Updates & the Latest News about Mumia:
Scroll down for links and details

Transcriptions of recently filed statements/declarations:
• Mumia Abu-Jamal (his account of what happened on the night of December 9, 1981) • William Cook (Mumia's brother and his account) • Arnold Beverly(the man who has confessed) • Linn Washington (News reporter who came on the scene) • Donald Hersing (FBI informant who exposes the police corruption in Philadelphia) • Terri Maurer-Carter (court reporter who heard the orginal trial judge make racist comments)

DECEMBER 2001

Judge strikes down Mumia's CURRENT death sentence

FORWARDED MESSAGE
==================
From: "stoptheexecution ..." <lostgenera>
Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2001 2:45 PM

This morning, Judge William Yohn struck down Mumia Abu-Jamal's current death sentence but left the possibilityfor a new death sentence. Yohn announced that a re-sentencing hearing, should be held within 180 days. The District Attorney can ask for a new death sentence to be applied, or the sentence may be converted to life imprisonment. Yohn's decision was based on flawed instructions to the 1982 jury during the original sentencing procedure, in which information was withheld from them that could have prompted them to seek a different sentence.

The decision did *not* overturn Mumia's conviction for first-degree murder. Mumia supporters point to 20 years of evidence which has yet to be put on the record in the case; including Arnold Beverly's confession, and numerous testimonies from witnesses who describe having been coerced by police to lie in favor of the prosecution. The decision follows a December 8th police attack on a permitted demonstration, which resulted in serious injuries, and multiple felonycharges for 6 activists. (click on link above or below and see "updates & news" link)

Just remember: People seeking justice for Mumia should understand that
A) Mumia could be sentenced AGAIN to death;
B) Since this decision does not allow for an actual new trial, Mumia could be left to live the rest of his days in prison without any of this evidence beingd in court. That means for us that rather than sitting back with relief, this is an incredibly important time to stay involved and take it higher. JUSTICE FOR MUMIA ABU-JAMAL! FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS!

Peaceful Mumia Demonstration in Philadelphia Attacked by Police
December 8th, was a demonstration in Philadelphia to mark the 20 years our brother Mumia has lived, locked down, under threat of death by the government. There was a rally at City Hall, speeches at 13th and Locust and then a march to The Ethical Culture Center for an indoor rally.
A few blocks from the Center, people in the middle of the march were attacked by the police. Some were thrown to the ground. Cops used their batons to beat people. People were maced. A gun was put to the head of a demonstrator and waved at the crowd. Another demonstrator dragged away by the neck and suffered a broken jawbone. All of this was videotaped and some of it was witnessed by people who went to Philly on the Chicago bus. This was a legally permitted demonstration and march and the kind of police vilolence exhibited was highly unusual for marches for Mumia in Philadelphia.

--------------

International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
For Immediate Release: December 13, 2001

COMMUNITY LEADERS CALL FOR INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION OF POLICE RIOT ON DECEMBER 8TH, 2001. Press conference held Friday, December 14th

Community activists are calling for an independent investigation of the brutal and unprovoked attack by Philadelphia police on the December 8th thousand-plus march in support of death row political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. A press conference will be held on Friday, December 14, at 11AM at the corner of 16th & Walnut St. near the site of last weekend's police riot, to demand that charges against six people arrested on Saturday immediately be dropped.

The police ambush attack on peaceful protesters in a permitted demonstration is viewed as part of the state's ongoing effort to suppress the mounting evidence in Abu-Jamal's case pointing to his innocence. Rally organizers expressed concern that the national attacks on civil liberties seem to have emboldened the police.

Saturday's demonstration stopped at the intersection of 13th and Locust Streets to view a video taped confession by Arnold Beverly that he, not Abu-Jamal, had shot Daniel Faulkner on December 9, 1981.

Shortly after as marchers made their way up Walnut Street, according to eyewitness accounts, on behalf of a heckler of the rally, bicycle cops toward the back of the march charged into the middle of the crowd, dismounted their bikes and drew a gun on one protester whom they pinned to the ground. Police then began ramming people with their bicycles, and indiscriminately beating demonstrators with batons, pepper-spraying them, and arresting people.

It is the contention of supportive organizations of Abu-Jamal that this was in fact, a deliberate staged attack. There are reports that a very large number of police were seen massed on side streets behind the march just before the attack. Civil Affairs officers who have co-operated with rally organizers in the past to keep order, were difficult to find when the attack occurred.

Each of the six demonstrators were given felony charges, including felony assault and felony riot, as well as conspiracy, assault and conspiracy to riot. Bails were set from $8,000 to $100,000. Three of the protesters were hospitalized with injuries including unconsciousness, concussion, a fractured tailbone, dislocated jaw, internal bleeding, and severe abrasions. Police also beat other demonstrators, and attacked a freelance reporter for the Amsterdam News who was covering the event.

- 30 -

------------

Mumia Abu-Jamal's attorneys sent anletter to the Mayor of Philadelphia (see below) today protesting a vicious attack by Philadelphia Police on a peaceful and legal march December 8 commemorating the 20th anniversary of the frame-up of Mumia for the death of a police officer on December 9, 1981.

The police attack sent three demonstrators to the hospital with serious
injuries and resulted in bogus felony riot charges being filed against eight
marchers to intimidate and silence the victims of the attack. During the
incident, one Philadelphia police officer apparently went berserk, drew his
gun, and waved it wildly about with his finger on the trigger, endangering
the lives of peaceful marchers, innocent by-standers, and his fellow officers.

Theletter to Philadelphia Mayor John Street accuses the Philadelphia Police of having intentionally pre-planned the attack and blasts District Attorney Lynne Abraham for vindictively filing felony charges and demanding excessive bail for the innocent victims of police violence.

Mumia's attorneys point out that, while the Philadelphia Inquirer Newspaper has dramatically demanded a moratorium on the death penalty in Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Police have imposed their own moratorium on the First Amendment.

According to Mumia's attorneys, this unprovoked attack on peaceful
demonstrators lawfully exercising their First Amendment rights shows that "not only is there no justice or peace" in Philadelphia, "there is no law and order either."

According to Mumia's attorneys, the police riot began shortly after marchers had rallied at 13th & Locust Streets, the scene of the incident 20 years ago which resulted in the frame-up of award-winning Black journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal and the death of Police Officer Daniel Faulkner. The marchers had just watched a videotaped confession of the real killer, Arnold Beverly, which the courts have thus far refused to consider although it is corroborated by a lie detector test and a mass of other evidence. According to Beverly, he was hired by corrupt police and the mob to murder Faulkner because the officer was an obstacle to the protection and pay-offs racket they were running in center city Philadelphia in the 1980's.

Mumia's attorneys urge the Mayor to speak out publicly and to exercise the powers of his office to see that the charges against the marchers are dropped and Mumia is freed.

====================
Letter to Mayor Street From Mumia's Attorneys

December 10, 2001

Hon. John Street
Mayor of the City of Philadelphia
City Hall, Room 215
Philadelphia, PA

RE: Police Attack on Peaceful Mumia March, December 8, 2001
Dear Mayor Street:

On December 8, 2001, the First Amendment was mugged by Philadelphia Police who viciously attacked a legal march of 1,000 people of all ages and races who were peacefully commemorating the 20th anniversary of the frame-up of award-winning Black journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal who is still on death row although the real killer has confessed and exonerated him.

Ironically, the marchers had just left 13th & Locust, the scene of the December 9, 1981 incident which resulted in Mumia‚s frame-up and the death of Police Officer Daniel Faulkner. The marchers had just watched the videotaped confession of mob hit-man Arnold Beverly, who explains how he was hired by corrupt police and the mob to murder Faulkner because he was an obstacle to the "protection and pay-offs"racket they were running in center city in the 1980's. Beverly‚s confession makes it clear that Mumia had nothing to do with the shooting and arrived on the scene after the police officer was shot. According to eyewitnesses, the police riot began when a white by-stander screamed racist epithets at the marchers, a marcher replied, and the by-stander grabbed the marcher and yelled for police to arrest him. A group of officers broke ranks and waded into the march, billy clubs flying, sending three marchers to the hospital with serious injuries (among them a petite Asian woman with a broken coccyx and possible perforated colon) and causing a Buddhist priest to suffer a heart attack.

One berserk officer pulled a gun and waved it wildly about with his finger on the trigger, endangering the lives of marchers, innocent by-standers, and his fellow officers, before putting the gun to the head of the marcher who dared to verbally reply to the racist provocateur who initiated the incident. See enclosed photograph of one of "Philadelphia's finest" on the verge of accidentally shooting who knows how many innocent people. Any firearms instructor, whether police, military or civilian, will tell you that the first rule of safe firearms handling is not to let the muzzle cover anything that you do not want to destroy and never to place your finger on the trigger until you have made the decision to shoot.

Not only could this wild man have shot and killed someone, he could have caused a mass panic by other officers who, hearing a shot and thinking they were under attack, might have drawn and fired their weapons, causing a veritable bloodbath of dead and wounded. This is precisely what happened to Taisha Brawley, an innocent young Black woman asleep in her car who was riddled with gunfire by panicky Riverside, California police.

What makes this "cop riot" even more ominous is that it bears all the signs of a pre-planned provocation which failed to turn into a full-scale melee and massacre only because the marchers kept their cool and did not reply in kind to police violence. Plainclothes police "liaison officers," who had been functioning as a "buffer" between uniformed police and the marchers, suspiciously disappeared from the scene shortly before the unprovoked police attack. It should also be noted that while a small group of officers literally ran amuck, many of their fellows showed visible signs of shock at their behavior and were heard exclaiming under their breath, "this isn't right, this isn‚t right."

Meanwhile, "tough cookie" Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham, whose blood lust to execute Mumia Abu-Jamal, despite his innocence, has apparently set her into a feeding frenzy on his hapless supporters, has now filed felony riot charges and demanded outrageously high bails for the innocent victims of the police riot. This shameful attempt to intimidate and silence those whose only crime is to exercise their constitutional right to freedom of speech and assembly, coming as it does in the context of the continuing frame-up of an innocent man for a murder that he did not commit, is a troubling sign that in the „City of Brotherly Love,‰ not only is there no justice or peace, there is no „law and order‰ either. While the Philadelphia Inquirer dramatically demanded a moratorium on the death penalty in Pennsylvania in an editorial on November 12, Philadelphia Police declared their own moratorium on the First Amendment in Philadelphia on December 8. This vicious display of contempt for the laws and Constitution which these police officers are supposedly sworn to uphold and protect not only disrupted a peaceful and legal march in support of justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal, it marred the 20th anniversary of the tragic death of Police Officer Daniel Faulkner, for whom there will never be justice so long as the frame-up of an innocent man continues to cover-up the trail which might otherwise lead to the door of those who planned the officer‚s murder and hired the triggermen to carry it out.

We urge you to speak out publicly and exercise the powers of your office to have the charges against the marchers dropped immediately and to free Mumia.

Very truly yours,
MARLENE KAMISH, ESQ.
NICK BROWN, ESQ.
ELIOT LEE GROSSMAN, ESQ.
J. MICHAEL FARRELL, ESQ.

By:
ELIOT LEE GROSSMAN
Attorneys for Mumia Abu-Jamal

Enc. (photo see above) cc w/enc:
Philadelphia Inquirer
Philadelphia Tribune
Philadelphia New Observer
News Wire, Inc.
Governor Mark Schweiker
Pam Africa, ICFFMAJ
Mumia Abu-Jamal

---------------

From: Professor Mark Taylor
Sent: Sunday, December 09, 2001 7:07 PM
Subject: Mumia Melee or Police Riot?

To the Inquirer:
Your story on the "Mumia Melee" was inaccurate and left out what I saw. I
drove in from Princeton, New Jersey, for this peaceful rally. And it was
peaceful, symbolized for me by the many parents guiding their children
through the streets in a 2-hour act of solidarity for Mumia.

I did not see how the conflict with police started, but by the time I got
to the scene I saw police rioting, charging into the crowd of people
simply to terrorize. I saw one burly officer rush a small, young woman,
pick her up, shake her until she was terrorized, then push her back into
the crowd. I saw others with faces twitching, eager to swing their clubs,
both physically and emotionally out of control. Most distressing, I saw
police supervisors on the sidewalks seeing their officers improper
actions, and doing nothing.

I returned to Princeton leaving one of my friends among those jailed by
the police. He was doing nothing but shouting out to the police to calm
down. And he's now charged with "felony riot?" Something's wrong in
Philadelphia. I am ready to testify against the police for their riotous
ways.

Mark Taylor
mark.taylor

---------

From: NPC
Sent: Sunday, December 09, 2001 1:35 PM

The Philadelphia International Action Center joins our national office in
condemnation of the Philadelphia police's unprovoked and brutal attack on the December 8th thousand-plus march in support of death row political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. In the aftermath of September 11th, and the national attacks on civil liberties, the police seemed emboldened to carry out an ambush attack of peaceful protestors in a permitted demonstration. Their actions threaten all of us, and we need to respond.

Saturday's repression followed the harassment of a high-level delegationfrom France (including a French Senator, two mayors, a union president, a member of the European Parliament and the daughter of Franz Fannon) at the prison where Mumia Abu-Jamal is being held. Besides being verbally abused, cameras and video equipment were seized and film destroyed.

Saturday's protest called for freedom for Abu-Jamal, entering his 20th year on death row for the alleged murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. The demonstration stopped at the intersection of 13th and Locust Streets to view a video taped confession by Arnold Beverly that he, not Abu-Jamal, had shot Faulkner on December 9th, 1981.

Shortly after, as the marchers made their way up Walnut Street, according to one eyewitness account, on behalf of a right-wing heckler of the rally, bicycle cops toward the back of the march charged into the middle of the crowd, dismounted their bikes, and drew a gun on one protestor whom they had pinned to the ground. Police began ramming people with their bicycles, and indiscriminately beating demonstrators with batons, pepper-spraying them, and arresting people. An army of cops descended on the protest, some wearing camouflage and black berets. Some were transit cops. The Civil Affairs cops who were supposed to be the intermediary between the police and the demonstrators were nowhere to be found during the ambush.

At this time we have been able to confirm seven arrests, including two activists from Philadelphia. (The Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting that all those arrested were from out of town since they never want to admit to the sizeable and growing support for Mumia in Philadelphia).One of the sisters arrested from Philadelphia, who weighs less than 100 lbs, was surrounded by several cops. She ended up hospitalized with a broken tailbone, although video cameras show her walking as she was lead away. Another woman arrested was also hospitalized with a broken jaw-bone from being violently dragged on the ground by the police. A third man was also hospitalized but since released. Those arrested are being charged with felony assault on a police officer, and felony inciting to riot, and face high bails.

Those who saw today's Inquirer account of this event need to respond to the lies and distortions in that coverage. Mumia has stated his innocence on more than one occasion, including in a sworn affidavit filed last summer by his new attorneys. His attorneys have been fighting to get the affidavit by Arnold Beverly confessing to the murder entered into the court records -- but the district attorney and both federal Judge William Yohn and Pennsylvania Judge Pamela Dembe have refused to allow the confession into evidence -- claiming it is "not timely". Since when is there a statue of limitations on murder, especially when an innocent man sits on death row accused of the crime?

Many activists and civil libertarians have expressed concern in recent weeks over the Bush Administration's attempts to curtail civil liberties in the aftermath of September 11th. We ask all who are concerned with the shredding of constitutional rights, to join in a struggle to demand freedom for Mumia, whose constitutional rights to a fair trial, to have counsel of his choice, and more have been denied for 20 years.

Those arrested on Saturday are in need of support, both vocal and financial.

To find out how you can help, please contact the offices of International
Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal at or
icffmaj ; or e-mail the IAC at philnpc

Call to protest these arrests and the brutality of the police:
-- Deputy Commissioner Sylvester Johnson ; 686-3359
-- The 9th Precinct
-- Mayor John Street

NOVEMBER 2001

Dec 9 marks the 20th stolen year Mumia has spent incarcerated and on death row. Much New Evidence of Mumia's innocence has surfaced in recent months including a confession by Arnold Beverly and multiple affidavits to support it. Nevertheless, State Court Judge Dembe ruled against Mumia and refused to hear this new evidence on November 21. This will be appealed. Philadelphia Federal Court Judge Yohn's decision is pending on whether or not to grant an evidentiary hearing.

• see the document filed in state court that she denied: Dowload PCRA 2001 & Read! (condensed and reformatted to 68 pages, pdf file, with Acrobat Reader Software 473k)

To see the petition in html (this 300 page document is worth the read and is broken up into 18 parts) go to www.mumia.org and click on "legal" then look for PCRA parts.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 5, 2001

MUMIA ABU-JAMAL’S ATTORNEYS, COMPARING HIS CASE TO THAT OF SACCO AND VANZETTI CASE IN THE 1920's, URGE FEDERAL JUDGE YOHN TO “ENSURE THAT HISTORY DOES NOT REPEAT ITSELF ... WITH AN INNOCENT MAN BEING EXECUTED WHILE THE CONFESSION OF THE REAL MURDERER IS IGNORED.”

Mumia Abu-Jamal’s attorneys, on November 2, 2001, filed with U.S.
District Judge Yohn in Philadelphia an Atlantic Monthly article by one of
America’s greatest and most respected jurists, Supreme Court Justice Felix
Frankfurter, which exposed the “grave miscarriage of justice” in the
Sacco-Vanzetti case of the 1920's when two innocent Italian immigrants were executed in an atmosphere of anti-immigrant prejudice, after a state court judge refused to grant a new trial despite the fact that the real murderer confessed and exonerated the two men of any involvement in the crime.

Pointing to the “direct and chilling historical parallel” between the
Sacco-Vanzetti case and the Jamal case, Mumia’s attorneys urge Judge Yohn 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.”

Recently, Judge Yohn denied Jamal’s motion to reconsider the court’s refusal to authorize Jamal’s attorneys to take the deposition of Arnold Beverly, the self-confessed killer of Police Officer Daniel Faulkner. Beverly’s signed and videotaped confession exonerates Mumia and accuses corrupt Philadelphia police officials and organized crime of having organized and planned the murder of Faulkner and hired Beverly and an accomplice to carry it out. Mumia’s attorneys pointedly compare the “fry the n****r” remark by Mumia’s trial judge, Alfred Sabo, overheard by Court Reporter Terri Maurer-Carter, to the Sacco-Vanzetti judge’s “xenophobic prejudice” against Italian immigrants and “undisguised distaste for their political beliefs.” Sacco and Vanzetti were Italian Anarchists. Mumia Abu-Jamal is a radical Black political activist.

Arguing that Justice Frankfurter’s description of the court decision in
the Sacco-Vanzetti case as a “farrago of misquotations, misrepresentations, suppressions, and mutilations” is equally applicable to Judge Sabo’s decision denying post-conviction relief to Mumia Abu-Jamal, Mumia’s attorneys blast Sabo’s opinion as the product of a judge who “did not and could not provide Mr. Jamal with anything even remotely resembling a fair hearing.”

Mumia Abu-Jamal is represented by British Barrister Nick Brown, attorney
Marlene Kamish from Chicago, attorney Eliot Lee Grossman from Los Angeles, and Philadelphia attorney J. Michael Farrell.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL: or Download Justice Frankfurter’s article on the Sacco-Vanzetti case from
http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/flashbks/oj/frankff.htm
See Arnold Beverly’s videotaped confession at http://www.kntv.com or order copies from the Labor Action Committee to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal by contacting howardkeylor.

• PETITIONER'S MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE MARCH 1927 ARTICLE BY JUSTICE FELIX FRANKFURTER ON SACCO-VANZETTI CASE.

• Atlantic Monthly article

• Affidavit of Terri Maurer-Carter

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE!
September 10, 2001

ARNOLD BEVERLY SPEAKS IN A VIDEO-TAPED CONFESSION.
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL, AN INNOCENT MAN, REMAINS ON DEATH ROW.

"My name is Arnold Beverly . . . I am willing to depose at any time in any courtroom of law . . ."

Arnold Beverly has bravely come forward in the flesh to both reveal the truth
of what actually happened on the night of December 9, 1981 and tell the world of his willingness to testify. His confession, video-taped in the last two
weeks, has now been released and was filed in court on September 7.

With an emphatic pointed finger Arnold Beverly insists "Mumia Abu-Jamal did not shoot Officer Daniel Faulkner." He continues his description and then states, "Again, Jamal had nothing to do with the shooting of Officer Faulkner . . . I ran across the street, stood over top of Faulkner and shot him in the face [pause and deep breath] at close range."

This new evidence discredits Police and Prosecution's fabrications used to
frame-up Mumia Abu-Jamal in 1981. The Philadelphia District Attorney
continues to try to stop evidence of Jamal's innocence from coming to light
in court, especially the testimony of Arnold Beverly. The Federal Court has
blocked this new evidence from the courtroom by denying the Jamal's attorneys the right to depose Arnold Beverly to have his testimony on record. Currently before the Federal Court is a motion for reconsideration to appeal this decision.

A petition for a new PCRA hearing and/or habeas hearing in State Court is also pending. Jamal's attorneys filed Friday, September 7, 2001 a Memorandum on the issue of jurisdiction, addressing the D.A.'s continued claims that information pertaining to Jamal's innocence has come too late. The Memorandum states, "Procedural rules 'cannot be exhaulted to a position so lofty as to require this Court to blind itself to the real issue, the propriety of allowing the state to conduct an illegal execution of a citizen.'"

Presiding over his original trial and his post conviction hearing, racially biased Judge Sabo ensured that Mumia Abu-Jamal was sentenced to death. In addition to the actual court record, new proof of this bias came to light last week with an affidavit from Terri Mauer-Carter that describes Judge Sabo saying "Yeah, and I'm going to help 'em fry the n****r."

For two decades, Mumia Abu-Jamal has been incarcerated for a crime he did not commit. Although Arnold Beverly has confessed, Mumia Abu-Jamal, an innocent man, remains on death row. Copies of the video-taped confession are available.

Please call:
Marlene Kamish
or Eliot Grossman
to arrange to receive a copy.

LOOK FOR NEW INFORMATION AND UPDATES soon!!!
or go to: www.mumia.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 2, 2001

DOES NEITHER INNOCENCE NOR GUILT MATTER ANYMORE?

Mumia Abu-Jamal's attorneys, filed a 130-page motion in federal court on
Monday, July 30, 2001, asking Judge William H. Yohn, Jr. to reconsider his
denial of their request to take the deposition (testimony under oath) of
Arnold Beverly. Arnold Beverly has confessed to the killing of Daniel Faulkner and in his sworn affidavit he details how he was hired by the mob and corrupt elements in the Philadelphia police force.

The motion begins: “With all due respect to the District Court, it is
preposterous to suppose that any reasonable jury would possibly have found
Mumia Abu-Jamal guilty of the murder of Police Officer Faulkner beyond a
reasonable doubt after having heard the testimony under oath of Arnold
Beverly that he, not Mumia, shot and killed the officer.” Mumia's attorneys
ask: “In what case, in what court, anywhere in this country, has any jury
ever convicted a defendant of a crime after the true perpetrator voluntarily
came into court and testified under oath that he, rather than the defendant,
was the guilty party?”

Disagreeing with Judge Yohn's ruling that Mumia's innocence is no reason to stop his execution and throw out his conviction, his attorneys argue: “To
interpret [the Supreme Court decision in] Herrera [Herrera v. Collins, 506
U.S. 390] to foreclose innocence being a basis for habeas relief in a death
penalty case would be to place a judicial seal of approval upon what the
average citizen unimpressed with legalistic sophistries -- and the rest of
the world -- would inevitably see as nothing other than a legalized
lynching.”

Mumia's attorneys point out that Arnold Beverly's signed confession --
which describes in detail how he shot Officer Faulkner and how he fled -- is
directly relevant to proving that numerous witnesses to the incident were
right when they reported seeing the shooter flee and that this evidence was
suppressed as part of a frame-up/cover-up by the Philadelphia Police and
District Attorneys' Office.

Mumia’s attorneys also filed a sworn affidavit by Rachel Wolkenstein, a
former member of Mumia’s legal team, in support of the motion for
reconsideration.

Mumia himself will be in court for the first time since 1997 on August 17,
2001, at 9:30 a.m., at the Criminal Justice Center, in downtown
Philadelphia, to appear before Common Pleas Judge Pamela Dembe on his new state post-conviction petition which charges he was deprived of “due process of law” when his prior attorneys, Weinglass and Williams, failed to present Arnold Beverly's signed confession to the state court in 1999.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Marlene Kamish, Esq.
Eliot Lee Grossman, Esq.

Filed on July 5, was an order issued by Judge Yohn that admits British attorney Nick Brown into federal court as one of Mumia's attorneys. The prosecution's attempt to deny Mumia council of his choice was not successful!

On July 3, Mumia's attorneys filed petition in state court. To see the petition (broken up in several parts) go to www.mumia.org and click on legal updates.

JUNE 2001
The Prosecutor is attempting to stop one of Mumia's Attorneys from defending him. The defense team has responded with a brief.
• June 7, 2001 Press Release
• Defense Response Brief

• Mumia & his brother state - Mumia is innocent: In their declarations, both Mumia and his brother, William Cook, tell what happened in the early morning hours of Dec. 9, 1981 for the first time. They explain in their statements why they have not related this information before.

• Man confesses to shooting: Arnold Beverly says that he killed the police Officer Faulkner. In his declaration, Beverly explains that he was hired to shoot Faulkner because the policeman was interfering with corruption and graft within the police department. The defense asked Judge Yohn for permission to take a deposition of Arnold Beverly when they filed the his statement. The prosecution has objected. The legal team states in their response, “If the District Attorneys Office believed its own representation
to the District Court and the media that Beverly’s confession is a 'patently outrageous story' and a 'lie,' they would welcome, rather that oppose, being given the opportunity to cross-examine the witness under oath." (depositions are sworn statements with a court reporter present that offer both sides an opportunity to question a witness). See Press Release and Defense Response Brief Re: Request for Deposition of Arnold Beverly

• Lie detector test corroborates Beverly’s confession: Noted polograph expert Charles R. Honts, Ph.D. reported in his affidavit that Arnold Beverly verbally confessed to him and submitted himself to a polygraph examination and audio taping of the session with him. Dr. Honts stated that Mr. Beverly wanted the polograph to show that he did shoot the policeman but would not say so on tape, during the test. Dr. Honts conducted the lie detector test and and concluded that Arnold Beverly was telling the truth when he said Mumia was innocent and Beverly was lying when he said “no” to the question did he, Beverly, shoot the officer. In response to the lie detector showing that he lied when he said “no,” Mr Beverly stated, “Good, maybe now they will believe me.” See Excerpt of Affidavit: Report of polygraph examination of Arnold Beverly.

• Informant describes rampant police corruption: Donald Hersing, who worked for the FBI (1981-'82) also provided an affidavit. He describes
precisely the kind of corruption among Philadelphia police that Beverly says he was acting to protect. His description provides a context for a
Philadelphia reality of police corruption. This is the same police department investigated and monitored by the U.S. Depart. of Justice, resulting in hundreds of framed people being released. Also see PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER ARTICLE FROM JULY 15,1984 (part a 4 part series regarding police corruption)

• Crime scene unguarded: Linn Washington, writer for the Philadelphia Tribune, tells us in his declaration that only a few hours after the incident, the crime scene at 13th & Locust was left completely unguarded – in contrast to normal procedure he had routinely witnessed on his beat as crime reporter. We already know about the failure of regular police procedures in this case: no regular tests, bullets "lost," etc. Washington's statement reinforces this picture of a frame-up by police who knew full well Mumia was not the one who shot Officer Faulkner.

• Prosecution seeks to deny Mumia counsel of choice: In a move reminiscent of Mumia’s trial, The D.A. is objecting to Mumia’s selection of pre-eminent British Barrister Nick Brown as a member of his defense team. Attorneys from other nations are routinely admitted to practice before American Courts. The only issue is whether an attorney is qualified. Mr. Brown is highly qualified, and, perhaps, too qualified for the District Attorney. Members of the new legal team for Mumia Abu-Jamal are Marlene Kamish of Chicago, Eliot Grossman of Los Angeles, British Barrister Nicholas R.D. Brown, and local counsel is Philadelphia attorney J. Michael Farrell.
See Press Release and Defense Response Brief

• Educate & Mobilize: Judge William H. Yohn must not be allowed to simply rubber-stamp the state court’s rulings. Our protests need to be redoubled during this crucial time in Mumia's case.

• Although Arnold Beverly has confessed, Mumia Abu-Jamal, an innocent man, remains on death row.

RELEASE MUMIA ABU-JAMAL! Write to Mumia! Mumia Abu-Jamal,
AM 8335, SCI Greene, 175 Progress Drive, Waynesburg, PA 15370

The July 15, 1984 Philadelphia Inquirer article is forthcoming.

MUMIA ABU-JAMAL TELLS THE WORLD WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM DECEMBER 9, 1981 • Other AFFIDAVITS Released REVEAL NEW EVIDENCE • MUMIA'S NEW ATTORNEYS FILE THEIR WRITTEN NOTICE OF APPEARANCE IN FEDERAL COURT IN PHILADELPHIA:

"Now for the first time I have been given an opportunity to tell what happened in the early morning hours of December 9, 1981. This is what happened ..."
— from Affidavit of Mumia Abu-Jamal (see full transcription)

Mumia's brother, William Cook, also reveals
his firsthand account of what happened that night:
"My brother Mumia Abu-Jamal, had nothing to do with shooting or killing the policeman."
— from Affidavit of William Cook (see full transcription)

British Barrister Nicholas R.D. Brown, Chicago attorney Marlene Kamish, Los Angeles attorney Eliot Lee Grossman, and Philadelphia attorney J. Michael Farrell along with Mumia abu-Jamal took over representation of his case on May 4th. Mumia's new attorneys also filed several statements recounting events of December 9th.

Transcription of affidavits:
• Mumia Abu-Jamal
• William Cook
• Arnold Beverly
• Linn Washington
• Donald Hersing

NEW LAWYERS FILE AFFIDAVITS: "MUMIA DIDN'T DO IT"
By Berta Joubert-Ceci
Philadelphia

In a dramatic development, the new legal team representing
Mumia Abu-Jamal has filed three affidavits that deal
directly with what happened in Philadelphia on the night of
Dec. 9, 1981, when the African American journalist was shot
and Police Officer Daniel Faulkner was killed.

Marlene Kamish of Chicago and Eliot Lee Grossman of Los
Angeles held a news conference in front of the Federal
Building here May 4 after filing a written notice of
appearance in U.S. District Court. They are now representing
the internationally known Black journalist, together with
British Barrister Nicholas R.D. Brown and Philadelphia
attorney J. Michael Farrell.

They had also filed the affidavits--from Abu-Jamal himself,
from his brother William Cook, and from a third person named
Arnold Beverly--as new evidence to support both a habeas
corpus petition and a request for an evidentiary hearing.
Attorney Kamish said at the press conference, "Mumia Abu-
Jamal has been in prison for 20 years. He's been on death
row isolated from family, from friends, from loved ones. All
that time he has maintained his innocence.

"He is innocent. And today we have filed in the court here a
sworn document by Arnold Beverly stating that he in fact is
the one who shot Daniel Faulkner on December 9, 1981, fully
vindicating Mumia Abu-Jamal. We have also filed a sworn
statement by his brother, William Cook, about his
recollection of the events of that night."

Kamish read a part of the new affidavit from Abu-Jamal that
says: "I, Mumia Abu-Jamal, declare: I am the Petitioner in
this action. If called as a witness I could and would
testify to the following from my own personal knowledge: I
did not shoot Police Officer Daniel Faulkner. I had nothing
to do with the killing of Officer Faulkner. I am innocent.
"At my trial I was denied the right to defend myself. I had
no confidence in my court-appointed attorney, who never even
asked me what happened the night I was shot and the police
officer was killed; and I was excluded from at least half
the trial....

"Now for the first time I have been given an opportunity to
tell what happened to me in the early morning hours of Dec.
9, 1981. This is what happened."

After describing the events that night, Abu-Jamal's
statement ends: "I never confessed to anything because I had
nothing to confess to. I never said I shot the policeman. I
did not shoot the policeman. I never said I hoped he died. I
would never say something like that."

William Cook's statement says: "Mumia was not holding a gun.
Mumia never intervened in anything between me and the cop. I
had nothing to do with the shooting or killing of the police
officer. My brother Mumia Abu-Jamal had nothing to do with
shooting or killing the policeman."

About Beverly, lawyer Grossman said: "The person who
actually shot Daniel Faulkner has come forward saying in a
sworn affidavit that he was hired to kill the police officer
because the police officer was interfering with the
corruption among the police and organized crime in Center
City in the 1980s.

"We have interviewed this witness ourselves," said Grossman,
"and we feel satisfied that the affidavit is credible and we
believe our obligation is to come forward.

"Basically, Mumia was at the wrong place at the wrong time
when a hit was in progress against the police officer, who
was interfering with corruption among the police in
Philadelphia."

Arnold Beverly's statement says that, "I 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 including prostitution,
gambling, drugs without prosecution in the Center City
area."

He finishes his statement: "I left the area underground
through the speedline system and by pre-arrangement met a
police officer who assisted me when I exited the speedline
underground about three blocks away. A car was waiting for
me and I left the Center City area."

- END -

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1.
Mumia Abu-Jamal: what he has to say about the briefs

2.
Entire brief online (html)

OR download pdf formatted version of
the Chicana/Chicano Studies Foundation brief
Brief of Amicus Curiae --friend of the court brief--
by Chicana/Chicano Studies Foundation
in support of Mumia's petition for a writ of habeas corpus

3.
Entire brief: download pdf format
Brief of Amicus Curiae --friend of the court brief--
filed by British Parliament Members
in support of Mumia's petition for a writ of habeas corpus
---See Philadelphia Daily News article below---

4.
Appeal of denial of the Amicus Briefs
(Petition for Writ of Mandamus): download pdf format
In a decision without basis in court precedent, Judge William H. Yohn denied all four Amicus briefs filed in support of Mumia. These legal briefs supplement, in detail, legal issues crucial to Mumia's pending petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus and go right to heart of why Mumia should be released or at the very least, granted a new trial. The facts addressed, and the law applied illuminate those found in the Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus. The amici who have submitted briefs in the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal serve in the classical role of amici supplementing the Petition of Habeas Corpus by highlighting specific constitutional violations and applying law which demonstrates, from a perspective unique in these proceedings, that the structural defects in the trial mandate a vacating of the death sentence, and his immediate release.

Legal analysis and description of why
Judge Yohn was wrong to deny the briefs

OR download pdf of this analysis