Mumia Abu-Jamal’s 1982 death sentence is again declared unconstitutional | Happily Natural Day

Mumia Abu-Jamal’s 1982 death sentence is again declared unconstitutional | Happily Natural Day

Mumia Abu-Jamal, one of the world’s best known political prisoners, is feared by the powers that be for his revolutionary journalism – he was minister of information for the Philadelphia Black Panther Party at the age of 15 and in more recent years his commentaries have been broadcast by NPR (National Public Radio) and the Pacifica radio network and published widely, including by the Bay View – and for his millions of supporters around the world.

April 26 – The United States Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit has unanimously declared that Mumia Abu-Jamal’s death sentence is unconstitutional. In today’s decision, the Court of Appeals reaffirmed its 2008 finding that Mr. Abu-Jamal’s sentencing jury was misled about the process for considering evidence supporting a life sentence.

The court found that, in violation of the United States Supreme Court’s 1988 decision in Mills v. Maryland, the jury was improperly led to believe that that it could only consider unanimously agreed upon evidence favoring a life verdict. This mistake rendered Mr. Abu-Jamal’s death sentence fundamentally unfair. The NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), and Professor Judy Ritter of Widener Law School represent Mr. Abu-Jamal in this appeal of his 1982 conviction and death sentence for the murder of a police officer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.