As noted here, on their return to deliberations for another term, the Supreme Court of Hangin’ Judge J.R. refused to hear arguments for a new trial in the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, convicted by a jury of his peers in the murder of Officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981.As you can see from this list, Abu-Jamal’s supporters are legion, and this ensures that his legal appeals will go on indefinitely. However, though the list contains the names of many, many people I genuinely respect and admire (including The Eternal Molly Ivins and the late Paul Newman), it must be pointed out that, with respect, I believe these people were and are fundamentally wrong to support this charismatic con artist.
I have lived in the Philadelphia metropolitan area and surrounding counties virtually all of my life. I have read and heard a great deal of reporting on this case. And though I think the argument that the jury didn’t contain a proportionate number of African Americans is valid, I don’t see how that fundamentally alters the facts and the case of the prosecution.
There aren’t many stories or issues out there where I depart from what you could consider some kind of liberal orthodoxy, but this most definitely is one of them. And, like everything else, I am always opened to constructive arguments on either side.
And as long as I’m noting the return of Scalia, Alito, Thomas and the bunch, I think it’s appropriate to remind us once more of the type of justices John W. McBush would nominate for the high court here (yet another reason to support Barack Obama, IMHO, and I wish we would hear more emphasis of that from the Democratic candidate).
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