new developments in the case of mumia abu jamal

Associated Press: Court: Mumia Deserves New Sentencing Hearing

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A federal appeals court has ordered a new penalty hearing for celebrity death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says Abu-Jamal's conviction for the 1981 murder of a Philadelphia police officer should stand. But it says he should get a new sentencing hearing because of flawed jury instructions.

If prosecutors don't want to give him a new death penalty hearing, Abu-Jamal would be sentenced automatically to life in prison.

A Philadelphia jury convicted Abu-Jamal of killing Officer Daniel Faulkner after the patrolman pulled over Abu-Jamal's brother in an overnight traffic stop 27 years ago.

Probably due to his name, many people seem to assume Mumia Abu Jamal is Muslim but he actually isn't a confessional Muslim. In his book Death Blossoms, he gives his credo as follows:

My belief – my religion, which I call Life – the teachings of John Africa and the example of my MOVE brothers and sisters across the state, many of whom have survived imprisonment for years and years. Their example has buoyed me up over fourteen years behind bars. Also, my faith in the power of commitment, in the power of family, in the power of love, of community, of God. I could give you one term instead of four or five. "Family," for example, means unity, commitment, love. That is "family." The other thing, of course, is laughter. Very simply, it’s human to laugh and to find humor, even in something small. Every day. Every day there is something to laugh about! That keeps me human.

See also:
mumia abu jamal - death blossoms
mumia abu jamal: hispanics, latin america and the struggle against the empire
legal update in the case of mumia abu jamal