Mumia Abu-Jamal Case Back Before Appeals Court
PHILADELPHIA – A federal appeals court is set to hear the latest arguments concerning the sentence of death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal (moo-MEE'-ah AH'-boo jah-MAHL').
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments Tuesday over jury instructions given during Abu-Jamal's 1982 trial. Abu-Jamal was convicted of killing 25-year-old Philadelphia police Officer Daniel Faulkner and sentenced to death.
The court had ordered a new sentencing hearing for Abu-Jamal, but the U.S. Supreme Court this year ordered the court to reconsider.
Abu-Jamal has become an international cause celebre among death-penalty opponents and an array of other activists.