One night in 1992, this man was driving a cab in Philadelphia. He noticed his had been stopped and was being beaten by a group of policemen. He got out of the car to see if everything was all right, and a violent altercation followed. Officer Daniel Faulkner, an experienced and upstanding police officer was shot and killed, and this man was as well. That man is Mumia Abu Jamal, and he has been on death row for twelve years. Now, if he�d been the man who shot officer Faulkner, there may be some reason to this, but here�s the catch: all evidence says he didn�t do it.
Who is Mumia Abu Jamal, you may ask. He is a well respected radical journalist, who started his career at the age of 15 with the Black Panther party, a radical civil rights group. After the Black Panthers fell apart with the help of FBI heckling , including the assassination of it�s leader, Mumia worked in radio, but lost many jobs in this industry, despite his great skill that won him a Peabody award, due to his radical politics. He continued to find a voice, however, and this brought him to the attention of Philadelphia Mayor and ex police chief Frank Rizzo. This Frank Rizzo is notoriously aggressive towards all those who question his precious police, especially one who does so in an intelligent and effective manner. Thus, Mumia�s arrest came as no surprise. His unfair trial was even less of one.
Mr. Al Jabar�s trial was a pathetic example of the corruption rampant in the American justice system. He was denied his right to defend himself in court, as the judge gave the pathetic excuse that his dreadlocks would intimidate the jurors. He was then given an incompetent and reluctant defense attorney who was later disbarred. Even worse than this was the judge himself. Albert Sabo, the judge in this case, is a life member of the fraternal order of police, which would clearly place his judgment in question in this particular case. Even worse, he has a history of sentencing 31 people to die, more than any judge in the nation, only 2 of which were white. He is also reported to have had a huge bias against the defense, and is reported by the court stenographer to have said of the case � Yeah, and I�m going to help them fry that [expletive deleted]�. The evidence was all in Mumia�s favor as well. His gun, a .38 gauge pistol, was never linked to the bullet in Faulkner, which was not even the right size for his pistol-it was fired from a .44 gauge pistol. Also, a hitman, Arnold Beverly, has admitted to the murder of officer Faulkner under oath, but his testimony was denied by Sabo, the �prosecutor in a robe�. Under oath, Beverly stated that �I have personal knowledge that Mumia Abu-Jamal did not shoot police officer Faulkner.� Arnold stated in this same affidavit that he �was hired, along with another guy, and paid to shoot and kill Faulkner. I had heard that Faulkner was a problem for the mob and corrupt policemen because he interfered with the graft and payoffs made to allow illegal activity.� The murderer here is Arnold Beverly and the corrupt policemen of which Arnold spoke in the Affidavit.
Sadly, Mumia Al Jabar�s is not the only case where an innocent man has been sentenced to death. Between 1973 and 1999, 84 defendants were executed who were later proven to have been innocent. You may say this is a small amount, but you would be wrong-a single innocent death is too many. The killing of an innocent person is, by every major religious, moral, or political system , unjustifiable. Even if Mumia Al Jabar had done this crime, it would not be worthy of the death penalty- only first degree murder or capital murder merit this penalty under US law. First degree murder is the premeditated murder of a human being, and capital murder is a higher charge, usually only charged to serial killers. Even with these laws, many, including myself, believe that it is hypocritical for a government to execute anyone, as it is simply telling people not to kill then turning around and killing those who disobey. Also, if there is a possibility of killing an innocent person, even a small one, it is too much of a chance to make a mistake; and the statistics show that people are executed. This is why, in 1781, when 55 men got together in a small, cramped house, in what was then the capital of an infant nation to write the laws the nation would follow, and wrote �Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.�
Mumia Abu Jamal has been sentenced to death, an unconstitutional punishment, despite the fact that he is innocent. He was sentenced from a biased court and a biased judge, and all evidence points to someone other than himself. Sadly, the courts refuse to listen to him, because he is a radical and has not feared the retribution that those who successfully voice opinions contrary to the ruling party almost always receive. This is not justice, it is criminal injustice.