JUSTICE DENIED TO SLAIN COP AND HIS FAMILY

After three decades of appeals, Philadelphia’s district attorney gave up and decided to drop the death penalty against cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther. A federal appeals court had ruled that this sorry piece of shit deserved a new sentencing hearing because of potentially misleading death-penalty instructions the jury received at his 1982 trial. The Supreme Court refused to intervene in that ruling.

Abu-Jamal, born Wesley Cook, was convicted in the killing of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. He shot Faulkner after witnessing the officer stop a car his brother was driving.

Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams said, "There's never been any doubt in my mind that Mumia Abu-Jamal shot and killed Officer Faulkner. I believe that the appropriate sentence was handed down by a jury of his peers in 1982."

Williams said he made his decision because some of the witnesses had died and others would not have been available to testify. And he wanted to avoid another round of endless appeals. "While Abu-Jamal will no longer be facing the death penalty, he will remain behind bars for the rest of his life, and that is where he belongs."

Abu-Jamal had a worldwide movement – ‘Free Mumia’ – working on his behalf along with the usual death penalty opponents and Hollywood luminaries.

Responding to the DA’s decision, the officer's widow, Maureen Faulkner, said, "My family and I have endured a three-decade ordeal at the hands of Mumia Abu-Jamal, his attorneys and his supporters, who in many cases never even took the time to educate themselves about the case before lending their names, giving their support and advocating for his freedom. All of this has taken an unimaginable physical, emotional and financial toll on each of us."

I am outraged at the turn of events, even though I do understand the DA’s decision. It is a travesty of justice that this case has been appealed over and over again for 30 years due to the outcry by a bunch of bleeding hearts that, as Maureen Faulkner said, never even took the time to educate themselves about the case. Justice has been denied to Officer Daniel Faulkner and his family.