Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 14:05:33 -0400
From: Chuck0 <chuck-AT-tao.ca>
Subject: Judge Blocks Execution In Abu-Jamal Cop-Killer Case




-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Judge Blocks Execution In Abu-Jamal Cop-Killer Case
Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 14:02:44 -0400
From: 
To: "Chuck Munson" <chuck-AT-tao.ca>

Judge Blocks Execution In Abu-Jamal Cop-Killer Case

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A federal judge issued a stay of execution
Tuesday
for Mumia Abu-Jamal, the former Black Panther and radio journalist who
was
scheduled to die next December for killing a Philadelphia policeman 18
years
ago.

U.S. District Judge William Yohn Jr. granted the stay, 13 days after
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge signed Abu-Jamal's death warrant scheduling
his
execution for Dec. 2, according to a statement from Leonard Weinglass,
the
lead attorney for Abu-Jamal's defense team.

Abu-Jamal's lawyers filed a habeas corpus petition in U.S. District
Court
after the death warrant was signed in an attempt to get their client a
new
trial. They have argued his original trial in 1982 violated his
constitutional rights.

``It is our hope ... we will have the opportunity to present the facts
concerning this case in a neutral and fair courtroom,'' Weinglass said
in
the statement.

Abu-Jamal has become a cause celebre for death penalty opponents
worldwide
who have either demanded his freedom or a new trial.

Abu-Jamal, who has written books from prison about the U.S. judicial
system,
was convicted of killing police officer Daniel Faulkner in Philadelphia
in
December 1981 while Faulkner was trying to arrest Abu-Jamal's brother
during
a traffic stop.

Abu-Jamal was found lying on the ground near Faulkner with a gunshot
wound
from Faulkner's gun. A .38-caliber gun registered to Abu-Jamal was found
next to him with five empty shell casings.

Abu-Jamal has refused to talk about what happened, but his lawyers said
witnesses came forward in recent years who saw someone else shoot
Faulkner
and flee the scene.

They also argued Abu-Jamal's constitutional rights were violated in his
original trial because he was denied the right to represent himself and
also
was barred from the courtroom for nearly half of the proceedings.

The statement said Yohn will begin reviewing the habeas corpus petition,
which lists 29 separate issues of constitutional violations.

Abu-Jamal was being held on death row at the State Correctional
Institute,
Greene County, in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, about 90 miles south of
Pittsburgh.