We Can Wait A Little While Longer

The US Supreme Court has refused to give convicted cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal a new trial. Instead, he must spread the rest of his life in prison. From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a bid today for a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal, who has been on death row for more than 25 years for the 1981 murder of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner.

Abu-Jamal and his lawyers had been hoping for a new trial based on their contention that prosecutors unfairly excluded African-Americans from his jury during his 1982 trial.

I was not aware that truth must be established by a multiracial, multicultural tribunal. A jury of reasonably intelligent, honest men and women is established during voir doire under the guidance of the judge. They are capable of determining whether or not sufficient facts exist to support the accusation of murder. This is nothing more than after action jury manipulation by the defense.

But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in a 2-to-1 decision last March, refused to order a new trial, but the panel agreed unanimously that his death sentence should been thrown out.

The panel said that Abu-Jamal must either be sentenced to life in prison, or receive a new sentencing trial only on the issue of whether he should be sentenced to death or life in prison.

And I pray God that this time it sticks. But the fat lady hasn't begun to sing yet for this murderous piece of excrement. The Philadelphia District Attorney is trying to have Mumia executed without a new death penalty hearing.

But the epic struggle over the fate of Abu-Jamal, who has become an international symbol in the debate about the death penalty, is not over. The nation's high court is still weighing the state's petition to have his death sentence reinstated.

I cannot imagine how Maureen Faulkner, Officer Faulkner's widow, has been torn over the past 25 years.

Maureen Faulkner, the officer's widow, lives in California. She told the Inquirer she wept when she heard about Monday's decision.

"To think that he will never get a new trial is such a relief for the family and I after 27 years and everything we've gone through," Faulkner said.