UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA
PETITIONER'S MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE MARCH 1927
ARTICLE BY JUSTICE FELIX
FRANKFURTER ON SACCO-VANZETTI CASE.
COMES NOW Petitioner Mumia Abu-Jamal and, pursuant to the District Court's
Order of September 20, 2001, Rule 7 of the Rules Governing Section 2254
Cases, and Rule 59 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (applicable
to
federal habeas proceedings under Rule 11 of the Rules Governing Section
2254
Cases), hereby moves the Court for leave to file the attached March 1927
article by Justice Felix Frankfurter on the Sacco-Vanzetti case and, in
support thereof, states and alleges as follows:
1. Before Felix Frankfurter became one of the truly great justices of
our
Supreme Court, and while still a Professor of Law, he wrote an article
in
the March 1927 Atlantic Monthly (attached hereto as EXHIBIT "A")
exposing
the "grave miscarriage of justice" in the Sacco-Vanzetti case
in which two
innocent Italian anarchists were convicted and sentenced to death and
their
motion for a new trial denied in an opinion Frankfurter described as a
"farrago of misquotations, misrepresentations, suppressions, and
mutilations" that was "literally honeycombed with demonstrable
errors, and a
spirit alien to judicial utterance" and from which one could not
possible
derive "a true knowledge of the new evidence that was submitted to
him as
the basis for a new trial." Despite Professor Frankfurter's incisively
written article, and a prominent international movement in defense of
these
two innocent men, they were executed by the State of Massachusetts after
the
United States Supreme Court refused to hear their appeal, and the resulting
stain on the history of our legal system remains to this day.
2. There are a number of historical parallels between the case of
Sacco-Vanzetti and that of Mumia Abu-Jamal which future historians will
undoubtedly comment upon in their assessment of how well our legal system
functioned in this historical period. The District Court has a grave
responsibility in this case, not only because it holds a man's life in
its
hands, but because its decision will be subject to the scrutiny not only
of
higher courts in our legal system, and the court of public opinion
throughout the world, but also the highest court — the court of history.
3. Judge Sabo's bias and prejudice against Petitioner Mumia Abu-Jamal
permeated the original trial and provide a more than adequate basis to
overturn Petitioner's conviction and death sentence. Judge Sabo's bias
and
prejudice so fatally infected his purported "findings of fact"
in the
post-conviction proceedings that they cannot be afforded any "presumption
of
correctness" under Williams v. Taylor, 529 US 420 (2000) as the marshaling
of evidence by Judge Sabo was neither fair nor thorough. Certainly, a
judge
whose self-proclaimed purpose in presiding over the proceedings in
Petitioner Jamal's case, according to Court Reporter Maurer-Carter's
declaration, was to "help 'em [i.e. the prosecution] fry the n****r"
did not
and could not provide Mr. Jamal with anything even remotely resembling
a
fair hearing.
4. Judge Thayer, the trial judge who condemned Sacco and Vanzetti to
death,
clearly shared the xenophobic prejudice against Italian immigrants which
was
unfortunately widespread in this country in that historical period as
well
as an undisguised distaste for their political beliefs. Justice Frankfurter
notes that any expert psychologist reading the Thayer opinion "could
not
fail to find evidences that portray strong personal feeling, poorly
concealed, that should have no place in a judicial document." According
to
Justice Frankfurter: "By what is left out and by what is put in,
the
uninformed reader of Judge Thayer's opinion would be wholly misled as
to the
real facts of the case."
5. There is a direct and chilling historical parallel between the case
of
Sacco and Vanzetti and the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal because in both cases
the
real murderer confessed and exonerated the innocent men wrongly convicted
and sentenced to death. In Justice Frankfurter's article he describes
the
confession of Celestino F. Madeiros and the supporting evidence which
proved
that he and the Morelli gang had committed the crime for which Sacco and
Vanzetti were sentenced to death. In the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal the real
killer, Arnold Beverly, has confessed and Petitioner Jamal's counsel have
detailed in their [Proposed] First Redrafted and Amended Habeas Petition,
and other filings before the District Court, the plethora of evidence
which
corroborates that confession.
6. In Justice Frankfurter's article he describes the Sacco-Vanzetti case
in
terms — equally applicable to the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal —
as one in
which "a long succession of disclosures has aroused interest far
beyond the
boundaries of Massachusetts [Pennsylvania] and even of the United States,
until the case has become one of those rare causes célèbres
which are of
international concern." It is respectfully submitted that it is the
duty of
this Court to ensure that history does not repeat itself in this case
with
an innocent man being executed while the confession of the real murderer
is
ignored.
CONCLUSION
7. It is respectfully requested that this motion be granted and that
Justice
Frankfurter's article on the Sacco-Vanzetti case (EXHIBIT "A")
be filed.
(1*) It is further respectfully requested that the District Court grant
Petitioner's Motion to Overturn the State Court Fact-Finding and deny
it any
presumption of correctness. It is further respectfully requested that
Petitioner's Motion for Leave to File [Proposed] First Redrafted and Amended
Habeas Petition be granted, and that an evidentiary hearing be set, and
discovery be authorized, with regard to the claims for relief set forth
therein, including but not limited to Petitioner's claims of "actual
innocence."
_____________________________________________________
footnote: (1*) The article is also available at
http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/flashbks/oj/frankff.htm.
///
Dated: November 2, 2001
Respectfully submitted,
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL
SCI Greene, No. AM8335
175 Progress Drive
Waynesburg, PA 15370-8090
Petitioner
NICK BROWN
Barrister-at-Law
4 New Square
Lincoln's Inn
London WC2A 3RJ
United Kingdom
011-44-207-822-2000
MARLENE KAMISH
Attorney-at-Law
2927 West Liberty Avenue #193
Pittsburgh, PA 15216-2525
(412) 264-6686
ELIOT LEE GROSSMAN
LAW OFFICE OF ELIOT LEE GROSSMAN
La Rotunda Building
248 East Main Street, Suite 100
Alhambra, CA 91801
(626) 943-1945
Attorneys for Petitioner Mumia Abu-Jamal
J. MICHAEL FARRELL
Attorney-at-Law
718 Arch Street, Suite 402 South
Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 925-1105
Local Counsel for Petitioner Mumia Abu-Jamal