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.

Stunner! Obama Hack Van Jones Also a Mumia Supporter

I haven't mentioned this guy the past couple of days as others have been all over it, led by Jim Hoft. It says volumes about Barack Obama that he'd appoint an avowed Communist with apparent links to 9/11 Truther movements, even though the White House is treading extremely thin ice inexplicably sticking by this guy.

The White House would not say whether the White House's green-jobs czar, who has been linked to Sept. 11 conspiracy theorists, continues to enjoy the confidence of the president, but an official said he is still a part of the administration.

Van Jones, the president's special adviser for green jobs at the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), has come under fire this week for using an obscenity to describe Republicans and for signing a petition to get Congress to investigate whether the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, were an inside government job.

Most of the media is ignoring the story, naturally, but there comes a time when critical mass will be reached, and probably much sooner than later.

The pathetic aspect of this is the obvious non-vetting of Jones or the likelihood Jones was vetted and Obama found nothing offensive about this man. Apparently the tech-savvy wizards at the White House are too incompetent to run a simple search, as many are now in the process of doing.

Now we find Jones also has a thing for the cop-killing darling of the left, Mumia Abu Jamal. This is from 10 years ago, obviously pre-dating Jones' later hook-up with other radicals in the Truther movement.

Supporters of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a death row inmate convicted for the 1981 shooting death of a Philadelphia police officer, said the protest was called after the Supreme Court on Monday rejected claims that Abu-Jamal, a former radio journalist and Black Panther, did not receive a fair trial.

``We knew there was another event going on, but the timing of the court decision is what dictated when the protest was held,'' said Van Jones, a San Francisco civil rights lawyer who helped coordinate the protest march.

Via Gabe Malor.

So let the White House play cute and try to minimize the likely Jones association with the wacked-out Truthers. Have at it.

Let's MoveOn: Why is Obama appointing supporters of cop killers?

Linked at Instapundit and Hot Air. Thanks!

Ed Morrissey notes:

One would think that the Obama administration would hasten to distance itself from both Truthers and supporters of cop-killers. I imagine James Crowley may be having an ironic laugh at this today.

Commenter Martin says:

After the Professor Gates/Officer Crowley incident, this is JUST what President Obama needed to mend fences with all the police officers he insulted.

Update: The resignation watch is officially on. I'll take 9 pm tonight.

Supreme Court Rejects Beloved Leftwing Cop Killer

Liberal icon

The idiotic left has impeccable timing. While they were getting their rocks off over the weekend with the absurd claim that conservatives want to shoot cops, they fail to look at their own long history of supporting cop killers.

Well, look who's back in the news today: The left's favorite cop killer.

Mumia Abu-Jamal has lost his bid for a new trial in the killing of a Philadelphia police officer in 1981.

The Supreme Court said Monday it will not take up Abu-Jamal's claims that prosecutors improperly excluded blacks from the jury that convicted him of murdering Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia upheld Abu-Jamal's conviction but held his death sentence invalid. The appeals court said it would not second-guess state court rulings rejecting Abu-Jamal's claims of bias in the composition of the jury.

The high court considered only the conviction. The state has separately asked the court to reinstate the death sentence, but the justices have not acted on that request.

A Philadelphia jury convicted Abu-Jamal, who is black, of killing Faulkner, who was white, in 1981 after the patrolman pulled over Abu-Jamal's brother during an overnight traffic stop.

Prosecutors say Faulkner, 25, managed to shoot Abu-Jamal during the confrontation. A wounded Abu-Jamal, his own gun lying nearby, was still at the scene when police arrived, and authorities considered the evidence against him overwhelming.

Over to you, Markos.

A shame this cretin won't be put down, but on the upside he's free to keep a diary at Daily Kos.

Update: Ed Morrissey has more thoughts.

Thanks for the link!

Cop Killer Gets a Reprieve

PHILADELPHIA - A federal appeals court has ordered a new penalty hearing for celebrity death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal (moo-MEE'-ah AH'-boo jah-MAHL').

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says Abu-Jamal's conviction for the 1981 murder of a Philadelphia police officer should stand. But it says he should get a new sentencing hearing because of flawed jury instructions.

If prosecutors don't want to give him a new death penalty hearing, Abu-Jamal would be sentenced automatically to life in prison.

A Philadelphia jury convicted Abu-Jamal of killing Officer Daniel Faulkner after the patrolman pulled over Abu-Jamal's brother in an overnight traffic stop 27 years ago.

This guy has been living on death row for 27 years! What, are they hoping he dies of old age. Three hots and a cot at the taxpayers expense for all of this time. I wonder how much taxpayer money the victims family got?

Officer Faulkner didn't get to appeal to anybody.