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Mumia Abu-Jamal (born Wesley Cook April 24, 1954) is a black journalist and political activist. He is most famous for his 1982 conviction and death sentence on charges of murder, and for the large subsequent campaigns for and against him.

Before his conviction, Abu-Jamal was a Philadelphia journalist. He began his career, at the age of fourteen, as the lieutenant minister of information with the Philadelphia Black Panther Party. He was also a prominent supporter of the back to nature group MOVE, and president of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists.

On December 9, 1981, white Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner pulled over Abu-Jamal's brother, William Cook, for driving the wrong way on a one-way street with his lights out. Abu-Jamal, who was driving a cab at the time, happened on the scene. In an ensuing struggle, both Abu-Jamal and Faulkner were shot; Faulkner in the back and in the face; Faulkner died and Abu-Jamal was wounded. Abu-Jamal was arrested at 4am with a pistol registered in his name at his side.

On July 3, 1982, Abu-Jamal was convicted of Faulkner's murder and sentenced to death. In addition to a conventional criminal defense, Abu Jamal raised many political issues in his trial.

His case has become a popular cause among many people, including black nationalist and anti-racist activists, anti-globalization movement activists, human rights activists, and opponents of the death penalty. Many supporters have called for a new trial, his release from prison, or the commutation of his sentence to life in prison.

Daniel Faulkner's family and the Fraternal Order of Police believe that Abu-Jamal killed Faulkner while Faulkner was engaged in a legal, justified arrest.

Abu Jamal's supporters claim that the trial was unfair. Points asserted in his appeals or by his supporters include

• Incompetent representation by a lawyer who was later disbarred and was allowed only $150 to interview witnesses.
• Of the twelve sitting jurors, only one was black. Abu-Jamal's supporters claim that the prosecution requested the removal of many black potential jurors specifically because they were black.
• The presiding judge, Albert F. Sabo, had a reputation as a judge with a bias toward convictions. He has sentenced more men to die (31 to date, only two of them white) than any other sitting judge in the United States.
• Faulkner was shot with a .44 caliber gun, while Abu-Jamal's gun was a .38.
• Conflicting testimony and missing witnesses.

His detractors respond that

• Abu-Jamal's lawyer (Anthony Jackson) was in fact highly experienced, having served in twenty murder cases, with only six convictions and no executions. Furthermore, he was chosen by Abu-Jamal after specific recommendation by his friends at the Black Journalists Association. Receipts indicate his defense spent $13,000, not $150.
• The racial composition of the jury was never recorded, making most such assertions speculative, but it is known at least two jurors were black, as was a third accepted by the prosecution who was later dismissed for violating sequestration. Both prosecution and defense were allowed up to 20 peremptory strikes, and the prosecution used 15 of these, giving specific, relevant reaons for each. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania reviewed the case twice for evidence of racial bias and found none.
• The claim that Sabo has given more death sentences than anyone else is pure fabrication: no such statistics are collected, and so there is no way Abu-Jamal's supporters could know this. At any rate, it is the jury, not the judge, which convicts and gives death sentences. Also, Sabo presided over a heavily non-white district, which accounts for the racial make-up of his defendants (who he did not choose).
• Faulkner was shot with a .38. The claim he was shot with a .44 is based entirely on a handwritten note on a piece of scrap paper written by Dr. Paul Hoyer, who performed the autopsy; however, he testified that this was merely a guess he made before actually performing the autopsy, and this guess was not included in the autopsy report, as he had no ballistics training. This incorrect guess may be explained by the fact that the bullet was a +P type, which leaves a larger wound. The bullet was since extracted and tested, and it matched the type, brand, and caliber of the bullet remaining in Abu-Jamal's gun. In addition, other tests showed the bullet was fired from the same type of gun as that owned by Abu-Jamal.
• The so-called conflicts and holes are found to be no such thing on even the most elementary examination.

Abu Jamal's conviction has been upheld in both state and federal courts. In December 2001, a federal judge affirmed his murder conviction but ordered that Abu-Jamal should either receive a new sentencing hearing or have his sentence commuted to life in prison because of an error by the trial judge in presenting rules of sentencing to the jury.

Since his imprisonment, Abu-Jamal has continued his political activism, publishing Live from Death Row, a book on life inside prisons, as well as making frequent commentaries on left-wing radio shows.

External links

• www.danielfaulkner.com, one of the few web sites presenting the case against Abu-Jamal. Includes refutations of many defense assertions, some of which are listed above, and articles on the 2001 affirmation of the conviction.
• http://www.freemumia.org, a pro-Abu-Jamal activism and advocacy page
• The Case of Mumia Abu Jamal, by Terry Bisson from New York Newsday, 1995
• Supporters of Mumia Abu-Jamal as listed by the Fraternal Order of Police
• Transcripts of Mumia Abu Jamal's 1981 trial.