|
[This
article is reprinted from Counterpunch, Weekend Edition, Dec. 8/9, 2007.]
In
the storied history of Philadelphia few events match the controversial
case of death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal for generating creative
projects across the globe. This 26-year old case is the subject of a
new round of projects from feature-length films by Philly-based
producers to a bevy of books about Abu-Jamal authored from Chicago to
Paris.
This
flurry of creative projects coincides with the release of new evidence
contradicting core elements of the highly disputed prosecution case
that placed Abu-Jamal on death row. This new evidence is previously
unseen crime scene photos from the Dec. 9, 1981, murder of Philadelphia
policeman Daniel Faulkner. The photos show investigating police
tampering with the crime scene, including failing to properly secure
key evidence and manipulating other evidence.
These
photos, taken by a photojournalist before police crime scene
photographers arrived, also graphically highlight inaccuracies in ballistic
and eyewitness evidence presented at trial against Abu-Jamal. These
photos, for example, show no bullet holes in the sidewalk where
prosecutors told jurors Abu-Jamal stood over Faulkner firing multiple
shots before shooting the policeman once between the eyes.
"We
are making the point that at minimum, [Abu-Jamal] needs a new
trial," said Hans Bennett, co-founder of Journalists for Mumia, a
Philadelphia-based support group that sponsored a 12/4/07 press
conference publicizing the photos.
A
new book presenting the 'anguish and grief' of Faulkner's widow –
Maureen – received feature treatment recently in the Philadelphia
Inquirer, that city's largest daily newspaper. Beginning on 12/2/07,
the Inquirer ran three excerpts from this book presenting Faulkner's
story, entitled "Murdered by Mumia: A Life Sentence of Pain, Loss
and Injustice."
This
book is co-authored by Michael Smerconish, a right-wing talk radio host
and media personality in Philadelphia, who also writes a weekly column
for the Inquirer.
The
three excerpted chapters carried a common theme raised repeatedly by
Mrs. Faulkner: Abu-Jamal is a cold-blooded killer and his
"misguided supporters perpetuate the myth that [he] is a victim of
a racist justice system."
Those
crime scene photos took center stage during a 12/6/07 NBC “Today
Show” interview with Faulkner
and Smerconish that served as the national launch of the "Murdered
By" book. The mere asking of a few probing questions by “Today
Show” co-host Matt Lauer about those photos and other irregularities
surrounding the case outraged Faulkner and Smerconish, a source close
to this pair said.
Hours
after that “Today Show” interview, a website connected with the
conservative Media Research Center blasted Lauer for taking "up
the cause of the convicted cop killer [by asking] skeptical questions
“about the legitimacy of Abu-Jamal's guilt."
But
questioning all sides of an issue is what fair-&-balanced
journalists are supposed to do, reminded news media expert Dr. Todd
Burroughs, who teaches Communications Studies at Morgan State
University in Baltimore. "It was good to see Faulkner and
Smerconish finally being asked some critical questions about the
legitimacy of Abu-Jamal's trial and all of the evidence that points to
a set-up," said Burroughs, who is writing a journalistic biography
on Abu-Jamal.
Mrs.
Faulkner questioned why the photos took 26 years to surface when
responding to a question from Lauer - inferring an illegitimacy to
these photographs. However,
allies of Faulkner are largely responsible for the delay in the photos
surfacing.
The
photojournalist who took these photos had offered them to Philadelphia
prosecutors in 1981 and during a 1995 appeal hearing for Abu-Jamal.
Failure of prosecutors to reply caused the photojournalist to think the
photos had no value.
Given
the case-challenging nature of these photos, prosecutors had good
reason to ignore them, said Dr. Michael Schiffmann, who uncovered the
existence of these photographs during his on-going investigations of
the case.
"They
didn't want them on account of what they might show: an investigation
that was incredibly sloppy and manipulative," said Schiffmann, a
professor at the University of Heidelberg in Germany and author of a
2006 book on the Abu-Jamal case.
Lack
of interest in the photos by prosecutors coupled with the failure of
prosecutors to notify the defense of their existence as required by
fair trial procedures, Schiffmann notes, "might be reason alone
for a new trial." Schiffmann included the photos in his book,
"Race Against Death."
British
Mumia film at Sundance
Those
photos are also contained in a critically acclaimed British-made film
examining the Abu-Jamal case that premiered simultaneously at respected
international film festivals in London and Rome at the end of October.
The Mayor of Rome hosted the screening in that Italian city of this
film, supported by the Noble-Prize-winning human rights organization,
Amnesty International (AI).
"In
Prison My Whole Life", the first film ever publicly backed by AI,
also includes other startling evidence indicating Abu-Jamal's
innocence. This film focuses on a journey across America to understand
this contentious case by William Francome, a young Englishman born on
the day of Abu-Jamal's arrest: 12/9/81. Mrs. Faulkner expressed regret
to a reporter recently that the Sundance Film Festival recently
selected "In Prison" for its January 2008 screenings.
Francome,
in a recent posting to his Myspace page, urged supporters and opponents
of Abu-Jamal to not "lose sight of the fact" that Mrs.
Faulkner "lost" her husband. "In the course of making
this film, I was honored to come across numerous victim family members
who are opposed to the death penalty and fight for its repeal,"
Francome stated.
Dr.
Schiffmann served as a technical consultant on the "In
Prison" film and is featured in the film during a sequence in
Philadelphia where he walks Francome through the crime scene.
Another
creative project comes from Abu-Jamal himself. The subject of this sixth book by
Abu- Jamal is jailhouse lawyers - inmates who help other inmates
prepare legal appeals.
Harold
Wilson, released from Pa.'s death row in November 2005 after 18 years,
credits Abu-Jamal's assistance in helping him prepare appeals.
Ironically, legal elements leading to a new trial for Wilson -
prosecutorial misconduct and ineffective assistance from his trial
lawyer - are key failings in the Abu-Jamal case.
Abu-Jamal's
creative output of books and commentaries (print & audio) while
confined in death row cells the size of a small bathroom recently
resulted in his membership into the prestigious PEN, a worldwide
human-rights organization of prominent writers. "In two decades of
knowing each other, I have not seen Mumia so happy," said Robert
R. Bryan, Abu-Jamal's lead attorney, about the PEN membership.
Bryan
credits support of famed writers like E.L. Doctorow and Alice Walker
for the PEN membership.
Further, Bryan is "especially grateful to the
kindness" of former PEN President Salman Rushdie.
"In
a quarter of a century of being locked up - Mumia's literary output has
been prodigious," Bryan noted. "He has written five
outstanding books that are published in various languages, and also
writes weekly commentaries that are published and broadcast
internationally." The San Francisco-based Bryan described the
"In Prison" film as a "superb movie which does much to
expose the many wrongs including racism and politics that have infected
the case from the outset."
Mumia
movement in new film
The
focus of the latest project of Philadelphia-based filmmaker Ted Passon
is the very thing that drives many death-penalty proponents crazy: the
phenomenon of the Mumia Abu-Jamal case. Death-penalty proponents
bristle at the fact that Philadelphia-born Abu-Jamal garners
international support, including many opposed to the death penalty.
Death
penalty proponents castigate demands that Abu-Jamal receive a new trial
from Hollywood celebrities and dignitaries of foreign countries. South Africa's Bishop Desmond Tutu visited
Abu-Jamal in late October, later issuing a statement saying, "I
oppose the death penalty on principle in every case and I support the
pleas for a retrial for Mumia Abu-Jamal."
The
under-examined worldwide movement responsible for securing much of the
support of celebrities and dignitaries critical of this death-row
journalist's conviction is the subject of Ted Passon's film project.
"Most
[projects] focus on the 'whodunit' aspects of
the
Abu-Jamal case but there is too little attention
to
the wider phenomenon, the 25-year People's Movement
surrounding
this case," Passon said during a recent
interview.
Often
overlooked is Philadelphia's home base for a pivotal group in this
movement – The International Concerned Friends and Family of Mumia
Abu-Jamal, led by local activist Pam Africa.
"On
paper, the Mumia Movement should not have happened," said Passon,
who grew up in a Philadelphia suburb and first became aware of the case
when he attended a pro-Abu-Jamal rally in the late ‘90s. The Movement,
Passon said, "had no money, no access to powerful politicians or
the media. The miracle of this Movement is that it has lasted so
long."
Maureen
Faulkner regularly receives fawning coverage in Philly area media in
contrast to the Mumia Movement, which is regularly maligned in
Philadelphia. During the days
before the “Today Show” book launch, Philly media devoted much coverage
to Faulkner while not a single Philadelphia media outlet attended the
Journalists for Mumia press conference presenting the crime scene photographs.
Only an out-of-town reporter from the Reuters news service covered that
press event.
Further,
Faulkner has the support of prominent politicians (local, state, and
federal) and the active backing of police organizations nationwide.
Late
last year the U.S. Congress approved a factually flawed Resolution
demanding that the French city of St. Denis rescind its naming of a
block-long street in honor of Abu Jamal, a measure initiated through
the FOP with the support of Mrs. Faulkner.
Another
muscle move for Maureen Faulkner took place in 1994 when Philadelphia's
police union, the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), gained the support
of then U.S. Senator Bob Dole, who stopped NPR from broadcasting
death-row commentaries by Abu-Jamal.
Passon
is one of two Philadelphians working on films about the Mumia Abu-Jamal
case. The other Philly film
project now in-production comes from Tigre Hill, maker of the well
received film on Philadelphia's 2003 mayoral race, "The Shame of a
City." Hill declined comment on his project beyond saying that
"this is a topic with a lot of passion on both sides."
Interestingly,
while publicity about Smerconish's book credits this lawyer for
thoroughly scrutinizing the 1982 trial transcripts to bolster his
conviction of Abu-Jamal's guilt, a book awaiting publication utilizes
those same transcripts to reach a different conclusion.
The
author of "The Framing of Mumia Abu-Jamal" - J. Patrick
O'Connor - once served as an associate editor for TV Guide when it was
headquartered in suburban Philadelphia.
"As
I read and reread the available material - I could see that Abu-Jamal's
trial was a monumental miscarriage of justice," states the
introduction of this book by O'Conner, now living in Chicago, where he
is editor of an internet-based crime magazine.
Proceeds
from the Faulkner-Smerconish book will be dedicated to a charity
founded by Mrs. Faulkner while French professor Dr. Claude
Guillaumaud-Pujol intends to donate proceeds from her September-published
biography to Abu-Jamal defense work.
Guillaumand-Pujol
says her short biography "emphasizes both the humanity and
universality" of Abu-Jamal. She emphasizes that her book is
"not anti-American - it shows that we were not born free but that
we must fight for freedom all our life."
While
Abu-Jamal detractors demean authors like Dr. Guillaumaud-Pujol as
pathetically uninformed about the facts of this case, she is an expert
on the U.S. justice system, as is German author Schiffmann. Schiffmann's doctoral thesis is the
basis of his book - which presents a chilling examination of court
procedures and physical evidence in the [Jamal] case plus exploring
American law enforcement assaults on the Black Panther Party.
The
thesis of Dr. Guillaumaud-Pujol's centered on police brutality and
unfair justice in Philadelphia – a city she has repeatedly visited for
over the past decade.
Dave
Lindorff, Philly-based author of the seminal 2003 Abu-Jamal book
"Killing Time," said the continuing creative interest in this
case arises from a "sore" unique to Philadelphia: deep racism
in the justice system and the city at-large. Lindorff, a frequent
contributor to Counterpunch, feels this case is "emblematic of
everything that's wrong with Philadelphia."
-Linn Washington Jr. is a columnist for The Philadelphia Tribune
and a graduate of the Yale Law Journalism Fellowship Program.
|