Feb.
17 2000
Seattle
Labor Council
RESOLUTION OF SUPPORT FOR MUMIA
ABU-JAMAL
WHEREAS,
Mumia Abu-Jamal is currently on death row in Pennsylvania in
a Case which has brought international attention to the serious
possibility that the State of Pennsylvania may be killing a
man who is innocent of the changes against him; and
WHEREAS,
the judge in his case, Albert Sabo, had sentenced more people
To death than any other sitting judge in the United States;
and
WHEREAS,
six former Philadelphia prosecutors have sworn in court Documents
that no accused could receive a fair trial in the court of Judge
Albert Sabo; and
WHEREAS,
the jury was empanelled only after eleven qualified African-American
were removed by peremptory challenges from the prosecution,
a practice that was recently revealed as having been taught
to prosecutors in a special training video tape; and
WHEREAS,
the defense attorney testified that he didn’t interview a Single
witness in preparation for the 1982 trial and he informed the
court in advance that he was not prepared; and
WHEREAS,
Jamal was denied the constitutional right to act as his own
attorney; and
WHEREAS,
the defense investigator quit the case before the trial began
because the meager court allocated funds were exhausted; and
WHEREAS,
neither a ballistics expert nor a pathologist were hired by
the defense because of insufficient funds; and
WHEREAS,
the prosecutor used the fact that 12 years earlier Jamal had
been a member of the Black Panther Party as an argument for
imposing the death penalty, a practice later condemned as unconstitutional
by the U.S. Supreme Court in another case; and
WHEREAS,
the racial bias of Philadelphia’s courts now has 120 people
on death row, and all but 13 of them are non-white (Mumia Abu-Jamal
is Black);and
WHEREAS,
the jury was never allowed to hear evidence which contradicted
The prosecution’s claim that Jamal had confessed, because when
the police officer who had reported that "the Negro male made
no comments," was called as a defense witness, the prosecution
contended he was on vacation and unavailable, and the judge
refused a continuance so that the officer could be brought in,
while, in fact, the officer was at home and available;and
WHEREAS,
no police officer claimed to have heard this alleged confession
until two months after it allegedly occurred, and only after
Jamal filed police brutality charges; and
WHEREAS,
the attending physician at the hospital where Jamal was initially
kept denies that Jamal said anything; and
WHEREAS,
the jury never heard the written findings of the medical examiner
which contradicted other prosecution testimony by stating "shot
with .44 cal." (while Jamal’s gun was .38 caliber), and this
was because Jamal’s court-appointed attorney wasn’t familiar
with the medical examiner’s report; and
WHEREAS,
the police never tested Jamal’s gun to see if it had been recently
fired, never tested Jamal’s hands to see if he had fired a gun,
have never shown Jamal’s gun to be the fatal weapon, and have
lost a bullet fragment removed by the medical examiner; and
WHEREAS,
the jury never heard from a key eye-witness, William Singletary,
who saw the whole incident and has testified that Jamal was
not the shooter, and who claims to have been intimidated by
police when he initially reported this, subsequently fleeing
the city; and
WHEREAS,
key witnesses Veronica Jones, Cynthia White, and Robert Chobert
testified for the prosecution, but the latter two were given
special exemptions from criminal prosecutions for other charges,
and Jones, who has since recanted her original testimony, was
immediately arrested in the courtroom on other charges as soon
as her testimony in support of Jamal had been articulated; and
WHEREAS,
the taking of a person’s life by the state is something that
should be done only, if ever, with solid, incontrovertible,
and certain evidence that demonstrates beyond any reasonable
doubt that a capital crime has been committed; and
WHEREAS,
the above-mentioned conditions have hardly been met in the situation
concerning Mumia Abu-Jamal; and
WHEREAS,
the city and county of San Francisco, as well as the city of
Santa Cruz have passed resolutions in support of Mumia Abu-Jamal’s
effort for justice; and
WHEREAS,
the Executive Board of the King County Labor Council has passed
this resolution; and
WHEREAS,
labor organizations from around the world have adopted positions
of support for Mumia Abu-Jamal’s call for a new trial; and
WHEREAS,
a key element of the labor movement, historically, has been
to stand in solidarity with those upon whom injustice is visited;
NOW,
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by Delegates of the King County Labor
Council that the KCLC does hereby formally request of the government
of the State of Pennsylvania that Mumia Abu-Jamal be given a
stay of execution, and a new, fair trial.