Good News: Mumia Could Fry After All

We won't get too far ahead of ourselves, but as they left likes to say, there's always hope. Liberal darling, cause célèbre and former NPR contributor Mumia Abu-Jamal may eventually get some real justice.

The US Supreme Court ordered Tuesday a lower court to reconsider its decision not to execute ex-Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal for murdering a Philadelphia police officer in 1981.

"The judgment is vacated, and the case is remanded to the United States Court of Appeals," the highest court in the United States said in its ruling.

The death penalty sentence of Black Panther-turned human rights campaigner Abu-Jamal, 55, was overturned in March 2008, after his conviction for the murder of police officer Daniel Faulkner.

A three-member Pennsylvania appeals court voted two-to-one to overturn the former radio journalist's death sentence, automatically commuting his sentence to life in prison.

But the US Supreme Court order a new court review of the case following an appeal by prosecutors and a decision last week in a separate case in the state of Ohio, in which the death penalty verdict against another inmate was upheld.

This scumbag murdered Faulkner in 1981 and he's still breathing. Yeah, I know the wheels of justice grind slowly, but heck, I was still in high school back then.

Abu-Jamal was serving as the president of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists at the time of his arrest. He was a founding member of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Black Panther Party as a teenager.

The Black Panther Party was a Leftist African-American organization from the 1960s and 70s established to promote black power and self-defense.

Now the Black Panther Party in Philadelphia primarily practices voter intimidation under the auspices of Attorney General Eric Holder.

In case you need it, here's a brief refresher on what this "journalist" did.

Mumia Abu Jamal was catapulted into the public limelight by an event that occurred shortly after 3:55 a.m. on December 9, 1981, when white police officer Daniel Faulkner made a traffic stop of William Cook, Mumia's brother, on a Philadelphia street. Falkner pulled behind Cook's car, radioed for police backup, approached Cook's vehicle, and ordered the driver to get out of his car. While Faulkner handcuffed Cook, Mumia Abu Jamal, who was behind the wheel of a taxi parked across the street, suddenly got out of his vehicle, ran toward Faulkner and shot him in the back. As the policeman fell, he drew his own gun and managed to shoot Abu Jamal in the chest, wounding but not killing him. The gun-wielding cabdriver then fired repeatedly at Faulkner, finally dispatching him from close range with a bullet in the brain. Abu Jamal's presence near the scene of the roadside stop at that particular moment has led to serious speculation that William Cook intentionally led Faulkner into an ambush -- one that had all the earmarks of other Black Panther provocations in places like Newark and Oakland.

The body of evidence placing Mumia Abu Jamal at the scene of Faulkner's killing was overwhelming. There were three eyewitnesses who testified that Abu Jamal was the killer. His brother William Cook has never testified that Abu Jamal was innocent. Abu Jamal himself never once claimed his innocence at his own trial. Two policemen and one hospital security guard testified to the court that while Abu Jamal was being brought into the hospital following the altercation with Faulkner, he shouted repeatedly, "I shot the mother f---er, and I hope the mother f---er dies." The bullet that the doctors removed from Abu Jamal chest came from Officer Faulkner's gun. The bullet in Faulkner's brain came from Abu Jamal's gun, which had five empty cartridges when investigators found it. All the relevant facts of the case are detailed on the website danielfaulkner.com.