Justice denied in Philly. Celebrity Cop-Killer escapes death sentence

IN other news today, saying he wanted to avoid another three decades of appeals - and a new public forum for Mumia Abu-Jamal - Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams said today he will not seek another death sentence for convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal. (The murderous thug formerly known as Wesley Cook.)

For those who are unfamiliar, Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner, 25 and newly married, was on patrol in Center City the night of Dec. 9, 1981 when, according to trial testimony, the officer pulled over a car driven by Abu-Jamal's brother, William Cook, at 13th and Locust Streets. Abu-Jamal, moonlighting as a cabdriver, recognized his brother's car, ran toward them and shot Faulkner, witnesses testified. A gunfight followed and Abu-Jamal was hit by a bullet from Faulkner's gun. He was found slumped on a curb.

What the news story cited doesn’t report is that the bullets taken from the body of Officer Faulkner were ballistically matched to the handgun found on the scene, a revolver that was registered to Wesley Cook/Abu-Jamal. There were also several eye-witnesses to the shooting, including people who knew Cook/Abu-Jamal on sight. In short, this case was as cut-and-dried as any case ever was. There really was no reasonable doubt, which was why the trial jury found him guilty.

But this being Philadelphia, the race-baiters and liberals quickly got involved. Abu-Jamal’s Black Panther associates began intimidating people and drumming up a publicity storm of lies and false accusations of a frame-up, and soon enough, numerous groups and self-important individuals like Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Mike Farrell jumped into the mix to proclaim this scumbag’s “innocence” and claim that the police, for no rational reason, fabricated the case against Abu-Jamal, despite the fact that he was found lying next to the police officer that had died from wounds caused by a bullet from his own gun, and that his own injury was caused by bullets from the officer’s gun, and that the entire gunfight had been witnessed by numerous people in broad daylight.

Since that conviction, every appellate court that reviewed the trial and the jury verdict has affirmed it No court has ever found fault with the trial, and the only issue has been whether the jury was given proper sentencing instructions, a minor technical point that had no bearing on Abu-Jamal’s actual guilt. Still, that was enough to cause his original sentence to be overturned, requiring a new sentencing and opening the door for an entirely new appeals process. So to that extent, I can at least see the reasoning behind this decision, but anyone who continues to proclaim this dirtbag’s innocence either has an ulterior motive or seriously needs a check-up from the neck up.

But now, thirty years after Abu-Jamal should have been dragged out back of the courthouse and summarily shot (in a Just world…), he’s now being re-sentenced to life without parole, his death sentence gone for good. He’ll doubtless continue to hold celebrity status in the eyes of those on the left, from Hollywood liberals to Obama pal Cornell West. But one can always hope that he’s quickly placed back into general population and with any luck, someone will shank him.