Politics

Death penalty dropped against Mumia Abu-Jamal

Prosecutors have called off their 30-year battle to put former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal to death in the killing of a white police officer, putting to an end the racially charged case that became a major battleground in the fight over the death penalty.

Published

13 years ago

December 8, 2011

Unheard Voices Staff

Daniel Lobo, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Prosecutors have made a ruling in Mumia Abu-Jamal’s execution case.

Prosecutors dropped their 30 year pursuit of the execution of convicted cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther member who claims he was a victim of a racist legal system.

Mumia Abu-Jamal, 58, will instead serve a life sentence.

Flanked by the police Officer Daniel Faulkner’s widow, Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams announced his decision Wednesday.

“There’s never been any doubt in my mind that Mumia Abu-Jamal shot and killed Officer Faulkner. I believe that the appropriate sentence was handed down by a jury of his peers in 1982,” said Williams, who is black. “While Abu-Jamal will no longer be facing the death penalty, he will remain behind bars for the rest of his life, and that is where he belongs.”

The Philadelphia District Attorney said his decision on Mumia Abu-Jamal’s execution case was based on the fact that several witnesses had died or were unavailable to testify as appeals continue. As Associated Press explained :

Flanked by police Officer Daniel Faulkner’s widow, Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams announced his decision two days short of the 30th anniversary of the white patrolman’s killing.

He said that continuing to seek the death penalty could lead to “an unknowable number of years” of appeals, and that some witnesses have died or are unavailable after nearly three decades.

“There’s never been any doubt in my mind that Mumia Abu-Jamal shot and killed Officer Faulkner. I believe that the appropriate sentence was handed down by a jury of his peers in 1982,” said Williams, the city’s first black district attorney. “While Abu-Jamal will no longer be facing the death penalty, he will remain behind bars for the rest of his life, and that is where he belongs.”

Abu-Jamal was originally sentenced to death. His murder conviction was upheld through years of appeals. But in 2008, a federal appeals court ordered a new sentencing hearing on the grounds that the instructions given to the jury were potentially misleading.