Judge tosses sentence for figure in death penalty debate

Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge threw out Mumia Abu-Jamal’s death sentence Tuesday and ordered a new sentencing hearing for the former Black Panther, alternately portrayed as a vicious cop-killer and a victim of a racist frame-up.

U.S. District Judge William Yohn cited problems with the jury charge and verdict form in the trial that ended with Abu-Jamal’s conviction and death sentence in the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner.

Yohn rejected all of Abu-Jamal’s other claims and refused to grant a new trial. But he ordered the state to either conduct a new sentencing hearing within six months or sentence Abu-Jamal, 47, to life in prison.

District Attorney Lynne Abraham said she will appeal.

Abu-Jamal is perhaps America’s most famous death row inmate, drawing support from celebrities, foreign politicians and capital punishment opponents.

Abu-Jamal, a cabdriver and sometime radio reporter, was convicted of shooting Faulkner, 25, after the white officer pulled over Abu-Jamal’s brother. Defense attorneys say the bullet that killed Faulkner cannot be positively traced to the gun.

Yohn’s ruling had to do with how the jury was told to weigh mitigating and aggravating circumstances in deciding whether to impose the death penalty.

Yohn said the jurors should have been able to consider mitigating circumstances even if they did not unanimously agree that such circumstances existed. He said the jury instructions ran counter to a 1988 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

Copyright ©2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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