• FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE •
August 22, 2012 •Contact: Rachel Wolkenstein 917.689.4009
[Bay Area book-signing event–details below–
Contact: Chris Kinder 510.763.2347]
Memoir of Mumia Trial Witness Details
Police, Prosecution and Judicial Abuse
Veronica and the Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, as told to her sister Valerie Jones is the posthumous memoir of a key witness in the frame-up conviction of political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. Sometimes painfully raw, always vivid and forthright, this is the life story of Veronica Jones. She saw two other men run from the scene of the shooting death of police officer Daniel Faulkner—she was a witness for Mumia’s innocence. Unbeknownst to anyone but her younger sister, Veronica’s life was also intimately entwined with Faulkner’s.
Before she could testify at the 1982 trial, police detectives threatened Veronica with 10-15 years in prison and separation from her young children if she did not falsely name Mumia as the shooter. At Mumia’s trial she recanted her original and true witness statement and denied that she saw anyone run from the scene. This gave the prosecution evidence for conviction.
In 1996 when Veronica courageously came forward to redeem herself and correct a fourteen year old lie, notorious Judge Albert Sabo, “king of death row,” and the prosecution retaliated and had her handcuffed and arrested off the witness stand!
Veronica’s memoir provides a compelling understanding of how the judicial system works to convict an innocent man. Cornel West endorsed this work: “The Jim Crow ‘justice’ continues to unfold in Brother Mumia Abu-Jamal’s case. Don’t miss this powerful and poignant book!”
Long-time advocate for justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal, actor Ed Asner:
From the outset, I became a Doubting Thomas of Mumia’s guilt. I couldn’t claim his innocence, just that the trial and conviction were a modern day lynching. Veronica Jones‘ memoir totally validates my doubts. I am also awestruck at the enormity of Philadelphia corruption in its courts and the police and the pandering of public officials such as Tom Ridge and Ed Rendell to mob mentality. Veronica Jones deserves a posthumous medal as a truth bringer.
Mumia Abu-Jamal has written a Forward for this memoir, acknowledging Veronica’s courage and resistance to government threats and abuse.
She was black-mailed with the threat of prison and a mother’s ultimate fear — separation from her babies! — to get her on the stand.
And still she did not fold. She did not say what the government wanted her to say. In spite of ungodly pressures.
What courage! She fought back in the only way she could — Veronica Jones resisted. I did not know the slender, brown woman on the stand, beyond name, supposed profession, age, address. But I wish I did. I wish I could’ve hugged her. I would’ve told her how proud I was of her, her spirit, her fire. But I never had the chance.
When you read her words, I bet you’ll want to hug her too. For she was a remarkable woman, who fought many battles in her life; losing some, but fighting still. Let this work, blessed into being by her loving sister, Valerie, be her testament.
Veronica withstood that abuse and testified to the truth of what she saw the night police officer Faulkner was killed – and exposed the police coercion to make her lie at Mumia’s trial. Outrageously no court –from the blatantly pro-prosecution Philadelphia judge Albert Sabo to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to the federal district court Judge William Yohn –gave any credence to Veronica’s testimony or the evidence of police and prosecutorial misconduct.
As Valerie Jones concludes, “Veronica died on December 1, 2009. I dedicate this book to Ronnie, my big sister, the most courageous person I’ve ever known. I miss you terribly and I hope I’ve shared your story in a way that does you justice. If that mission has been accomp- lished, this is the only justice you’ve received – thus far.”
In addition to a Forward by Mumia Abu-Jamal, the book includes his October 4, 1996 commentary, “Fugitive from Injustice,” and an afterward by Rachel Wolkenstein, an attorney working since 1987 to free Mumia, “The Legal Significance of Veronica Jones’s Testimony.”
Veronica & the Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, as told to Valerie Jones will be available in paperback from Xlibris, and as an e-book from Amazon.com. Books will be available in the Bay Area at the book-signing events listed below.
Review copies available for journalists in the Bay Area: contact Chris Kinder 510.763,2347.
• Author appearances/book-signing events in the Bay Area •
EAST BAY: 7 PM FRIDAY THE 7TH OF SEPTEMBER
Neibyl-Proctor Marxist Library • 6501 Telegraph Ave Oakland
SAN FRANCISCO: 7 PM SATURDAY THE 8TH OF SEPTEMBER
Centro del Pueblo • 474 Valencia, San Francisco
Info: 510.763.2347
• Excerpts from Veronica & the Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal •
Veronica: “In 1982 at Mumia’s trial, was it legal for detectives to bring me into a room, threaten me, force me to piss on myself while they sat back and watched me sit in my own urine until I cracked. That was okay? Threatening me until I changed my story was okay?
There we were—at the PCRA hearing–fourteen years later and nothing had changed. Even the judge is the same: Sabo, the devil himself.
All I can say about that day is that I never dreamed someone could get beat up, dragged through the mud and tortured on a witness stand just for coming forward to tell the truth. The things they did to me that day should not be legal. But now, all of a sudden out of nowhere, here is this warrant for my arrest on the witness stand.
I was ambushed: a straight up hit!
There ain’t no other way to describe what they did to me. On top of publicly humiliating me, putting my address out there for anyone to come and get me if they chose to, this evil heartless DA has me arrested.
The “justice system” badgers the hell out of a witness for coming forward to set straight a lie that that they forced me to say in the first fucking place! How the hell was this legal?
Philly courts aren’t worth shit! They didn’t want the truth or real justice back in 1982 so why the hell did I think they would want that in 1996? I can’t believe that I was naïve enough to think they’d listen. They knew what they had up their sleeve the whole time and they just lay back waiting to strike. What kind of justice system is that? They really want to see Mumia fry that bad?”
• Notes from the back cover of Veronica & the Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal •
This book is one of the most lucid, honest, and courageous book that I’ve ever read. In addition to being a captivating memoir, Veronica exposes powerful and necessary truths about the State’s obsession with unjustly incarcerating
— Mumia Abu Jamal
This memoir serves as yet another important and compelling piece of evidence that confirms what we already know: Mumia Abu-Jamal has been deliberately and unfairly incarcerated. Anyone interested in freedom and justice must read this book now!
—Marc Lamont Hill
I will never forget sitting in the courtroom when Veronica Jones vowed to be honest to her unborn grandchild, and was arrested off the witness stand for telling the truth. I couldn’t put down her memoir. I understood even more the police abuse that led her to lie at Mumia’s trial.
This book astounded me by its revelations of the Philly police relations with prostitutes and witnesses and particularly Officer Faulkner’s complicated, extended sexual involvement with Veronica Jones, a vulnerable young mother. Her courage is enhanced by this informative narrative. A shocking and revealing eye-opener!
—Frances Goldin