There might be justice for activist Mumia Abu-Jamal. He will receive a new hearing.
See Also: Mumia Abu-Jamal Slams Philadelphia Prison With Lawsuit After Being Denied Hepatitis C Treatment
In December, Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Leon Tucker, who ruled that the “slightest appearance of bias or lack of impartiality undermines the entire judiciary.”
The Associated Press reports, “District Attorney Larry Krasner initially fought Tucker’s order, fearing it could affect a large number of convictions. On Wednesday, he dropped his challenge, citing a revised ruling from Tucker that narrows the scope of his order.”
Jamar’s lawyers claimed that the former Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Ronald Castille was biased in upholding the murder conviction of a policeman against Abu-Jamal, who is serving a life sentence.
The outlet reports in 1982, Castille had improperly heard an appeal in a murder case he had overseen as district attorney “Krasner agreed that Castille should not have worn ‘two hats’ in the case, a fact made more egregious, he suggested, by the discovery of a 1990 note Castille sent Gov. Robert Casey about ‘police killers,’ urging him to issue death warrants to “send a clear and dramatic message to all police killers that the death penalty actually means something.”
Krasner explained, “Although the issue is technical, it is also an important cautionary tale on the systemic problems that flow from a judge’s failing to recuse where there is an appearance of bias.”
The widow of the Philadelphia police officer, Daniel Faulkner, is now angry at Krasner, “I was just crying my eyes out, once again,” said the 62-year-old. “What about the survivors? What about victims in Philadelphia, and how they’re notified?”
Krasner office says they notified her about the new hearing on April 16.
won him another appeal due to new evidence. Now the widow of the officer he was accused of killing spoke out to Fox News and she is “absolutely outraged.”
Abu-Jamal, like numerous other convicted Black men, has had many failed appeals in fighting for freedom. The former member of the Black Panther party, journalist and author has been incarcerated for 36 years following his conviction in the 1981 murder of the officer. The 64-year-old has maintained his innocence and become a symbol for criminal justice reform.
Back in July, Abu-Jamal told The Guardian via emails, “I think we posed an existential challenge to the very legitimacy of the System – and it unleashed unprecedented fury from the State. That’s why they used any means, even illegal, to extinguish what they saw as a threat.”
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