Mumia Abu-Jamal: Taken off Death Row???!! Yayyy

Com 236
C. McDowell
10-11-2011


(blackmediaSCOOP) Today the Supreme Court cleared the way for deathrow inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal to get a new sentencing hearing for the killing of a Philadelphia Police Officer more than 30 years ago.

The high court rejected a request from the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office to overturn the federal appeals court decision declaring the death sentence unconstitutional for former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted of gunning down Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner more than 28 years ago.Abu-Jamal, a former radio reporter, was convicted of first-degree murder for the shooting and his conviction still stands.

After Faulkner stopped a car driven by Abu-Jamal’s younger brother, Abu-Jamal pulled a gun, shot the officer and sat on the curb until he was arrested by other police arriving on the scene. A year later he was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to die.
His guilt is no longer at issue, since a series of lower courts have upheld his conviction. But a federal judge and the U.S. court of appeals in Philadelphia set aside his death sentence because of a flaw in the jury instructions.
The judges claim that jurors may have thought they could not give leniency to Abu-Jamal unless they agreed unanimously on a particular “mitigating circumstance.” The Supreme Court had ruled in 1988 that jurors may give leniency based on any mitigating factor, and they need not agree unanimously on the same factor.
The jurors in Abu-Jamal’s case decided that killing a police officer was an “aggravating circumstance” that warranted a death sentence. But a federal judge and the federal appeals court ruled that the death sentence in this case violated the Constitution because of the flawed jury instructions.
Prosecutors remain free to convene a new jury to decide on his punishment.
What are your thoughts on this case?
SCOOP: FOXPHILLY


http://www.blackmediascoop.com/2011/10/11/supreme-court-takes-black-panther-off-death-row/
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