumia Abu-Jamal is a revolutionary person. So, he’s like a guerrilla in the jungle in a tent in the rain, writing to the community with next to nothing.
LINN WASHINGTON: So here we have somebody who defiantly says, "Yes, I’m not only a journalist, but I’m a revolutionary journalist. And, no, I don’t agree with anything that you’re doing. And, yes, I have an international platform—interestingly enough, a platform that I never use to talk about my own case." They want him ground up.
JAMES CONE: Powerful governments like to control. They love to control. And they love to silence people. They cannot silence Mumia.
RAMONA AFRICA: When you’re pushing the lie, the truth is very threatening.
DICK GREGORY: He come through at a time that the technology was there, that could go around the world. And one day we will find out that he was the voice of America. The Voice of America is a fraud.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s a clip from the new documentary, Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal, written, produced and directed by Steve Vittoria, coming to theaters in February. Democracy Now!’s Juan González and me, as well, also speak in the film. Juan will be introducing the film in November in New York City at DOC NYC.
The significance of what we have just heard and why you chose Mumia Abu-Jamal as your next subject for a film?
STEPHEN VITTORIA: Amy, unlike any other film, book, video, article written about Mumia, Long Distance Revolutionary does not deal with his case whatsoever. We mention it; it is not a focus of the film. The focus of the film is Mumia’s life as a journalist, a writer, a historian, a revolutionary, both prior to incarceration and after incarceration, 30 years on death row. Now he’s been in the general population for the last year or so. And that’s what really interested me about Mumia. We know about the case. There has been plenty of pieces produced about the case. I didn’t want to mine that information again. The forces that have been—that have been keeping Mumia where he is and put him where he is, they’ve had their narrative for 30 years. There is another narrative.
And the other narrative is that this was an incredible young man at 14, 15 years old that was a writer for the Black Panther newspaper. He was a reporter and a broadcaster for National Public Radio in his late twenties. He had an amazing career before December 9, 1981, when he was arrested and then later convicted for the murder of Faulkner. It’s just an incredible story that they have kept under wraps, and they want to keep it under wraps because he has—he has transcended prison for the 30 years after. And people like Noelle Hanrahan, who is my partner on this film, she’s been able to get his voice out from death row, a dark, dank hole on death row in Pennsylvania, and she’s delivered it to the world. And he has had an amazing impact on social and political discourse the world over. That’s what the film is about.
And the voices that you just heard, the outpouring of not only love but of intellectual respect and historical respect for Mumia Abu-Jamal, is absolutely incredible. And we capture it in this film. We talk a great deal about the ugly reality of mass incarceration in this country. Michelle Alexander is in the film, the author of The New Jim Crow, and she helps to frame how and why men and women like Mumia are where they are. And so, the film covers that arc of Mumia’s life. And we’re incredibly proud — Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam offered us some music, which is just absolutely incredible. And we have a stellar interview cast. So, we’re looking forward to sharing what, quite frankly, is a brand new story with audiences all across the world.