The Jamal Journal: The International Movement Supporting US Political Prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal: Abolish Stanford writes open letter to DA Krasner calling for Mumia's immediate release

Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Abolish Stanford writes open letter to DA Krasner calling for Mumia's immediate release

Dear District Attorney Larry Krasner,

We urge you to immediately release Mumia Abu-Jamal from state custody. With every passing moment, you become further complicit in a myriad of human rights abuses that surround his incarceration: the public health crisis of COVID-19 spread in detention facilities, the denial of medical treatment for his multiple, life-threatening conditions, and the due process violations that underlie his conviction, including racism, police corruption, and political targeting. For years, your alma mater has held you up as an example of “progressive prosecution,” a career path towards which we should aspire. However, your continued opposition towards Mumia Abu-Jamal’s freedom—most recently at this current moment, as he battles COVID-19—reminds us that there is no enlightened, humane, or just way to carry out the state’s business of caging people.

As you know well, Mumia Abu-Jamal is a political activist and journalist who has been incarcerated for nearly 40 years. For decades, activists and human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have condemned the injustices that surrounded his conviction. The evidence during and after his trial demonstrates that his conviction was marred by witness intimidation, a fabricated confession, racism in the jury selection process, among many other factors that undermined his right to a fair trial. Your office has recently reinforced this, by turning over evidence indicating that some of the prosecution’s witness testimony was bribed, and further evidence supporting Abu-Jamal’s previous Batson challenge.

Mumia Abu-Jamal had no criminal record before his conviction and has maintained his innocence since. But this is not relevant to the current humanitarian crisis with which he is faced. His age and underlying conditions put him at greater risk for COVID, which he unfortunately caught last week. Since then, he has lost thirty pounds and is experiencing a severe flare up in his skin conditions, causing open wounds on his skin. He also suffers from underlying liver damage, congestive heart disease, and hypertension, but has been unable to receive medical treatment since his COVID diagnosis. His situation is incredibly dire and urgent, and as his medical consultant, Dr. Ricardo Alvarez has said in the past, “Freedom is the only treatment.”

Mr. Krasner, you have the power to release him, and with every moment in which you delay, we become further reminded of how hollow the term “progressive prosecutor” is. As Mumia Abu-Jamal has said, “Prison is a second-by-second assault on the soul, a day-to-day degradation of the self, an oppressive steel and brick umbrella that transforms seconds into hours and hours into days.” There is no “progressive” or humane way to go about this enterprise, and your failure to intervene in this current life-and-death situation makes this even more clear. Mumia Abu-Jamal has been an inspiration for Black liberation movements and we are extremely disappointed that one of our alumni insists on being a fundamental obstacle to his freedom. As concerned students, especially those among us who are studying law, we condemn Abu-Jamal’s continued incarceration and call upon you to free him and all political prisoners.

Signed,

Abolish Stanford

Individual Signatures:
a.d. sean lewis, stanford law '21
Adary Zhang, Stanford Medical School MD Candidate
Adele L Stock, PhD Student in History
Alexa Russo, PhD Candidate in Anthropology
Alexa Wnorowski, PhD Candidate in Bioengineering
Alyssa Martinez, JD/MA Candidate
Amber Moore, Stanford University
Amir Wright, JD Candidate
Amshuly Chandran
Amy Tannenbaum JD '17
Ana Cutts Dougherty, JD Candidate
Andrea Ramirez, Biology PhD Candidate
Anjuli Branz, Stanford Law ‘19
AnQi Yu, Undergraduate
Arielle Keller/PhD Candidate in Neuroscience
Aryn Frazier
Avery Krieger, PhD Neuroscience
Azeezat Adeleke, SLS '22
Bree Baccaglini, SLS ‘21
Caleb Zerger, PhD candidate Applied Physics
Callum Tresnan, Comparative Literature ‘23
Camilo Espinosa Bernal, PhD Candidate in Immunology
Carin Ragland Biology PhD
Carson White (SLS '18)
Chelsey Davidson (SLS '22)
Christina Rea, Staff
Connor Hayes, JD Candidate
Daniel Zahn, JD Candidate
Dixie Blumenshine
Eden Berke, Northwestern University 2021
Elias Schultz, Stanford Law ‘22
Elisabeth Meyer, PhD candidate
Ella Varney, Undergraduate ‘22
Em Horst, PhD Candidate in chemistry
Emily Hawley, SLS, 2021
Emma Bates, Undergraduate ‘22
Erica Posey, SLS ‘22
Erick Bravo, Undergraduate '23
Frances Tinney (SLS '22)
Gabe Hillman Alvarez, B.S. Candidate in Engineering Physics '21
Gabriela Basel, PhD Student in Chemical Engineering
Geoff Ivison, PhD Candidate in Immunology
George Walters-Marrah
Glen Williams (SLS '23)
Grace Ann Brew, SLS '22
Hanon Mcshea, PhD Candidate in Earth System Science
Ilana Raskind, Postdoctoral fellow, School of Medicine
Ilinca Popescu CO 2022
Jacob Maddox
Jacob McCall, SLS '22
Jacob Seidman, SLS ‘22
Jenny Jiao, SLS '23
Jessica Zhang, Biology PhD Candidate
Jose Luis Gomez Gamez, JD Candidate
Jules Ross, Stanford Law '22
Julia Gleason
Julia Neusner, SLS/ MIP '20
Julian Oscar Alvarez, J.D. '22
Justine Modica
Kabir Abiose, PhD Candidate, Mechanical Engineering
Katelyn Masket, SLS '21
Kathryn Wu, MD/PhD candidate in Neuroscience
Katie Wullert, PhD Candidate Sociology
Kelli Mason
Kendra Lechtenberg, Alumni
Kyle Wang, B.A. Candidate in English, ‘22
Leanna Lupin, Stanford Law 2023
Leehi Yona Stanford Law '23
Lisa Muloma, SLS '21
Luke Williams, Modern Thought & Literature PhD
Lynnette Jackson, Structural Biology Ph.D. Candidate
Madeline Cooper, MD/PhD candidate
Madeline Walsh, Stanford Law '23
Mallorie Urban, SLS ‘21
Maria Filsinger Interrante, MD/PhD '24
Martha Kahlson, Biochemistry PhD Candidate
Megan R. Izzo, SLS ‘22
Melody Yang, Undergraduate '21
Micah Olivas, Genetics PhD Student
Michael Hayes, Genetics PhD candidate
Mikayla Tillery
Mohit Mookim, JD Candidate
Monique Candiff, JD Candidate
Nathaniel Ramos BS '21
Neil Michael Khosla
Nicel Mohamed-Hinds, BS Physics '19
Olamide Abiose, JD/PhD Candidate in Neuroscience
Olivia Malone, Stanford Law '22
Oona Cahill, SLS '23
Osama El-Gabalawy, Medical Student, School of Medicine
Paola Méndez, JD Candidate
Peggy Xu, JD Candidate
Prudence Iticka
Rachel R. Sohl, Stanford Law School ‘21
Rhiannon Bronstein (SLS '22)
Sandra Habtamu
Schuyler Atkins, Stanford Law School ‘22
Shantanu Nevrekar, PhD Student in Anthropology
Sreela Kodali, EE PhD student
Srihari Nageswaran
Taylar Hammond
Tyrik LaCruise, SLS ‘20
Willa Collins, Stanford Law School '20
Yiran Liu, PhD Candidate in Infectious Diseases

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ICFFMAJ’s Network of Supporters

Philadelphia:

Mobilization 4 Mumia

(215) 724-1618

mobilization4mumia@gmail.com www.mobilization4mumia.com

New York:

Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC)

(212) 330-8029

info@freemumia.com

www.freemumia.com

Campaign to Bring Mumia Home

info@bringmumiahome.com

www.bringmumiahome.com

California:

Prison Radio

(415) 648-4505

info@prisonradio.org

www.prisonradio.org

SF Bay Area Mobilization to Free Mumia

(510) 268-9429

www.free-mumia.org

Labor Action Committee to Free Mumia

www.laboractionmumia.org

France:

Collectif Unitaire National De Soutien A Mumia Abu-Jamal

Telephone: 01 53 38 99 99

Fax: 01 40 40 90 98 contact@mumiabujamal.com

www.mumiabujamal.com

International Solidarity Committee for Mumia Abu-Jamal and Political Prisoners (COSIMAPP), co-founder Julia Wright

julianahrv1966@gmail.com

Mumia’s Legal Team:

Contact the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (click here)

Mumia FAQ by Mobilization 4 Mumia

On December 9, 1981 Mumia Abu-Jamal, a journalist and former Black Panther, was arrested for the murder of white Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. He was convicted and sentenced to death in a trial that was rife with perjured testimony and manufactured evidence that Amnesty International found, "did not meet the minimum international standards for a fair trial."

Mumia was working as a cab driver to make extra money when he happened upon Officer Faulkner, who had stopped his brother Billy Cook, and was beating him in the head with a metal flashlight.

The prosecutor, Joseph McGill, presented a story that has Mumia running behind the officer and shooting him in the back. He then claimed that the officer turned around and pulled his weapon shooting Mumia in the chest. McGill ends the story by saying the officer fell to the ground where Mumia stood over him and unloaded on him, missing with several shots but hitting him once between the eyes. McGill also claimed that Mumia confessed to the shooting later on in police custody.

None of the physical evidence supports the prosecution's case! Mumia did legally own a gun, not uncommon for anyone driving a cab in Philadelphia during that time. However, the police never tested his gun to see if it had been fired nor tested his hands to see if they had recently fired a gun. They bullet taken from Faulkner could not be matched to Mumia's gun.

There were no divots in the sidewalk around the officer's head as there would have been if the shooter had stood above him. The only bullets that were found were approximately eight feet west to where Faulkner was laying and were from an angle that would not have been possible from the trajectory where Mumia entered the scene.

The bullet wound that hit Mumia also debunks the prosecution's scenario. The bullet was traveling at a hard downward trajectory suggesting that his body was learning forward while still running to the scene when he was shot, and that the officer was elevated, likely standing on the sidewalk.

The prosecution witnesses told different stories in their original statements than they did at trial. One, a prostitute named Cynthia White, changed her story five times by the time she reached trial. Another, a cab driver named Robert Chobert, who was driving with a suspended license while on probation for arson, first told arriving officers, "the shooter ran away." He then said the shooter ran thirty feet and fell despite the fact that Mumia was laying less than three feet from Faulkner.

Crime scene photographs that were never disclosed to the defense until 2007 show that Chobert was not parked where he said he was. They also show confirm that there were no bullet divots around Faulkner's head, that police collected evidence incorrectly - damaging its integrity, and that the officer's hat had been moved from its original place on the roof of a car suggesting that Faulkner was talking to a passenger.

Four different witnesses claimed that they saw someone running from the scene. In 1995 at a post-conviction relief act hearing it was discovered that Faulkner had a temporary drivers license for another person in his pocket when he was killed. The owner of that license, Arnold Howard, revealed at the 1995 PCRA hearing that though he was able to prove he was not there that night that he had loaned his license to a friend named Kenneth Freeman who was close with Billy Cook.

There were three different police officers who claimed that Mumia confessed. The only officer who testified at trial, Gary Bell, claimed that after Mumia was brought into Jefferson hospital for his gunshot wound, he yelled, "I shot the motherfucker and I hope the motherfucker dies."

However, the officer never made a report of the incident and claimed to have forgotten this crucial information for over sixty days. He had no recollection until after Mumia's defense attorney file police brutality charges due to the fact that the officers beat him when they arrived on the scene. After that filing all three officers came forward in the subsequent weeks with stories of a confession. The two other officers, Gary Wakshul and Thomas Bray came forward and neither of them had made a report on the night of the shooting. Wakshul even went as far in his original report to say, "The male negro made no statements." He made a second report a week later where he offered recollections of tiny details even so far as to remember the make and model of a camera found in Faulkner's car but made no mention of a confession. He later claimed that he just forgot.

Wakshul claimed that Mumia said, "I shot the motherfucker and I hope the motherfucker dies" while lying on the ground in the ER, unlike Bell, who claimed he said it while entering the hospital. Bray claimed that later while on a gurney Mumia confessed to him but in his story Mumia said, "I shot him and if you let me go I will kill all of you cops." The doctor who operated on both Mumia and Faulkner heard no confession and neither did any of the hospital staff. None of the officers corroborated each others stories.

After the police officers came forward with a confession story a hospital guard named Priscilla Durham came forward and claimed she heard a confession as well, but never alerted the police. She was interviewed by the prosecution and brought to trial. During the trial she claimed, for the first time, that she made a handwritten report about the confession the day after the shooting but only gave it to her superior officer. She somehow never mentioned this to the prosecution or the police despite being interviewed by both. During the trial the judge sent a police officer to the hospital who returned with a piece of paper that was not on hospital letterhead, was typed, and was not signed. This document was allowed to be submitted as evidence over the objections of the defense.

At the trial the defense tried to call Gary Wakshul after Mumia discovered his report claiming that "the male negro made no statements." The prosecution claimed that Wakshul was unavailable due to being on vacation. The judge refused to delay the trial and told Mumia and his attorney that they, "goofed." The defense would later learn that though Wakshul was technically on vacation he was instructed by the DA's office to stay at home incase he was called for trial, a fact that was hidden by the prosecutor.

Mumia had a court appointed lawyer who did not have the funds to investigate witnesses or do any ballistics investigations whatsoever. The judge who presided over the case was Albert Sabo, a former Sherrif and member of the Fratneral Order of Police who presided over more trials ending in death sentences than any other judge in the US. A third of all lawyers surveyed by the American Bar Association in Philadelphia said that he was unfit to be on the bench.

While the original trial was underway a court stenographer, Terri Maurer-Carter, for Judge Richard Klein entered Sabo's chambers and overhead Sabo complaining about the performance of the prosecution and said, "I'm gonna help them fry that nigger".

During Mumia's Post Conviction Relief Act Hearings Judge Sabo was brought out of retirement to preside. He sustained every single prosecution objection and quashed most of the subpoenas brought forth by the defense. He did not find that Mumia deserved a new trial and said so in a finding of fact that was a carbon copy of the prosecution's closing brief.

Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Abolish Stanford writes open letter to DA Krasner calling for Mumia's immediate release

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