https://socialistaction.org/2019/01/20/keep-the-pressure-on-da-krasner-to-free-mumia/
Keep the pressure on DA Krasner to free Mumia!
/ 17 hours ago
feb. 2019 rachel w. (sam)
Attorney Rachel Wolkenstein speaks at Jan. 15 news conference in
Philadelphia for Mumia Abu-Jamal. (Photo: Sam Mastriano / Socialist Action)
By JOHN LESLIE
On Dec. 28, one day after the decision by Judge Leon Tucker opening
the door to further appeals by Mumia Abu-Jamal, employees of the
Philadelphia District Attorney’s office “found” six boxes in a storage
space, while allegedly looking for office furniture. Five of the six
boxes are marked with the name McCann, the name of a former head of the
Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office Homicide Unit. Five of the boxes
were also marked with Mumia’s name. This discovery was revealed to the
public more than a week later in press reports.
At a Jan. 15 news conference in Philadelphia, attorney Rachel
Wolkenstein, a supporter of Mumia and member of a previous legal team
for Mumia, said: “What these missing boxes represent is confirmation of
what we’ve known for decades: There’s hidden, exculpatory evidence in
Mumia’s case, and that is evidence that Mumia’s guilt was intentionally
manufactured by the police and prosecution, and the truth of his
innocence was suppressed.”
Wolkenstein told the press that “every single witness in the case was
coerced and encouraged to lie. … There is police and prosecutorial
misconduct throughout this case.” She pointed out that if Krasner
chooses to appeal Tucker’s decision, Mumia would be tied up for years
awaiting justice.
Supporters believe that the hidden boxes hide evidence of Mumia’s
innocence; in essence, it is a cover-up of a frame-up. The contents of
the boxes should be released to the public, and all charges against
Mumia should be dismissed. Judge Tucker has asserted his jurisdiction
over the boxes and the case; Mumia’s attorneys have said that they will
inspect the contents of the boxes as soon as they can.
A history of suppressing evidence
The Philadelphia District Attorney’s office has a history of suppressing
evidence and is known for the infamous training video that taught
Assistant DAs how to keep Blacks off juries. The sudden release of the
boxes demonstrated the systematic denial of due process in Mumia’s case.
Mumia was denied justice at every turn, with no right to
self-representation and no jury of his peers.
In the case of Jimmy Dennis, who spent 25 years in prison for a murder
he did not commit, Philadelphia DAs withheld information about a witness
who identified others as the killers, failed to reveal the existence of
a receipt that confirmed Dennis’ alibi, and failed to provide the
statement of a witness who said she recognized the shooter from high
school. Even after a federal court decision in Dennis’ favor, the DA’s
office continued to drag its feet, delaying his release for years.
The notion that the “finding” of boxes of material from Mumia’s case is
the result of their having been “misplaced” seems particularly
suspicious in light of earlier efforts to tamper or withhold evidence in
the case. The ballistics evidence was very questionable, for example.
The bullet that police recovered was too damaged to be matched to
Mumia’s gun. A forensics report from the medical examiner noted that the
bullet was a .44 caliber—but Mumia’s pistol was a .38 caliber.
Similarly, crime scene photos taken by photojournalist Pedro Polokoff
showed cops holding guns taken in evidence with their bare hands and
showed the hat of deceased Officer Daniel Faulkner placed on top of
Mumia’s brother Billy Cook’s Volkswagen, though it appears on the
sidewalk in the official police photos.
Mumia has been in the sights of law enforcement, from local cops to the
FBI, for his youthful role in the Black Panther Party, and for his later
role as an award-winning journalist. As a reporter, Mumia covered the
1978 Philadelphia police attack on the MOVE house in the Powelton
Village neighborhood, after a 50-day siege in which no one was allowed
in or out of the property. Police bulldozed the house almost immediately
after the standoff was over, destroying any evidence of police misconduct.
During a press conference following the Powelton Village assault, then
Mayor Frank Rizzo singled out Mumia’s “new breed” of journalism as
responsible for the death of Police Officer James Ramp, saying that
Mumia would be “held accountable and responsible.” The MOVE 9 were
convicted and imprisoned for the death of Ramp despite his having been
killed by “friendly” police fire.
On Jan. 5, activists for the Mobilization4Mumia delivered 4227 signed
petitions asking District Attorney Larry Krasner not to appeal the
Tucker decision, as well as labor movement statements of support for
Mumia. This included letters from International Longshore and Warehouse
Union International Executive Secretary-Treasurer Edwin R. Ferris and
Japanese rail workers.
The petitions were handed to a Krasner assistant as the DA passed
through the lobby. Krasner, however, did not stop to speak with
activists, some of whom had supported his campaign for the office.
District Attorney’s Office Director of Communications Ben Waxman, a
former Occupy Philadelphia activist, spoke briefly with activists, but
refused to address any specifics of the case as “above [his] pay grade.”
Speaking at the Philadelphia press conference on Jan. 15, Pam Africa, a
leading organizer for Mumia’s defense, demanded Mumia’s freedom, saying,
“After almost four decades in prison suffering from cirrhosis of the
liver, Hepatitis C and related ailments, years of court delays will be
nothing less than a death sentence and a denial of justice for Mumia.
The evidence is here! Our job is to stop the conspiracy to torture and
murder Mumia. After 37 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, we
are demanding that the charges be dismissed and he should be freed.”
Earlier, at a Jan. 12 meeting at the People’s Forum in New York City,
Pam Africa said that the recent court victory and the “discovery” of the
boxes must be credited to the “power of the people.” She went on to
point out ,“We must organize as if the death warrant was signed, ’cause
if it was left up to them, Mumia would’ve been dead a long time ago.
There’s a whole lot of other boxes that’s missing. Now that the appeal
is in, the following day they find the boxes?”
Africa continued, “There’s still a lot of work that needs to be done.
Radio stations, churches, subways, communities—letting people know what
is going on ’cause every minute, second, Mumia’s closer to death. We’re
doing what they said we’d never be able to do, and that’s bring Mumia home.”
Mumia also addressed the New York meeting, via telephone. Moderator
Robyn Spencer asked him, “How are you feeling now with the potential of
the doors opening?” Mumia responded, “This is probably the first time
I’ve been before a state judge in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania who
was not paid by the FOP, and that means something.”
Spencer then asked, “What can we take away from this [meeting]?” Mumia
answered, “Resistance, organizing, movements, work. To quote John
Africa: ‘When you’re committed to doing that which is right, the power
of righteousness will never betray you” (quoted in the New York
Amsterdam News, Jan. 17, 2019).
All out on April 20!
Supporters of Mumia are projecting a mass action in Philadelphia on
April 20 to demand his release. That will be followed by a student
walkout on Mumia’s birthday, April 24.
We must keep the pressure on the “progressive” District Attorney Larry
Krasner. Krasner, formerly a defense attorney, was known in activist
circles for defending protesters in court. Those credentials inspired
liberal and left activists, including the local Democratic Socialists
of America, to get active in his campaign. In office, Krasner has
offered up some reforms and promised to review wrongful convictions.
However, in Mumia’s case, it appears that Krasner has hesitated because
of his relations with the Fraternal Order of Police.
Now is the time to re-energize the fight to free Mumia— a man who was
railroaded to death row solely for his political beliefs and actions; a
man who was innocent of the charges against him but was framed-up
because he dared to tell the truth about the corrupt and racist police
and the court system.
We cannot rely on politicians or their courts to win a victory. To win
we need to build a powerful, united movement to free Mumia. We need to
reach out to and to energize new forces in the movement—above all in the
Black community, and in the labor movement, among students, and among
all of the oppressed. It was the mass struggle in the streets by
supporters of justice that stopped previous attempts to execute Mumia.
For decades the working class and its organizations have been under
attack. Our unions have been decimated. Hard-won civil rights have been
destroyed. The left and the Black liberation movement continue to
suffer the aftereffects of COINTELPRO. The national security state has
expanded and spying is rampant. The incarceration of radicals like
Mumia, the MOVE 9, Leonard Peltier, and the almost two-dozen former
Black Panther Party members who remain in America’s prisons points to
the fundamental injustice of the system.
Together we can fight to free all political prisoners! Now that, after
37 years of struggle in the courts and in the streets, victory is
finally within our grasp, we need to redouble our efforts to bring Mumia
home! Free Mumia! Free the MOVE 9 and all political prisoners!
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January 20, 2019 in Black Liberation, Prisons, Uncategorized. Tags: Mumia
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“ Reality provides us with facts so romantic that imagination itself could add
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― Jules Verne