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Mobilization4Mumia
215-724-1618
Mobilization4Mumia.com
November 15, 2019 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Pam Africa 267-760-7344 or Joe Piette 610-931-2615; mobilization4Mumia@gmail.com
Mumia Abu-Jamal and his supporters are closer than ever to winning his release after 38 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. The Fraternal Order of Police, former district attorneys, and other political higher ups who participated in the frame up are now shaking in their boots because an innocent man may be given a new trial in which judicial, police and prosecutorial misconduct will be exposed.
Formerly hidden evidence disclosed by current District Attorney Larry Krasner justifies a new trial and Abu-Jamal’s immediate release. That decision is currently in the hands of State Superior Court judges.
Pam Africa, of the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal and a MOVE member, said “Abu-Jamal should have been released by Krasner on the basis of judicial and prosecutorial misconduct--as many others have been recently. By doing this, Krasner would be following the color of the law.”
While Maureen Faulkner/Palkovic, widow of Daniel Faulkner, is being put forward as the face of the opposition in recent court proceedings, the real players behind the scenes are the FOP and their cronies. And they are dangerously worried. It is in the interest of the 6500-member FOP Lodge 5 to bring down Larry Krasner, the popular new DA with an anti-corruption agenda. The FOPs’ campaign is nothing less than an effort to terrorize any court official who values justice more than letting an unfair conviction stand.
At a Nov. 12 press conference at the FOPs’ lodge, Faulkner claimed “I’m here for justice.” In 38 years, Faulkner and the FOP have never fought for justice. In fact, the FOP has a decades-long violent and racist history of defending every cop accused of police brutality and terror against Black and Brown and poor people.
Previous district attorneys were more concerned with getting high rates of convictions against African American and Latinx residents than actual justice. Their policies resulted in the unfair jailing of innocent people like Mumia Abu-Jamal and mass incarceration. “The police at the scene, supported by the FOP, also the prosecution under Edward Rendell knew that Mumia was innocent. The FOP and Faulkners’ recent attempt to remove DA Krasner from Mumia's new appeals is just another cover-up ” said Rachel Wolkenstein, longtime Mumia supporter.
The FOP wants Abu-Jamal’s case to be taken from Krasner’s office and handled instead by conservative PA Attorney General Joshua Shapiro, who has staffed his office with several former assistant DAs fired from the Philadelphia DAs office - some of whom were complicit in Mumia’s unfair conviction.
DA Krasner says he found potentially damaging evidence about the prosecution's trial witnesses in newly discovered files. He believes that evidence should be aired in court - but hasn't said if Abu-Jamal deserves a new trial.
Abu-Jamal’s attorney Judith Ritter contends that the new evidence shows Abu-Jamal’s trial was “fundamentally unfair and tainted by serious constitutional violations.”
Abu-Jamal was a well-known political activist when he was severely beaten by police and charged with murder in 1981. Questionsthat have been suppressed and buried for decades could now could be made public for the first time during a new trial:
• DA Joe McGill paid off witnesses with favors and cash.
• McGill allowed a cab-driver witness with a suspended license to keep driving. (Photos of the crime scene by the Philadelphia Bulletin prove the cabbies’ car was literally not at the scene.)
• Joe McGill illegally removed Black jurors.
• Joe McGill tracked and fixed the outstanding cases of other key witnesses.
• The DA’s office for 37 yrs withheld and suppressed critical information from Mumia’s criminal defense team.
• Judge Albert Sabo stated “I am going to help them fry the n*****” in front of Judge Richard Klein and court clerk Terry Maurer Carter.
•Alfonso Giordano--Philadelphia Police Commander -- the highest ranking officer on the scene of officer Faulkner’s murder on Dec. 9th 1981 falsely stated that Mumia confessed while he was beating him in the police van.
On Dec. 2, Krasner is expected to submit a response to arguments from Abu-Jamal’s lawyers for a new trial-- taking a stand for justice against FOP intimidation.
The current FOP attack on DA Krasner is part of the 38 year effort to silence Abu-Jamal once and for all. We who believe in justice will not allow that to happen.
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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Qo1jrdfgPWggtIbLi_TlqknyBwz5lZtwCTVnUjJOtr4/edit?usp=sharing
