Author Dave Lindorff Analyzes The PA Supreme Court's Denial of Maureen Faulkner's King's Bench Appeal

--Please sign our Color of Change petition to Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner: Stop Defending Mumia Abu-Jamal's Unjust Conviction

(Note from Jamal Journal: Dave Lindorff is the author of “Killing Time: An Investigation into the Death Penalty Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal.” This article by Dave Lindorff was first published at ThisCantBeHappening on Dec. 22, 2020 with the title: "A new chance to challenge murder conviction: State Supreme Court rejects Faulkner Widow’s ‘Evidence-Free’ Effort to Block Mumia Appeal.")

Mumia Abu-Jamal, the prison journalist long known as the “voice of the voiceless” for his compelling writings and short audio tapes about life behind bars, moved a step closer to getting a chance for a reconsideration of his earliest appeal of his conviction — an allegedly flawed Post-Conviction Relief Act hearing in 1995, as well as three other later PCRA appeals of aspects his case, all ignored and their findings rejected by Pennsylvania’s appellate courts under spurious conditions.

The opening comes in the form of dismissal by the state’s Supreme Court of an attempt by Maureen Faulkner, widow of slain Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner, to use an obscure legal gambit called a King’s Bench petition, to have DA Larry Krasner’s office removed as the legal entity defending against Abu-Jamal’s appeals. That effort, filed last February had blocked any forward action on those appeals.

Abu-Jamal’s attorneys had filed an appeal several years ago in Philadelphia’s Court of Common Pleas, claiming that the handling of those four PCRA hearings, all of which were rejected by the State Supreme Court, were all constitutionally flawed because one of the judges reviewing them, Justice and eventually Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille (now retired), had refused Abu-Jamal’s  requests that he recuse himself, despite his having been Philadelphia’s district attorney and the man overseeing the DA Office’s legal effort to oppose Abu-Jamal’s appeals of his sentence and conviction. (That appeal was filed following the discovery of two notes — a draft letter and a final letter by then DA Castille to then Gov. Tom Ridge in 1990 calling on Ridge to speed up the signing of execution warrants for convicted “police killers” in which Castille said such a measure would “send a message” to would be police killers. 

Sign the Color of Change Petition to Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner: Stop Defending Mumia Abu-Jamal's Unjust Conviction and Release Him As Soon As You Possibly Can!

--Please sign our Color of Change petition to Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner: Stop Defending Mumia Abu-Jamal's Unjust Conviction

(UPDATE: On March 11, our petition was changed to add information about Mumia's new health emergency. The original petition was released only a few days before we first learned about Mumia's health crisis. The call for Mumia's release stays the same but it is now even more urgent.)

(This is one segment of the original artwork created by Seth Tobocman to support our petition campaign. It is the centerpiece of our newspaper and can be viewed on the website here. Special thanks to longtime Mumia supporter Seth Tobocman!)

Dear Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner,

We, the signers of this petition declare:

Mumia Abu-Jamal is currently suffering from COVID-19, congestive heart disease, liver damage, and a worsening of a severe and debilitating chronic skin condition. The cirrhosis of the liver and increased likelihood of liver cancer resulted from his untreated Hepatitis C in spring 2014. His Hep C went untreated for nearly two years until attorneys secured a preliminary injunction that forced the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections to meet basic national treatment guidelines and give him the fast acting anti viral Hep C cure. In addition, Mumia was treated with topical steroids for his skin condition, which caused a diabetic reaction. Prison medical staff neglected to monitor and follow up on their own chart notations for three weeks! His unmonitored glucose levels resulted in a severely high glucose level resulting in ketoacidosis, requiring Mumia to be rushed to the ICU. Mumia Abu-Jamal now relies upon that very same prison healthcare system, the prison infirmary, for treatment during his current health crisis. Our collective call for Abu-Jamal’s release could not be more urgent. As Abu-Jamal’s physician Dr. Ricardo Alvarez says: The Only Treatment is Freedom.

Even without the current health emergency, Mumia Abu-Jamal’s 1982 conviction was already a travesty of justice, obtained through a combination of police, prosecutorial, and judicial misconduct, as documented by Amnesty International. Abu-Jamal has suffered from extreme injustice at all levels of the criminal justice system. These numerous improprieties have tainted Abu-Jamal’s conviction beyond repair.

Linn Washington on the Significance of the Six File Boxes Discovered by DA Larry Krasner: The trial testimony of supposed 'eye-witness' Robert Chobert is now further discredited

--Please sign our Color of Change petition to Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner: Stop Defending Mumia Abu-Jamal's Unjust Conviction

(Note from Jamal Journal: This December 9, 2020 article by veteran Philadelphia journalist Linn Washington Jr. was first published at www.thiscantbehappening.net with the title: "Supreme corruption in Pennsylvania: Watching Injustice Fester For 341,880 Hours.")

(PHOTO: Pam Africa at a street press conference in West Philadelphia on December 9, 2020. The event marked 39 years since Mumia Abu-Jamal's arrest and also the release of his new book Murder Incorporated, Volume 3. Photo by Joe Piette. View more of Jamal Journal staff photographer Joe Piette's photos from the Dec. 9 event here.)

The murder of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner is a crime I’ve reported on, researched and monitored since its occurrence in the pre-dawn hours of Wednesday December 9, 1981.

Thirty-seven years after Faulkner’s murder, in December 2018, Philadelphia prosecutors stumbled across six boxes stashed in a forgotten area in their office complex that contained startling evidence related to the man convicted of Faulkner’s murder.