Customer Reviews

The Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal: A Life in the Balance (Open Media Series)

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If you are from Philadelphia or the Philadelphia area, then you can truly understand the problems of the case of Mummia. It seems that every time you mention his name here you get into some kind of arguement. The sad thing about this is most people have absolutely no knowledge of the facts on the case of Mumia. This book, if you read it, can change that. The book attempts, and does a good job of, explaining why Amnesty International thinks that Mumia Abu Jamal recieved an unfair trial. At no time does Amnesty International say that Mumia should be set free, or that he is innocent of said charges. I will repeat this so there are no misunderstandings,AT NO TIME DOES AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL SAY THAT MUMIA SHOULD BE SET FREE OR THAT HE IS INNOCENT.
Now anyone should be skeptical of a book written on such a sensitive subject, but Amnesty International is a highly respected global human rights watch dog group, and I believe that their information is reliable. If you are from Philadelphia and would like to read a book on Mumia, or you are from somewhere else and just interested, this book is a good start, but not an end to informing you on this subject.

Without commenting on his guilt or innocence this report by Amnesty International looks at the circumstances of the Mumia Abu-Jamal trial and whether it complied with basic international legal procedures and universally recognised standards of human rights. This explores the judicial bias in his trial, as well as in his appeals and whether he was given adequate legal assistance and whether his trial was conducted under fair and impartial conditions. Considering his very life depends on this being so you can imagine this is of utmost importance. The catalogue of errors and corruption of the legal process makes for shocking reading and this is a good way to get acquainted with the case of Abu-Jamal after reading of his case in various other publications. This is a short, but thoroughly engrossing read and gives an insight into `justice' in America.

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It's sad that so few commentators on this case ever read the trial transcripts.

It's simple: Officer Falkner was shot by a gun registered to Mumia. Mumia was still wearing the shoulder holster when he was apprehended, and the gun had five spent cartridges. Mumia's hair, complexion, hat and striped sweater matched the description of an eye-witness who saw it all from 25 feet away.

Faced with such damning, obvious evidence, the defense has cooked up one silly explanation after another. But they never explain away the central facts of the case.

Far too many black men have been wrongly convicted. I'd give a second look at any black man's conviction. That's why I got interested in this case. But Mumia is simply, obviously guilty. Handsome, charismatic, and guilty.

Mumia has been very successful at manipulating the media and the courts. It takes away from other men of color who have genuinely been wrongly accused.

If you must believe he's innocent, then there are all sorts of fairy tales for you. If you believe in colorblind justice, there is one simple answer.

Mumia shot a police officer in the face, point blank.

This is a very well researched, very thoughtful and very interesting book which in my opinion everyone should read as part of understanding the world we live in. I agree with the other reviewer that this book makes a compelling case that a re-trial absolutely essential in order for justice to triumph. Please buy and read this book. It is first rate in every way.

Amnesty International in this little pamphlet presents the gross problems in the way Mumia Abu Jamal, black journalist and activist on death row since 1982 for allegedly killing a police officer, has been treated by the legal system. And there are a great many gross problems. AI does not declare him to be guilty or innocent nor have they adopted him as a prisoner of conscience.

AI points out that of the three witnesses who claimed to have heard him confess to killing officer Faulkner after being brought into the emergency room, on, officer Gary Wakshul wrote in his log after finishing his shift that night that "the negro male made no comments." Another, a hospital security gaurd, claimed to have handwritten a note to her supervisor after the incident. Another, officer Gary Bell, Faulkner's "best friend," made no record of the incident until two months later.

The security gaurd did not come forth with her claim until two months later. The alleged handwritten note was not found but a supposed typewritten copy of it was. The security gaurd denied having seen that copy before but despite its dubious authenticity Judge Sabo admitted it into evidence. Wakshull, Bell and Durham, the security gaurd, all came forward two months after the alleged confession, after Mumia had complained of being beaten by police after his arrest. Mumia tried to get Wakshul to testify but he was for some reason "on vacation" and Judge Sabo refused to pursue the matter furhter.

The alleged witnesses to the crime. AI points out that Cynthia White, the prostitute, who changed the details of her story numerous times, was serving an eighteen month sentence in Massachusetts at the time of the trial, with three charges pending, and was arrested twice in the days following the shooting, though she was not prosecuted for those two incidents. They point out that in 1987 a detective involved in Mumia's case testified successfully in support of releasing White, who was then on trial for numerous felonies, on bail despite her very extensive criminal record. They point out that Veronica Jones, the second prostitute, testified at the trial that "they [the police] told us we could work the area [as prostitutes] if we tell them [that Abu Jamal was the shooter]." She said that "they [the police] were trying to get me to say something the other girl [White] said. I couldn't do that." She said that she saw two men running from the scene but later retracted the statement, as she later testified in 1996, after being visited by police officers in jail where she was being held on charges of robbery and assault. Judge Sabo struck her original statements from the record. AI points out that Robert Chobert, the cab driver, intially told police that the shooter had "run away." He was on probation for arson at the time and was driving with a suspended liscence for which he was not prosecuted and he approached the prosecutor, as he later testified, wanting to know how he could get his liscence back so he could earn his living driving his cab. "We'll see" the prosecutor replied.

AI points out that the police did not conduct tests on Mumia's hands or smell his gun to see if had recently been fired. The medical examiner, was declared at the trial by Sabo to be a ballistics expert though at the 1995 hearing he reversed himself. The examiner made a "lay guess"--Sabo's words--that the gun was a .44 calibre whereas Mumia's gun was a .38 calibre. The medical examiner testified that though the bullet found in officer Faulkner seemed similar to those from Mumia's gun, the tests were inconclusive as to wheather it actually came from Mumia's firearm.

They point out, among other things,, him being a frequent target of law enforcment, especially the FBI's COINTELPRO program and how the prosecutor exploited Mumia's political views to secure a death sentence from the jury.

I think he's probably innocent. Give him a new trial or release him immediately.