Terri
04-07-2009, 07:42 AM
By KATHY MATHESON
Associated Press
April 7, 2009
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal lost his bid for a new trial in the killing of a city police officer after the U.S. Supreme Court said Monday that it will not take up the case.
Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther and one-time radio reporter, had claimed prosecutors improperly excluded blacks from the jury that convicted him of murdering white Philadelphia police Officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981.
Abu-Jamal's attorney, Robert R. Bryan of San Francisco, called his client's trial "a mockery of justice" and said Monday he would seek a rehearing by the high court.
But prosecutor Hugh Burns said that "for practical purposes, this was the last remotely realistic chance for getting a new trial."
More (http://www.gopusa.com/news/2009/april/0407_sc_conviction.s html)
Associated Press
April 7, 2009
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal lost his bid for a new trial in the killing of a city police officer after the U.S. Supreme Court said Monday that it will not take up the case.
Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther and one-time radio reporter, had claimed prosecutors improperly excluded blacks from the jury that convicted him of murdering white Philadelphia police Officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981.
Abu-Jamal's attorney, Robert R. Bryan of San Francisco, called his client's trial "a mockery of justice" and said Monday he would seek a rehearing by the high court.
But prosecutor Hugh Burns said that "for practical purposes, this was the last remotely realistic chance for getting a new trial."
More (http://www.gopusa.com/news/2009/april/0407_sc_conviction.s html)