Mumia Abu-Jamal’s 1982 death sentence is again declared unconstitutional
by Melquiades Gagarin, NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund
The court found that, in violation of the United States Supreme Court’s 1988 decision in Mills v. Maryland, the jury was improperly led to believe that that it could only consider unanimously agreed upon evidence favoring a life verdict. This mistake rendered Mr. Abu-Jamal’s death sentence fundamentally unfair. The NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), and Professor Judy Ritter of Widener Law School represent Mr. Abu-Jamal in this appeal of his 1982 conviction and death sentence for the murder of a police officer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
“This decision marks an important step forward in the struggle to correct the mistakes of an unfortunate chapter in Pennsylvania history,” said John Payton, director-counsel of LDF. “Again acknowledging the existence of clear constitutional error in Mr. Abu-Jamal’s trial, the Court of Appeals’ decision enhances confidence in the criminal justice system and helps to relegate the kind of unfairness on which this death sentence rested to the distant past.”
Professor Ritter noted: “Pennsylvania long ago abandoned the confusing and misleading instructions and verdict slip that were relied on in Mr. Abu-Jamal’s trial in order to prevent unfair and unjust death sentences. Courts now use clear and unambiguous language to advise sentencing juries about their ability to consider evidence that favors a life verdict. Mr. Abu-Jamal is entitled to no less constitutional protection.”
Mumia Abu-Jamal has been on death row in Pennsylvania for 29 years.
Melquiades Gagarin of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc., can be reached at mgagarin@naacpldf.org or (212) 965-2783.
YEAH!!!! I just rushed over to see if you had the news after picking it up on Milton Allimadi's FB page, http://goo.gl/wVwAe.
Two weeks ago I made that prediction. Its an End of Age in terms of injustices in an unjust legal system!
I made that prediction just a couple of weeks ago about Mumia's possible freedom.
Obama should pardon Mumia if he really has any balls,why not her is aman in prison for decades who's proclaimed his innosence. I cna just imagine the mental torture he's going through, am sure writing does release some stress but being behind bars for decades must ake it's toll on a person's psyche. I've read of people on death row who are on life support system, now does that make sense,hell no !
I suppose the state wants the glory of killing you, death row must be the most vicious psychology torture ever imagined, every day is compartmentalized stress to the ultimate. Been in jail is mental structure and then you compound this with being on death row. Whew! No wonder so many lose their minds on death row, it's designed to break you, knowing any day you could be executed by the state. To all the people in jail the one million Black people,try to stay strong and hopefully you walk out that can of worms one day and start anew.
Morally repugnent