- Von: „Steve Bloom“ sblm@earthlink.net
- Betreff: FW: PRESS RELEASE: MUMIA¹S ATTORNEYS DEMAND SUPREME COURT HEAR TESTIMONY…
- Datum: Samstag, 31. August 2002
- —–Original Message—–
- From: Tracy Kostenbader [mailto: tracytoast@earthlink.net ]
- Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2002
- Subject: PRESS RELEASE: MUMIA¹S ATTORNEYS DEMAND SUPREME COURT HEAR
- TESTIMONY…
- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MUMIA¹S ATTORNEYS DEMAND
SUPREME COURT HEAR TESTIMONY
FROM THE MAN WHO SHOT DANIEL FAULKNER.
- PHILADELPHIA. Attorneys for death row journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal filed theirappeal brief in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday, August 27,2002 The appeal brief argues that Jamal is the innocent victim of a frame-up by corrupt police and organized crime and demands his immediate release. The attorneys are asking the court to invoke a little-used procedure to itself hear testimony under oath from ex-mob hitman Arnold Beverly, who swears that he was hired to shoot and kill Police Officer Daniel Faulkner and Jamal had nothing to do with the shooting. Beverly states in a videotape of his confession that he will testify in any court. Jamal¹s attorneys have declined to disclose Beverly¹s whereabouts, stating only that he is ³underground² but has promised to come to court to testify whenever he is given the chance to do so.
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- Jamal¹s appeal is also based on the sworn statement of Court Stenographer Terri Maurer-Carter who states that, at the time of Jamal¹s trial in 1982, she heard the trial judge, Albert Sabo, say in reference to Jamal: ³Yeah, and I¹m going to help Œem fry the n****r!² According to Jamal¹s attorneys, Sabo, who died earlier this year, never denied under oath having made the racist statement attributed to him by Maurer-Carter. In their brief, Jamal¹s attorneys excoriate Common Pleas Judge Pamela Dembe for ruling thatSabo¹s racism was irrelevant and that Jamal had no right to an impartial judge, comparing her ruling to the pre-Civil War ³Dred Scott decision² in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Scott, a Black slave suing for his freedom, ³had no ights the white man is bound to respect.²
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- Prominent Los Angeles attorney Mike Yamamoto, who was named ³Defense Attorney of the Year² by the Criminal Justice Section of the L.A. County Bar, and is a member of the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association, filed an ³amicus² (friend of the court) brief in support of Jamal on behalf of unions from around the world, including International Lonshore & Warehouse Union Local 10 (San Francisco), International LongshoreAssociation Local 1422 (Charleston), National Association of Letter CarriersGolden Gate Chapter (San Francisco), National Union of Journalists (United Kingdom), and Independent Local Unions ³Zahyst² and ³Uspih² (Kiev, Ukraine).The Yamamoto brief argues that Mumia is innocent based upon an independentreview of the evidence.
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- Denver attorneys Watson Gallegher and Rich Garcia, representing the Rocky Mountains Human Rights Law Group, filed an amicus brief in support of Jamal, arguing that international human rights law requires the Pennsylvaniacourts to hear the evidence which proves that Jamal is innocent, including the confession of Arnold Beverly.
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- Philadelphia attorney Michael Coard is local counsel on the amicus briefs. Mumia Abu-Jamal is represented by British barrister Nick Brown, Chicago attorney Marlene Kamish, Los Angeles attorney Eliot Lee Grossman, and Philadelphia attorney J. Michael Farrell.
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- FOR MORE INFORMATION:
- Eliot Grossman (626) 943-1945, innjustice1066@yahoo.com
- Mike Farrell (215) 925-1105; jmfarrell@earthlink.net