Philadelphia DA Launches New Attack on Mumia Abu-Jamal
On February 3, 2021, the Philadelphia District Attorney, Larry Krasner, submitted a 96-page brief to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that argued to “affirm the orders denying post-conviction relief” to Mumia Abu-Jamal.
In crass violation of the official role of a District Attorney to seek truth and justice (as opposed to seeking or upholding convictions,) the brief shows the extreme lengths the D.A.’s team went through to argue Mumia’s guilt and to ignore all pertinent facts in court records proving his innocence.
Recently, during the impeachment trial of ex-President Trump, the country witnessed the kinds of shenanigans lawyers can engage in to make arguments for untenable, illegal actions. (For example, Trump’s defense lawyers, in an effort to exonerate him from inciting the murderous assault on the Capitol, showed a long video collage of Trump’s opponents using the word “fight” without any context of what fight they were advocating.)
D.A. Krasner’s brief is likewise full of lawyers’ word games all to endorse the previous racist court decisions framing Mumia Abu-Jamal for the murder of Police officer, Daniel Faulkner, a murder to which another man admitted guilt!
One example is the repeated denial in the D.A.’s brief that Mumia’s appeals were submitted in a “timely” fashion—a condition that is not possible until new facts are revealed.
This brief represents a serious setback to Mumia and the movement to win his freedom. It is proof that it is illusory to have any faith in the bourgeois state or its “progressive” agents—or that meaningful reform of a racist, unjust criminal justice system, can come from within. For justice to be won, a mass movement must be mobilized to demand it.
To learn the truth about this very important case read “Path to Mumia’s Freedom,” by Rachel Wolkenstein, a former attorney for Mumia, at rachelwolkenstein.net and see the excellent video, “Manufacturing Guilt—a short film about Mumia Abu-Jamal’s case” directed by Stephen Vittoria, on YouTube or at laboractionmumia.org website.