A federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered a new sentencing hearing for convicted police killer and death-row activist Mumia Abu-Jamal, finding for a second time that the death-penalty instructions given to the jury at his 1982 trial were potentially misleading.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered prosecutors to conduct the new sentencing hearing within six months or agree to a life sentence. Abu-Jamal's first-degree murder conviction nonetheless stands in the fatal shooting of Officer Daniel Faulkner.
Prosecutors said they were considering another appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"While it upheld the defendant's conviction for first degree murder, the federal third circuit court of appeals today affirmed the order of the federal district court granting a new sentencing proceeding," District Attorney Seth Williams said in a statement. "We continue to maintain that granting this new sentencing hearing is contrary to clearly established precedent of the United States Supreme Court, and we are now considering whether to seek further review of today's decision in the Supreme Court."
Abu-Jamal's lawyer is Widener University law professor Judith Ritter.
Tuesday's ruling is the latest in Abu-Jamal's long-running legal saga.
A federal judge in 2001 first granted the former Black Panther a new sentencing hearing over the trial judge's instructions on aggravating and mitigating factors. Philadelphia prosecutors have been fighting the order since, but the 3rd Circuit ruled against them in a pivotal 2008 decision.
In rejecting a similar claim in an Ohio death-penalty case last year, the Supreme Court ordered the Philadelphia appeals court to revisit its Abu-Jamal decision.
On Tuesday, the 3rd Circuit judges stood their ground and noted differences in the two cases.
Under Pennsylvania law, Abu-Jamal should have received a life sentence if a single juror found the mitigating circumstances outweighed the aggravating factors in Faulkner's slaying. The three-judge appeals panel found the verdict form confusing, given its repeated use of the word "unanimous," even in the section on mitigating circumstances.
"The Pennsylvania Supreme Court failed to evaluate whether the complete text of the verdict form, together with the jury instructions, would create a substantial probability the jury believed both aggravating and mitigating circumstances must be found unanimously," Judge Anthony J. Scirica wrote in the 32-page ruling.
Tuesday's decision upholds the 2001 ruling by U.S. District Judge William H. Yohn Jr., who first ruled that the flawed jury instructions warranted a new sentencing hearing. While prosecutors were fighting that ruling, Abu-Jamal has been fighting unsuccessfully to have his conviction overturned.
Faulkner, a white 25-year-old patrolman, had pulled over Abu-Jamal's brother on a darkened downtown street in 1981. Prosecutors say Abu-Jamal saw the traffic stop and shot Faulkner, who managed to shoot back. A wounded Abu-Jamal, his own gun nearby, was found at the scene when police arrived.
Abu-Jamal is now 58. His writings and radio broadcasts from death row have made him a cause celebre and the subject of numerous books and movies. Hundreds of vocal death-penalty opponents and supporters typically turn out for hearings in his case.
Totally disregard that "..nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;" ichy part of the written Constitution, that with due process one may be deprived of life. The ruling class does not want the people to ever have capital punishment. That's reserved in the hands of the predators and other sociopaths to carry out against the citizenry. Remember we and our loved ones are expendable to their secular morality.
Godrej and Boyce - the last company left in the world that was still manufacturing typewriters - has shut down its production plant in Mumbai, India with just a few hundred machines left in stock.
'Till 2009, we used to produce 10,000 to 12,000 machines a year. But this might be the last chance for typewriter lovers. Now, our primary market is among the defence agencies, courts and government offices.'
The company is now down to its last 200 machines - the majority of which are Arabic language models.
The firm began production in the 1950s - when Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru described the typewriter as a symbol of India's emerging independence and industrialisation. It was still selling 50,000 models annually in the early 1990s, but last year it sold less than 800 machines.
The first commercial typewriter was produced in the U.S. in 1867 and by the turn of the century had developed into the standardised format - including a qwerty' keyboard - that we know today.
#1
The company is now down to its last 200 machines - the majority of which are Arabic language models.
Really? I find that ... interesting. Actually, in 1995 it would've been interesting. In 2011 it's BWAHAHAHAHhahahahahhahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.........................[gasp] funny.
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04/26/2011 22:41 Comments ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Ten robbers were killed in shootouts with police and mob beating in Cox's Bazar yesterday.
That's quite a haul. Usually they only get one or two.
A villager was also killed in the exchange of fire between the gang and the police that left at least 21 others including four coppers bullet-hit.
"Sergeant O'Siddique!"
"Yes, captain?"
"Daily target practice for the men until they can hit what they're aiming at, Sergeant. On-side bullet-hitting just isn't done, and I don't like wounded miscreants. They talk."
The robbers carrying guns and sharp weapons also attacked villagers who chased them.
Someone in that sentence made an unwise decision...
The series of incidents started at Ratnapalong village in Ukhia upazila
On the map...
around 2:30am
A good time to be miscreanting...
as a gang of 23 dacoits looted valuables from four houses, police said.
Hey! At least they're not lolling about living off the taxpayer. These twenty-three men are clearly working hard to support themselves, not to mention any dependents desperate enough to depend on such desperate miscreants.
Of the dacoits, six were killed in firing while trying to escape a police dragnet and four were beaten to death by villagers.
Efficiency is a force multiplier, especially when the local population can be gotten to supply the additional force.
The dead were suspected as Rohingya refugees,
No wonder they're desperate. What is a Rohingya?
Cox's Bazar Superintendent of Police Nibash Chandra Majhi told The Daily Star.
The villager killed in the shootout was identified as Jasim Uddin, 28, a returnee from Dubai, and son of Abul Khayer of Goalia Palong Nayapara village in Ramu upazila.
One hopes for his family's sake that Mr. Uddin was one of those who prospered among the sons of Arabs, not the many who spent a decade going deeper in debt to the man who hired him.
Police tossed in the slammer one of the robbers, Abul Kashem, at Goalia on the boundary of Ukhia and Ramu upazilas. He hails from Banshkhali upazila of Chittagong.
Earlier, on information from locals,
More members of the Weasel clan...
a squad of Ukhia police led by Officer-in-Charge Niaz Mohammad had rushed to Ratnapalong village. Sensing police presence,
"My Spidey senses, they burrrrn!"
the robbers opened fire on them triggering a shootout.
Four cops, Jasim Uddin and 16 other villagers were hit by bullets. Jashim died on way to local upazila health complex.
"Yes, Jim, he is dead. Good catch, lad."
The SP along with Ukhia and Ramu police cordoned Goalia area at about 5:30am. The gang members again traded fire with the law enforcers.
BANG BANG BANGETY BANG!!
Police later found the bodies of six robbers in a bush.
It was a large bush, or perhaps the robbers were very small.
About 200 shots were fired during the shootout with the gang, police said.
Search for the other robbers continued for hours. Police recovered a locally-made rifle and six bullets.
At about 2:00pm, the villagers caught four robbers when they were trying to escape to hilly areas. They were beaten to death.
Of the four bullet-hit coppers, Sub-Inspector Gobinda Das and constable Rashedul Islam were admitted to Ukhia upazila health complex.
Two others -- Morshed and Tutul-- were shifted to Chittagong Medical College Hospital as their condition deteriorated. They suffered head injuries.
The others with bullet injuries were admitted to the upazila health complex, Cox's Bazar Sadar Hospital and clinics.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2011 00:00 ||
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"What is a Rohingya?"
Rohingya via Wikipedia - appear to be Burmese Mooselimbs
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
04/26/2011 11:02 Comments ||
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Thank you, Mullah Richard. I do love asking questions round these parts, because someone always seems to have the answer. :-)
[Iran Press TV] A new survey has indicated that a majority of non-retired Americans are pessimistic about the financial status after their retirement.
The poll conducted by Gallup said on Monday that 53 percent of non-retired Americans do not think they will have enough money to live comfortably in retirement. The new figure is up in comparison with the 2002 poll.
At that time, when Gallup asked non-retired Americans about their projected retirement resources, they were twice as likely to say they would have enough money to live comfortably as to say they would not.
By 2009, a majority of Americans said they would not have enough money to live comfortably in retirement. That percentage abated slightly last year, but is up to a new high of 53 percent in this year's survey, conducted April 7-11.
General economic attitudes affect how Americans look at retirement. Americans were more positive about the overall economy -- and retirement -- prior to the recent recession.
The ongoing political discussion about the fragility of the country's Social Security and Medicare programs may also reduce non-retired Americans' comfort with projections of their monetary resources in retirement.
Non-retired Americans now project that they will retire at age 66, up from age 60 in 1995.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2011 00:00 ||
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Both Perts + Bloggers/Netters are effec saying the same thing - those Amers already retired andor soon-to-retire may end up being the hardest hit iff the US formally defaults on its debts. THE $$$ LIKELY WON'T THERE ANYMORE FOR RETIREE, MORTAGOR, LENDEE, DISABLED OR BANK???
That's a vague definition. What's comfortable? It varies with individual. If it's having a second home in Puerta del Sol Mexico, traveling extensively, eating out most of the time, we're dealing with something other than securing the basic needs of life.
Substituting resource insatiable and power hungry government bureaucrats for the extended family, of a hundred years ago, in old age support might not have been as good as a trade off as some had thought. That and the damn unhelpful attitude of people living way too long beyond the expectations of demographers./sarc off
#5
Socialists in the United States are creating crisis after crisis in order to take control of all aspects of American life.
i.e.
Not only has the new socialist government taken over health care, the increase of the price of fuel caused by the EPA banning drilling is causing airlines and many other American industries to now loose money. It gives the Socialists in the US a chance to take over those industries.
They have no concern about Americans, only to take control of Americans through the crisis they are creating as fast and hard as they can, while the rest of us sit around and just let it happen.
#6
Forget the term "Democrat" party. There is no such party any more. It has been taken over and replaced with a hard line "Socialist" party agenda. And clearly, their plan is to take over all of America and Americans by bleeding them of everything they have, and at the same time import anything and anybody who is pro-Socialist, marshalling illegal aliens to come across the borders, to allow religions foreign to our Christian heratige to come in set up and some day outnumber the original people of America.
THAT is what is happening this very moment. And if it keeps up, yes, Pelosi WILL be speaker again, Obama's little wet dream
[Iran Press TV] French Interior Minister Claude Gueant seeks to ban praying in the street as part of a continuation of recent discrimination against Mohammedans in the western European country.
Gueant said that he plans to make praying in the streets for Mohammedans illegal, although all public prayers in La Belle France receive government approval beforehand.
"Here we have the hypocrisy of the French right. On one side, they authorize in the street and on the other side, they say 'look French people, Mohammedans are taking over our streets and speak of invasion'," French politician Axel Urgin told a Press TV correspondent.
Even though La Belle France has the greatest Mohammedan population in Europe, Gay Paree has only one mosque. This lack of mosques leaves French Mohammedans no choice but to attend Friday prayers at about a dozen street locations across La Belle France.
"If we are praying in the street, it's because we have no other choice. We are using what we have, and that is the street," the president of Mohammedan Association of Openness, Moussa Niambele said.
French politicians use the country's 1905 secularism law as reasoning why taxpaying Mohammedans cannot be financially assisted by the government to build mosques. Right-wing mayors also allegedly refuse issuing construction permits to those who have the money.
Although another large mosque is currently under construction in the French capital of Gay Paree, many say it will not be sufficient.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2011 00:00 ||
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Praying in the middle of a street is Jihad against the people of France. It is the act of stopping all traffic during "prayer time". Which essentially forces everyone traveling that street to submit to Islam.
#4
What's wrong with house mosques, analogous to house churches? A small congregation meeting in someone's living room to pray together. Or renting a conference room for a larger group... There's no need for these 10,000 person monstrosities with congregations so large the members can't possibly get to know one another.
#8
"French Interior Minister Claude Gueant seeks to ban praying in the street as part of a continuation of recent discrimination against Mohammedans in the western European country."
Oooo, you're catching on.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/26/2011 21:21 Comments ||
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Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems has delivered the first production copy of its next ship-defense missile to the U.S. Navy for final testing.
The first Standard Missile-6, a longer-range version of the Standard Missile-2 series of ship-defense weapons, was delivered on time and on budget in March after five years of development, the company said Monday.
The first missile is part of an initial batch of 89 missiles Raytheon is producing under a three-year, $368 million contract for low-rate initial production awarded last year.
The range of the supersonic SM-6 is classified but is substantially longer than SM-2's official range of about 90 nautical miles.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
