Mumia Abu-Jamal’s Request For New Trial Likely To Be Dismissed By Judge
Demonstrators showed their support for Mumia Abu-Jamal outside of the Juanita Kidd Stout Center for Criminal Justice on Wednesday (Oct. 26) in hopes he’d be granted a new trial.
“This is long overdue to see our brother Mumia come home,” supporter Rafael Outland said, according to the newspaper. “He’s been in there longer than I’ve been alive. You know, so to know that all of the evidence points in a different direction, outside of had his guilt, yes, time to bring him home. So it is time to give him a new case.”
According to the Philadelphia Tribune though, a judge said she intends to dismiss a request for a new trial made by Abu-Jamal’s legal team.
Abu-Jamal, 68, an activist and former radio journalist, was convicted for the 1981 fatal shooting of Philadelphia Police officer Daniel Faulkner. He’s made several appeals attempts over the years, all of which have failed.
Most recently, his defense team said new evidence from 2018 shows the district attorney’s office withheld evidence during trial. His supporters say it shows that the prosecution’s witness, Robert Chobert, expected to receive something from the state in exchange for his testimony.
Additionally, they assert that there is additional evidence that prosecutors made significant efforts to monitor and direct outstanding prostitution charges against witness Cynthia White that would benefit her in exchange for her false testimony against Abu-Jamal.
While incarcerated Abu-Jamal has had health issues, including double bypass surgery in March 2020, renal failure in 2017 and bouts with COVID-19 and hepatitis C.
