[Ppnews] Federal appeals court backs new sentencing hearing for Mumia Abu-Jamal

[Political Prisoner News]

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  Thursday, March 27, 2008
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http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/03/federal-appeals-court-backs-new.php
Federal appeals court backs new sentencing hearing for Mumia Abu-Jamal
<http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/jurist_search.php?q=Joshua 
Pantesco>Joshua Pantesco at 11:54 AM ET


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[JURIST] Journalist and former Black Panther 
<http://www.mumia.org//freedom.now/>Mumia Abu-Jamal [advocacy 
website; Philadelphia Inquirer 
<http://www.philly.com/inquirer/hot_topics/13796702.html>archive], 
convicted in 1982 of killing Philadelphia police officer 
<http://www.danielfaulkner.com/>Daniel Faulkner [advocacy website] 
after a traffic stop, may escape the death penalty after the US Court 
of Appeals for the Third Circuit on Thursday issued an 
<http://www.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/019014p.pdf>opinion [PDF text] 
affirming a federal judge's allowance of a new sentencing hearing in 
the case. If prosecutors decline to seek a new sentencing hearing, 
Abu-Jamal will automatically receive life in prison.

The Third Circuit considered four issues on appeal:
(1) whether the Commonwealth's use of peremptory challenges violated 
Abu-Jamal's constitutional rights under 
<http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0476_0079_ZS.html>Batson 
v. Kentucky [opinion text]...; (2) whether the prosecution's trial 
summation denied Abu-Jamal due process; (3) whether Abu-Jamal was 
denied due process during post-conviction proceedings as a result of 
judicial bias; and (4) whether the jury charge and sentencing verdict 
sheet violated Abu-Jamal's constitutional rights under 
<http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=486&invol=367>Mills 
v. Maryland ... and 
<http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=494&invol=370>Boyde 
v. California ... [opinion texts].

The Third Circuit agreed with the 
<http://media.philly.com/documents/yohnsorder.pdf>district court 
ruling [PDF text] on every issue:
    * Abu-Jamal did not provide sufficient evidence to prove that the 
prosecutor's use of peremptory challenges established a pattern of 
selecting jurors on the basis of race, which is constitutionally 
impermissible.
    * Abu-Jamal's due process rights were not violated by the 
prosecutor's closing arguments at trial, during which the prosecutor 
said "of course there would be appeal after appeal and perhaps there 
could be a reversal of the case, or whatever, so that may not be 
final." Abu-Jamal contended that this statement undermined the 
juror's sense of responsibility to arrive at the correct verdict. The 
Third Circuit disagreed, saying instead that the comments "did not 
rise to the sort of egregious misconduct that amounts to a denial of 
constitutional due process...and they did not have a substantial and 
injurious effect or influence in determining the jury's verdict" 
(internal quotations and citations omitted).
    * The Third Circuit did not consider the merits of Abu-Jamal's 
claim that judicial bias deprived him of due process during the 
post-conviction proceedings, as such a claim is not cognizable on 
habeas appeal.
    * Finally, the Third Circuit agreed that the jury instructions 
and verdict form used at trial were constitutionally deficient, as 
they did not clearly explain that jurors did not have to unanimously 
agree on mitigating circumstances that would preclude application of 
the death penalty.
The case has become a notorious cause celebre for death penalty 
opponents, attracting the attention of artists, civil rights 
activists, and politicians. It is unclear whether Abu-Jamal will 
appeal the Third Circuit decision to the US Supreme Court. AP has 
<http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080327/D8VLR3J00.html>more. The 
Philadelphia Inquirer has 
<http://www.philly.com/inquirer/hot_topics/13796702.html>local coverage.






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