After a 30 year nightmare, Philadelphia DA Seth Williams along with Maureen Faulkner, widow of murdered officer Danny Faulkner, have decided to drop the appeals process to have the death penalty reinstated for convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu Jamal. He will serve life in prison with no possibility for parole.
Her statement is spoilered for longness here:
Spoiler:
Statement from Maureen Faulkner
After enduring 30 years of emotional and physical hell as I’ve suffered through the appeals process, I am now convinced that when a death sentence is at issue, the judges of the Federal District Courts and the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals simply do as they want, not as the law dictates. Judges Yohn, Scirica, Cowen and Ambro oppose the death penalty, so they shape the law to suit their personal needs. This isn’t just me venting. It’s a fact that’s supported by the numbers. The dirty little secret about the death penalty in Pennsylvania that nobody wants to come to grips with is that since the death penalty was re-instated by the U. S. Supreme Court in 1976, there have been hundreds of death sentences imposed by Pennsylvania juries. Yet, after three decades of trying, not a single one of them– including my husband’s case — has managed to successfully make it through the Federal appeals gauntlet. How is it possible that over the course of three decades all District Attorneys combined have gone 0 for several hundred on their appeals?
The disgusting reality with the death penalty in Pennsylvania is that the fix is in before the hearings even begin, and federal judges, including the 4 dishonest cowards who presided over my husband’s case, are the fixers.
My family and I have endured a three-decade ordeal at the hands of Mumia Abu-Jamal, his attorneys and his supporters; who in many cases never even took the time to educate themselves about the case before lending their names, giving their support and advocating for his freedom. All of this has taken an unimaginable physical, emotional and financial toll on each of us. Over the past few months, we have anguished over the two terrible options we are presented with. Should we choose a new sentencing hearing, it would undoubtedly take months to complete and come at an extreme cost to the citizens of Philadelphia. It will undoubtedly be a venue for every fringe group imaginable. Droves of sleazy Human Rights lawyers will want to weigh in with amicus briefs. The list of character witnesses for Abu-Jamal would be a rouges gallery of the Hate America First crowd, and unlike he did at the 1982 sentencing hearing, this time around he will undoubtedly keep his vile mouth shut and portray the image of “a man filled with soulful humanity” as his former attorney once described him and not the seething animal he was at the 1982 hearing. The damning testimony of several key eyewitness who are now deceased will have to be read to the jury without emotion and the District Attorney will have the unenviable challenge of seating an impartial jury without being duped by even a single person who intends to nullify the death sentence. Should the jury decide on a death sentence again as they should, we would then start the whole decades-long appeals process over again, and we will be forced to repeat the past 30 years as if they never happened.
Given that we would be forced back into the same foul legal system that has failed us for so long and the morally dishonest judges we would undoubtedly be confronted with if there were a new sentencing hearing, we have asked Seth Williams to deny such a hearing and agree to have Mumia Abu-Jamal’s sentence be reduced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
This decision certainly does not mark the end of my journey, nor will I stop fighting to see justice done for my husband. Rest assured I will now fight with every ounce of energy I have to see that Mumia Abu-Jamal receives absolutely no special treatment when he is removed from death row. I will not stand by and see him coddled — as he has been in the past — and I am heartened by the thought that he will finally be taken from the protected cloister he has been living in all these years and begin living among his own kind; the thugs and common criminals that infest our prisons. I will hold any official who attempts to help Abu-Jamal improve his situation publicly and legally accountable for as long as I live.
In closing, I’d like to say that I believe the lowest dimension of hell has been reserved for child molesters and unrepentant murderers like Mumia Abu-Jamal. After 30 years of waiting, the time remaining before Abu-Jamal stands before his ultimate judge doesn’t seem quite so far off as it once did when I was younger. I look forward to that day, so I can finally close the book on this chapter of my life and live with the gratification and assurance that Mumia Abu-Jamal has finally received the punishment he deserves for all eternity.
Thank you.
The appeals process has failed to serve justice, and has ensured that a unrepentant murderer will live the rest of his life in prison instead of receiving his sentence of death. His misguided supporters will continue to clamor that he is a political prisoner being held down by the man. Perhaps oneday they will somehow win his freedom.
Make up your own mind which side has the facts and which side does not. One presents the case transcripts along with witness testimony, the other spouts nonsense that is disproven should one take the time to read through the actual case.
Mumia's supporters have been duped to believe that he is somehow a saint and not responsible for executing a police officer by shooting him in the face. I will continue to stand and speak out against any celebrity or other entity that supports this filth.
This is truly a sad day for justice.
Maureen, you have fought a good fight and I hope you can finally get some peace from this. Never forget Officer Danny Faulkner - 4699
_________________ This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays.
Last edited by Foamy on Thu Dec 08, 2011 11:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
The appeals process has failed to serve justice, and has ensured that a unrepentant murderer will live the rest of his life in prison.
Man, he's getting off so easy...
He has already served 30 years. During that time he has gained an international following, celebrity supporters, he regularly hosts a radio show from prison, and he has delivered commencement speeches. He has even had a street named for him in Paris and San Francisco has proclaimed a day designated as "Justice for Mumia" day.
With such clout behind him, I fear that the "Life in prison" may not be what he gets. His idiot supporters will continue to clamor for justice for this "World renowned, award winning journalist" until they see him free. His sentence was death, and that's what he deserves. But his abuse of the legal appeals system has seen that his death sentence was overturned. Death would be final justice for him, but now if he gets out, he will be seen as a hero to his multitude boneheaded followers.
So, no, I do not feel justice has been served. But I would expect such a snarky comment from you Farsky without knowing one bit about what you are talking.
_________________ This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays.
You make your statements like there are no innocent men and women in jail for crimes they didn't commit.
No, I make my statements about a man that I know is guilty of premeditated murder in the first degree of a police officer who was sentenced to death and has managed to drag the appeals process out to have that sentence overturned. That is the only person I am addressing. No one else.
I have read the facts of the case and the rebuttals proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is guilty as charged. A jury found him as such and sentenced him to die.
Read the facts about this case, and then get back to me.
_________________ This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays.
Last edited by Foamy on Thu Dec 08, 2011 4:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Foamy, I see where unions have voted to support him (one in San Francisco), and a street is named for him in a suburb of Paris, but I'm not aware that a street in SF is named after him.
_________________ "Dress cops up as soldiers, give them military equipment, train them in military tactics, tell them they’re fighting a ‘war,’ and the consequences are predictable." —Radley Balko
No, I make my statements about a man that I know is guilty of premeditated murder of a police officer who was sentenced to death and has managed to drag the appeals process out to have that sentence overturned. That is the only person I am addressing. No one else.
I have read the facts of the case and the rebuttals proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is guilty as charged. A jury found him as such and sentenced him to die.
Read the facts about this case, and then get back to me.
We've all read the "facts" ...
The only facts are ...
Mumia was convicted of a murder.
Premeditated? You added that based on your personal opinion. It's not substantiated in the court transcripts.
_________________
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While I've not read anything about this case, I'm comfortable with an accusation of premeditation when someone's killed with a weapon in the course of committing a planned crime.
You ain't bringing a gun to a planned robbery for self defense.
I hope he gets shanked in the gorram throat and both his hands chopped off so he can rot with the same ability to tell his story that Faulkner has. Really I just hope he vets put in general population so some other predatory scumbag can try to make a name for himself by finishing what the courts should have.
_________________ A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. ~ John Stuart Mill
No, I make my statements about a man that I know is guilty of premeditated murder of a police officer who was sentenced to death and has managed to drag the appeals process out to have that sentence overturned. That is the only person I am addressing. No one else.
I have read the facts of the case and the rebuttals proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is guilty as charged. A jury found him as such and sentenced him to die.
Read the facts about this case, and then get back to me.
We've all read the "facts" ...
The only facts are ...
Mumia was convicted of a murder.
Premeditated? You added that based on your personal opinion. It's not substantiated in the court transcripts.
Doubtful you need a definition, but I will copy it here from wiki anyway:
Quote:
Premeditated murder is the crime of wrongfully causing the death of another human being (also known as murder) after rationally considering the timing or method of doing so, in order to either increase the likelihood of success, or to evade detection or apprehension
So standing over a wounded man (whom you have just shot in the back) and pulling the trigger several more times to shoot him again IN THE FACE at point blank range is not premeditation?
Also, for the record, I do not present my opinion here as only defense of a LEO. I am deeply offended by the uninformed left-wing support for a convicted murderer. Those who have flocked so mindlessly to defend a convicted murderer without knowing anything about the case.
_________________ This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays.
Last edited by Foamy on Thu Dec 08, 2011 11:53 am, edited 2 times in total.
So, no, I do not feel justice has been served. But I would expect such a snarky comment from you Farsky without knowing one bit about what you are talking.
Bully for you. I'm not a fan of the death penalty, so life imprisonment is, by definition, the harshest punishment I could/would award.
Personally, given that he's been in prison for 30 years already, is by your own admission "ensured" that he as an unrepentant murderer (were he "repentant," would that change anything for you?) will live the rest of his life there, and given the history (i.e., the fact that he's already been 30 years and will continue to be there), I'm unsure as to what other punishment (outside of the death penalty) could possibly be enacted on him.
You want him dead. For a supporter of the death penalty, that's fine, if you think it's a harsher punishment (personally, I'd argue that being forced to live the rest of your life in prison would be a far harsher punishment). However, at this point, it feels more like vengeance than justice.
He has even had a street named for him in Paris and San Francisco has proclaimed a day designated as "Justice for Mumia" day.
and I can see how it may imply that a street was named in both Paris and SF.
Paris named a street for him. SF declared the Justice day...No street naming.
Ahh, thanks, my reading comprehension is for the lose.
_________________ "Dress cops up as soldiers, give them military equipment, train them in military tactics, tell them they’re fighting a ‘war,’ and the consequences are predictable." —Radley Balko
I know you love to read. Read "Murdered by Mumia: A Life Sentence of Loss, Pain, and Injustice" It's short, under 400 pages. I am certain you could read it in 1 or 2 sittings.
Read that, then come back and tell me you have "read the facts". There is no spin, just facts from the case and how the Mumia media machine has managed to dupe so many.
Not made as a demand, just as a request. I know how you feel about reading and I think it presents a clear picture of this ridiculous case over the years.
_________________ This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays.
So, no, I do not feel justice has been served. But I would expect such a snarky comment from you Farsky without knowing one bit about what you are talking.
Bully for you. I'm not a fan of the death penalty, so life imprisonment is, by definition, the harshest punishment I could/would award.
Personally, given that he's been in prison for 30 years already, is by your own admission "ensured" that he as an unrepentant murderer (were he "repentant," would that change anything for you?) will live the rest of his life there, and given the history (i.e., the fact that he's already been 30 years and will continue to be there), I'm unsure as to what other punishment (outside of the death penalty) could possibly be enacted on him.
You want him dead. For a supporter of the death penalty, that's fine, if you think it's a harsher punishment (personally, I'd argue that being forced to live the rest of your life in prison would be a far harsher punishment). However, at this point, it feels more like vengeance than justice.
Fair enough, but your snark belied your actual opinion, which I was quite unaware of.
_________________ This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays.
I hope he gets shanked in the gorram throat and both his hands chopped off so he can rot with the same ability to tell his story that Faulkner has. Really I just hope he vets put in general population so some other predatory scumbag can try to make a name for himself by finishing what the courts should have.
If put into general population, who is going to touch him? I thought cop-killers are legendary in prison.
_________________ This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays.
Joined: Wed Sep 02, 2009 7:36 pm Posts: 7507 Location: Last Western Stop of the Pony Express
I read through the facts last time you brought this up. I came to the same conclusion you did, he is guilty.
However, like FarSky, I'm more comfortable with a rot in prison till you die sentence than with an execution. That is a change a long time coming, I used to support the death penalty passionately.
I'm amazed the prison staff let him broadcast his show or leave the prison to speak at events. That defeats the concept of locking them away.
_________________ The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin
"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones
I read through the facts last time you brought this up. I came to the same conclusion you did, he is guilty.
However, like FarSky, I'm more comfortable with a rot in prison till you die sentence than with an execution. That is a change a long time coming, I used to support the death penalty passionately.
I'm amazed the prison staff let him broadcast his show or leave the prison to speak at events. That defeats the concept of locking them away.
I'd be comfortable with the Life: WOP, except for the fact of the HUGE following he has. I would honestly not be one bit surprised if he is let free one day, especially with such clout behind him.
His broadcasts and addresses have always been, if I am not mistaken, recorded. So he doesn't get to physically go to the commencements.
_________________ This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays.
I'm strongly opposed to the death penalty, and certainly don't mind seeing redemption. Furthermore, passionate appeals for death 30 years removed from an act are not appeals for justice, but ugly misguided vengeance. Thirty years is a long time, and the man executed is not the same one apprehended.
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19 Yet she became more and more promiscuous as she recalled the days of her youth, when she was a prostitute in Egypt. 20 There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses.
He shouldn't be getting out to make pubic appearances. It's my understanding that he records his "commentaries" and Prison Radio broadcasts (and makes them available online) them when he mails them to them. My fondest wish on this is that he fades from public discourse, his celebrity wanes and he dies in obscurity.
_________________ "Dress cops up as soldiers, give them military equipment, train them in military tactics, tell them they’re fighting a ‘war,’ and the consequences are predictable." —Radley Balko
Why does he get to make recordings in the first place? You get your cell, your shirt and pants, and a place to ****.
You don't get a right to free speech while you're serving time. You keep your right to an attorney, but if I see an attorney publishing your statements on your behalf, you get to select a new attorney, and I investigate the old one to see if he's participating in a criminal conspiracy with your friends on the outside, since he seems amenable to passing messages for you.
_________________ "Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee "... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades
_________________ "Dress cops up as soldiers, give them military equipment, train them in military tactics, tell them they’re fighting a ‘war,’ and the consequences are predictable." —Radley Balko
Why does he get to make recordings in the first place? You get your cell, your shirt and pants, and a place to ****.
You don't get a right to free speech while you're serving time. You keep your right to an attorney, but if I see an attorney publishing your statements on your behalf, you get to select a new attorney, and I investigate the old one to see if he's participating in a criminal conspiracy with your friends on the outside, since he seems amenable to passing messages for you.
That is up to the state in question, I believe. Far be it from me to dictate law to the State of Pennsylvania.
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Quote:
19 Yet she became more and more promiscuous as she recalled the days of her youth, when she was a prostitute in Egypt. 20 There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses.
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