Cop Killer Mumia Abu-Jamal Gets Another Sentencing Hearing

In a major victory for world-famous death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal, a federal appeals court today refused to reinstate his death sentence for the 1981 murder of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that Abu-Jamal must be sentenced to life in prison or get a chance with a new Philadelphia jury, which would decide anew whether he should get life in prison or be sentenced - again - to death.

At the same time, the judges upheld his first-degree murder conviction, rejecting Abu-Jamal's claim that he deserves an entirely new trial and a chance to prove his innocence.

Abu-Jamal, who has written books and given taped speeches from death row, was convicted in 1982 by a Philadelphia jury of killing Faulkner, who was shot to death near 13th and Locust Streets in the early morning hours of Dec. 9, 1981.

The court upheld, in all respects, the 2001 decision by U.S. District Judge William H. Yohn Jr., who rejected all but one of Abu-Jamal's legal claims, but threw out the death sentence.

This farce has been playing out for years. Mumia was convicted of murdering Philadelphia cop Daniel Faulkner and he's been playing the race card ever since. He's become a cause-celebre among the Hollywood set, who have no problem rooting for a cop killer.

The article attempts to spin this as a victory for Mumia, but the key fact is that the appeals court upheld the conviction. That's an important fact that will get buried in all this - Mumia was found guilty by a jury, and multiple appeals have not changed that fact. Mumia is a cop-killer, and he's now trying to avoid the death penalty sentence he so richly deserves.

The question is whether the state should accept the life without parole decision of the appeals court or seek a new jury to decide whether to impose the death penalty or life without parole. You can bet that law enforcement agencies and officers around the country are hoping the state goes for the jury trial to impose the sentence that has been denied for so many years, to say nothing of Faulkner's family, who has put up with the hero worship of this cop killer for far too long.