Take Immediate Action For Mumia June 16

[CCADP]

Take Immediate Action for Mumia on June 16!

Greetings Sisters and Brothers,

Do what you can for Mumia Now! before it's too late. As it stands now Mumia's case is dangerously close to being reviewed as is; with him appearing guilty in the eyes of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, when in reality, the opposite is true. If you can, take the day off of work and be with us in Philly as we make our feeling known to the powers that be in Philly; that is the State Court of Common Pleas, City Hall, Governor Rendell and anyone else in authority who can stop this legal lynching from going down. Ultimately, the Philadelphia citizenry and the millions of people world wide can force the courts to set Mumia free. Let's make that happen, we can and we must.

Power to the People Free Mumia and all Political Prisoners, Hotline [phone]

P.S. We leave NYC by 9:00am in front of the main Post Office across the street from the Port Authority and Madison Square Garden. Roundtrip tickets are $20, $15 for those on a fixed income. Departure from Philly should be at 5:00pm. Call now to reserve your seat on the bus. Someone will call you back.

MUMIA'S MOST RECENT PETITION WAS JUST DIMISSED BY THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS...THIS MEANS THAT THERE IS NO LONGER A CHANCE FOR THE EVIDENCE POINTING TOWARDS MUMIA'S INNOCENCE, AND MISCONDUCT ON THE PART OF THE PROSECUTION TO BE INCLUDED IN THE RECORD UNLESS PEOPLE DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!

DOWNLOAD THE FLYER (PDF) FRONT BACK

DOWNLOAD THE LEGAL MEMORANDUM (PDF) CLICK HERE

*JOIN US FOR PROTEST AND OUTREACH ON THURSDAY JUNE 16TH, ON THE WEST SIDE OF CITY HALL IN PHILADELPHIA, AT 12 NOON That will be the last day Mumia can file for "reconsideration" of Dembe's ruling. We must let the courts know that we will not be quiet in the face of this outrageous and continuous process to kill and SILENCE OUR BROTHER MUMIA. (Buses will be leaving from NYC. Email [e-mail] if you are interested)

ATTENTION: JUDGE MASSIAH-JACKSON, CONGRESSMAN FATTAH, MAYOR STREET, NATIONAL AND PHILADELPHIA NAACP, ALL OTHER POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, NATIONAL AND COMMUNITY LEADERS AND PEOPLE OF GOOD WILL:

Once again, Mumia Abu-Jamal, an innocent man on Pennsylvania's Death Row for 23 years, is being denied justice because the court system is violating his right to due process, to the consideration of relevant evidence, and to a new and fair trial, if not his immediate release. Judge Pamela Dembe, in the Court of Common Pleas, has hammered another nail into the coffin they're preparing for Mumia by rubberstamping the record of the notorious "Hanging Judge" Albert Sabo.

The whole world denounced Mumia Abu-Jamal's trial and his Post Conviction Relief Appeal (PCRA) held in 1982 and 1995 respectively in the courtroom of Judge Albert Sabo. Legal groups such Amnesty International, the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, the Criminal Justice Institute at Harvard Law School, the National Lawyers Guild, and the National Conference of Black Lawyers detailed the many violations of US and international laws that Sabo committed. World leaders such as Nelson Mandela, then President of South Africa, Bishop Desmond Tutu, French President Jacques Chirac, the Japanese Diet (Japan's legislative body), and the US Congressional Black Caucus denounced the trial and PCRA as being unjust, illegal, and racist. Religious leaders, writers, artists, and other intellectuals from across the globe expressed outrage at the conviction and death sentence imposed on Mumia, and millions petitioned and marched to demand Mumia's freedom or at the very least a new and fair trial.

Now after four years of Mumia's case being before Judge Pamela Dembe, we see a pattern of supporting all of Sabo's rulings, with the only difference being that Dembe's decisions have been made in the absence of Mumia or his supporters in the courtroom. There is a deafening silence from many of those who were so outraged only ten years ago. WE CANNOT REMAIN SILENT WHILE THE RAILROADING OF MUMIA TOWARD EXECUTION OR LIFE IN PRISON CONTINUES. THE ATTEMPT TO KILL MUMIA IS NOT FOR ANY CRIME HE COMMITTED. IT IS FOR HIS UNCOMPROMISING POLITICAL POSITIONS AND HIS ELOQUENCE IN EXPRESSING THEM. Refusing to include evidence pointing to Mumia's innocence in the record prevents the higher courts from reviewing these critical affidavits.

What Judge Dembe has done is deny Mumia his constitutional and human right to a fair judicial process. She has sustained every decision Sabo made and refused to introduce extremely relevant and crucial material pointing to Mumia's innocence. When Mumia's attorneys submitted an affidavit by someone who said that it was he, and not Mumia, who killed Officer Faulkner, and this affidavit supported other witnesses' versions of what happened on the night of December 9, 1981, Judge Dembe dismissed the confession as "untimely". Similarly, she declared affidavits from Mumia and his brother presenting their side of what happened that night as also "untimely". When Mumia and his lawyers fought for Mumia's right to be present at his hearing in August 2001, Judge Dembe allowed prison officials to revoke Mumia's scheduled court appearance in Philadelphia. When Mumia and his lawyers presented an affidavit from a highly credible court stenographer who heard Judge Sabo say in 1982, in the supposed privacy of another courtroom, "Yeah, and I'm going to help `em fry the nigger", Judge Dembe ruled that that testimony should not be introduced into the record. Unable to argue that it was "untimely", she presented the ridiculous explanation that even if Sabo had actually made the comment the witness alleged he did, it did not prove that his decisions were affected by this expressed intention. Also, she said the issue of Sabo's racism had already been raised earlier and so did not need to be reviewed again. When presented with two new affidavits this year pointing to Mumia's innocence, Dembe cancelled a scheduled hearing to present the evidence and, now on May 27th she has ruled that this evidence is to be excluded from the record, thus preventing a serious consideration of Mumia's innocence in the higher courts.

**Several years ago when Mumia's case was before Judge Yohn in federal court, he noted that there was no evidence of Mumia's innocence in the record. That is precisely what Mumia’s attorneys are trying to correct by introducing the new evidence that has been systematically and consistently excluded from the record by Judge Dembe!

Call Judge Frederica A. Massiah-Jackson, Pamela Dembe's supervisor, to let her know you are outraged by Judge Dembe's decisions. [phone]

posted June 12, 2005

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