Western Massachusetts

MIM Notes 143  PART I        AUGUST 1, 1997

CIRCUS OR LAW?
UPDATE ON THE STRUGGLE TO SAVE THE LIFE OF MUMIA ABU-JAMAL

The final remand hearing in former Black Panther Mumia Abu-
Jamal's bid for a new trial were held June 26th to July 1st 
in Philadelphia. The Supreme Court will use the evidence and 
arguments presented to decide if Mumia gets a new trial. 
Governor Ridge has pledged to immediately sign a new death 
warrant if Mumia is denied a new trial.(1,2) The hearing was 
presided over by the same blatantly biased Judge Sabo, and 
further exposed the lies and witness manipulation of the 
original trial.

Mumia was framed for the righteous 1981 killing of a Philly 
cop engaged in an act of police brutality. Someone else 
killed the cop, but the Amerikan system of injustice--backed 
up by the fascist anti-crime fever among a great majority of 
whites--demands that someone die for the killing of a pig. 
These fascists prefer to kill Mumia than the real killer, 
because Mumia is an outspoken leader who generates public 
opinion against the system. His political views, including 
his agreement with Mao Zedong that "power grows out of the 
barrel of a gun" were used as evidence against him in his 
trial and in the imposition of the death penalty.

Since the original trial, evidence of Mumia's innocence that 
was suppressed by the police from the defense has continued 
to be discovered by the defense and presented to Judge Sabo 
in appeals. Sabo laughs off the little evidence that he 
allows to be presented, but it is all being read into the 
record. Between the evidence itself and Sabo's bias, it is 
hoped that enough has been done in court to win Mumia a new 
trial.

The June hearing was no different than previous. It was a 
circus from start to finish. Sabo denied the majority of the 
defense's motions and objections and halted all potentially 
important witness subpoenas.

The most important piece of evidence was the testimony of 
Pamela Jenkins, a 15 year old prostitute at the time of the 
shooting. Jenkins had been sleeping with key prosecution 
witness and PA pig, Tom Ryan. Jenkins testified that Ryan 
tried to force her to testify against Mumia even though she 
was not anywhere near the shooting.

In 1982, Jenkins was friends with the only person to 
testifying seeing Mumia with a gun at the scene of the pigs 
death--Cynthia White. Jenkins corroborated the testimony of 
Veronica Jones a few months ago, who also testified that 
White was an informant and pressured to testify in exchange 
for freedom from prosecution.(2) The law requires the 
defense to be notified if prosecution witnesses are also 
informants. This by itself, should get Mumia a new trial.

White's location is unknown to the defense and it is trying 
to find her. Jenkins also testified that she saw Cynthia 
White getting into a car driven by police officer on March 
5. The prosecution claims White is dead and offered a 1995 
NJ death certificate for a "Cynthia Williams AKA Mildred 
Saunders."(2)

The death certificate was incomplete and there were numerous 
inconsistencies. Sabo wouldn't let a witness testify to 
Jenkin's felony prosecution for testifying for Mumia, or to 
a witness on the scene of the killing who saw two armed 
white men running towards the scene and one Black man 
running away. He denied two private investigators and one 
former District Attorney from testifying about their 
knowledge of White's whereabouts.

Sabo denied these witnesses saying: "that there was no point 
in hearing all this if Cynthia White was dead, so the only 
witnesses he wanted to hear were New Jersey state police 
officials who could testify to her death. In other words, he 
would only allow witness who would say that Cynthia is dead, 
and would not allow any witnesses who would say she was 
alive!"(3)

The next day a NJ trooper testified to the fingerprints 
matching, but Sabo wouldn't allow the defense to examine the 
fingerprints. Sabo said "As far as I'm concerned, she's 
dead. I'm making a ruling. We're finished."(2)

The war in the courts against Mumia is dangerous both 
because it is a continuation of the legacy of repression of 
Black nationalist leaders and also because it continues the 
flagrant use of a supposedly impartial judicial system to 
represent only the interests of apartheid Amerika. As Mumia 
said, "There are hundreds of thousands of Mumia Abu-Jamal's 
on death row and doing life bits in this country. These 
people are not well known."(4) We must carry on the support 
for activists like Mumia and support for all of the 
incarcerated victims of Amerika's war against the internal 
colonies as part of our overall revolutionary struggle.

NOTE:
1. International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-
Jamal, Emergency Response Press Release for June 26 
demonstration. mumia@aol.com
2. Afrikan Frontline Network: Media Watch 
http://www.globaldrum.com/nattyreb/fnx700.html
3. Same as #2. This is a paraphrase in the document, not a 
direct quote. For more information, also see 
http://www.mumia.org/
4. New York Times 13 August 1995, p. A14.