Supporters, Foes Clash as Abu-Jamal Hearing Ends

Mumia Abu-Jamal’s supporters jumped to their feet, fists raised, as testimony ended Tuesday on his request for a new trial in the slaying of a police officer.

“Free Mumia!” they shouted. “No justice, no peace!”

Across the courtroom aisle, supporters of the dead officer’s family raised their hands, thumbs down.

“Burn, baby, burn!” they shouted. “Adieu, Abu!”

The emotion brought to an end the three-week hearing in which defense lawyers tried to prove that Abu-Jamal’s 1982 trial was flawed and that he shouldn’t face the death penalty.

Both sides predicted that Common Pleas Senior Judge Albert F. Sabo, who presided over the 1982 trial, will refuse to grant a new one. Closing arguments on the retrial request are scheduled for Sept. 11.

Abu-Jamal, 41, a former radio reporter and teen-age Black Panther, was convicted of killing white Officer Daniel Faulkner. He had been scheduled for execution Thursday but Sabo delayed it indefinitely so his appeals can continue.

Abu-Jamal supporters, including a dozen or more celebrities, claim his case was tainted by bias. Prosecutors said he got a fair trial and the defense broke no new ground in their retrial fight.

The final witness was Robert Chobert, who testified in 1982 that he saw a man shoot Faulkner, fall and later get dragged into a police wagon, where he identified him as Abu-Jamal.

The defense argued Chobert changed his testimony from initial statements to implicate Abu-Jamal more clearly.

In an interview with Reuters, meanwhile, Faulkner’s widow said Tuesday that she was haunted by the highly publicized image of Abu-Jamal.

Maureen Faulkner, 38, said she would not find peace until Abu-Jamal was executed. “His voice should be silenced, just as my husband’s voice was silenced in 1981,” she said.

Faulkner spoke in the lobby of the Philadelphia district attorney’s office, where she was under police protection after being heckled by Abu-Jamal supporters.