Mumia Abu-Jamal, political prisoner
and award-winning journalist.
UPDATE: As we were about to go to press, Mumia Abu-Jamal 's 1982 death sentence was overturned by federal judge William Yohn. His ruling gives the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania the option to hold a new sentencing hearing within 180 days, or allow the sentence to be commuted to life imprisonment.
Citing the 1982 death sentence as a ` problem," Judge Yohn said that the jurors should have been permitted to consider mitigating circumstances (Mr. Jamal had not criminal record) against aggravating circumstances (the victim was a police officer). Yohn, however, refused to hold that Mr. Jamal was denied his constitutional rights at trial, nor did he order an evidentiary hearing where the confessed murderer Arnold Beverly's affidavit would be presented by Mr. Jamal's legal team.
"We want Mumia's unconditional release! We will not settle for less! Arnold Beverly has confessed!! Why is Mumia still on death row? What is this government trying to hide? This is not a victory! Don't be fooled! Life imprisonment is not what we demand. Release! Release! Release!" said the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Editor's note: Mumia Abu-Jamal, political prisoner, award-winning journalist, and the former Minister of Information for the Philadelphia Chapter of the Black Panther Party, was railroaded and framed by the Philadelphia courts in 1982. Since then; he has been held captive on death row at various prisons in the state of Pennsylvania.
During the mid-1970s Mr. Abu-Jamal worked as a local Philadelphia radio-station commentator and a taxicab driver. He focused his commentaries on the Philadelphia police's harassment and attacks against members of the MOVE organization and the low-income African American community.
Because of his criticisms of the brutality of the local police and oppressive government, Mr. Abu-Jamal was a constant target of the FBI's counter intelligence program. On the night of December 9, 1981, Mr. Abu-Jamal became a convenient fall guy through a corruption scam orchestrated by corrupted policemen and gangland mob members in the murder of officer Daniel Faulkner On December 18, 2001 a federal judge denied Mumia a new trial, but ordered him resentenced in an effort to quiet those fighting for Mumia's freedom.
The following are an affidavit by Mr. Abu-Jamal, and a confession (affidavit) by Arnold Beverly. Beverly states that he shot officer Faulkner as a paid member of the mob on December 9, 1981, and not Mr. Abu Jamal.
On July 19, 2001, Federal District Court Judge William H. Yohn Jr. denied Mr. Abu-Jamal's appeal, despite Beverly's confession that he murdered Faulkner while carrying out a job for the Philadelphia mob. In rejecting the petition, Judge Yohn cited the Statute of Limitations in the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA), that was put in by the government, signed by President Bill Clinton, after the 1994 Oklahoma City bombing which claimed the lives of over 80 Americans.
Sam Jordan, former director of the Anti-Death Penalty Program of Amnesty International USA and a leading National Coordinator of the campaign to free Mumia Abu-Jamal, pointed out in a recent interview, "In a criminal case it is elementary that the attorneys should assert their client's innocence. But in Mumia's case, the submission of his claim of innocence was never made. "
After Mr. Abu-Jamal's legal team filed a second petition against Federal Judge Yohn's negative decision to allow him to present his side of the story, he was summoned to appear on August 17, 2001 at Judge Pamela Dembe's Court of Common Pleas. But a few days before the hearing, after thousands of supporters from around the nation and the world began converging on the "City of Brotherly Love, " Mr. Abu-Jamal, strangely enough, was denied to attend the hearing. The court simply convened the hearing without Mr. Abu-Jamal 's presence! National black leaders and liberals, celebrities, such as Rev. Jessie Jackson, Ossie Davis, Dick Gregory, Ramsey Clark as well as representatives from several European countries attended the hearing. According to the Friends and Family of Mumia Abu-Jamal, the outcome was that Judge "Dembe strongly leaned towards the prosecution's argument that certain time limits for presenting evidence have expired and therefore the court doesn't have to reopen the Post Conviction Relief Appeal. "
On November 5, 2001, Mr. Abu-Jamal's attorney sent a letter to federal Judge, William H. Yohn, Jr., comparing Mr. Abu-Jamal 's case to the Sacco and Vanzetti case in the 1920's. The letter strongly urged 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. "
According to The New York Times, at the end of November, Judge Pamela Dembe of Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia rejected a plea for a new trial for Mr. Mumia Abu-Jamal stating that she did not have jurisdiction over Mr. Abu-Jamal S petition for a new trial, scuttling the option for state court appeals. His federal appeal is still pending.
Since the inception of The Commemorator newspaper in 1990, we have consistently provided our readers with updates on Mumia 's case as well as other political prisoners, such as Ruchell Magee, Hugo (Yogi) Pinell, Geronimo ji-Jaga (Pratt) and printed commentaries by them and other railroaded prisoners as a part of our effort to get the real stories out to the general public.
All power to the people
The Confession of Arnold Beverly
Affidavit of Arnold Beverly
I, ARNOLD R. BEVERLY, state that the following facts are true and correct: I was present when police officer Daniel Faulkner was shot and killed in the early morning hours of December 9, 1981 near the corner of Locust and 13th Streets. 1 have personal knowledge that, Mumia Abu-Jamal did not shoot police officer Faulkner.
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.
Faulkner was shot in the back before Jamal came on the scene. Jamal had nothing to do with the shooting.
Before the shooting, I was shown a picture of Faulkner and told that Faulkner was supposed to check something at Johnny O's (at 13th and Locust) sometime in the early morning hours of December 9.
Two of us were hired for the shooting so that either of us could take the opportunity to make the hit, get the job done, and leave. The other guy gave me a .38 caliber policeman's special and I was also carrying my own .22 caliber revolver.
I waited at the Speedline entrance at the north east corner of Locust and 13th at the parking lot. I was wearing a green (camouflage) army jacket. The other guy waited on the south side of Locust Street, east of 13th Street towards Camac Street.
While I was waiting at the Speedline entrance for Faulkner to arrive at the location, I saw police officers in the area. Two undercover policemen were standing on the west side of 13th, north of Locust. Also a uniformed police officer was sitting in a car in the corner of the parking lot; they were there while the shooting of Faulkner took place. I was not worried about the police being there since I believed that since I was hired by the mob to shoot and kill Faulkner, any police officers on the scene would be there to help me.
After a while I saw Faulkner get out of a small police car parked behind a VW parked on Locust Street, east of 13th. Faulkner was alone. He got out of the police car and went up to the V W.
I heard a shot ring out coming from east on Locust Street, Faulkner fell on his knee on the sidewalk next to the VW, I heard another shot and it must have grazed my left shoulder. I felt something hard on my left shoulder. I grabbed at my shoulder and got blood on my hand.
I ran across Locust Street and stood over Faulkner, who had fallen backwards on the sidewalk, I shot Faulkner in the face at close range. Jamal was shot shortly after that by a uniformed police officer that arrived on the scene.
Cop cars came from all directions. Foot patrol also arrived. I saw a white shirt getting out of a car in the middle of the 13th & Locust intersection just as I was going down to the Speedline steps.
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.
The foregoing is stated subject to the penalties of 15 Pa.C.S. Section 4904 relating to unsworn falsification to authorities.
(signed)
Arnold E. Beverly 6-8-99
Mumia's Affidavit
I, Mumia Abu-Jamal
1. 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.
2. I did not shoot Police Officer Daniel Faulkner. I had nothing to do with the killing of Officer Faulkner. I am innocent.
3. 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.
4. Since I was denied all my rights at my trial I did not testify. I would not be used to make it look like I had a fair trial.
5. I did not testify in the post-conviction proceedings in 1995 on the advice of my attorney Leonard Weinglass, who specifically told me not to testify.
6. Now for the first time I have been given an opportunity to tell what happened to me in the early morning hours of December 9, 1981; this is what happened.
7. As a cabbie, I often chose 13th and Locust Street because it was a popular club area with a lot of foot traffic.
8. I worked out of United Cab on the night of 12/9/81.
9. 1 believe I had recently returned from dropping off a fare in West Philly.
10. I was filling out my log when I heard some shouting.
11. I glanced in my rear view mirror and saw a flashing light of a police cruiser. This wasn't unusual.
12. I continued to fill out my log/trip sheet when I heard what sounded like gunshots.
13. I looked again into my rearview mirror and saw people running up and down Locust.
14. As I scanned, I recognized my brother standing in the street staggering and dizzy.
15.1 immediately exited the cab and ran to his scream.
16. As I came across the street, I saw a uniformed cop turn toward me gun in hand; saw a flash and went down to my knees.
17. I closed my eyes and sat still trying to breath.
18. The next thing that I remember I felt myself being kicked, hit and being brought out of a stupor.
19. When I opened my eyes, I saw cops all around me.
20. They were hollering and cursing, grabbing and pulling on me. I felt faint finding it hard to talk.
21. As I looked through this cop crowd all around me, I saw my brother, blood running down his neck and a cop lying on his back on the pavement.
22. I was pulled to my feet and then rammed into a telephone pole, beaten where I fell and thrown into a paddy wagon.
23. I think I slept until I heard the door open and a white cop came in cursing and hit me in the forehead.
24. I don't remember what he said except a lot of "niggers," "black motherfuckers" and what not.
25. I believe he left and I slept. I don't remember the wagon moving for a while and when it did, for sometime.
26. I awoke to hear the driver speaking over the radio about his prisoner. 27. I was informed by the anonymous crackle on the radio that I was en route to the police.
28. Then, it sounded like "I.D.'d as M-I" came on the radio telling the driver to go to Jefferson Hospital.
29. Upon arrival I was thrown from the wagon to the ground and beaten. 30. I was beaten again at the doors of Jefferson.
31. Because of the blood in my lungs it was difficult to speak and impossible to holler.
32.1 never confessed to anything, because I had nothing to confess to. 33. I never said I shot the policeman. I did not shoot the policeman.
34.1 never said I hope he died. I would never say something like that.
I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States that the above is true and correct and was executed by me on the 3rd of May 2001 at Waynesburg, Pennsylvania.
The Commentator is published by the
Commemoration Committee for the Black Panther Party
4432 Telegraph Ave.
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Oakland, California 94609
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