Mumia Abu-Jamal Case Back in Court: The Road to Freedom

By Noelle Hanrahan and Seth Nosanchuk, Prison Radio

The legal documents that have been flying back and forth between the Philadelphia DA and Mumia Abu-Jamal's legal team all summer reveal a disorganized and untrustworthy prosecutorial bureaucracy, shrouding a decades old Penn Square cover-up.

At stake is the reinstatement of Mumia Abu-Jamal’s appeals which challenge his life without parole sentence. This is big! If he wins these motions to reopen his Post Conviction Relief Application in the Common Pleas Court, it is game on. His case will be back in court challenging decades of adverse rulings overturned.

The Hearing is on August 30, at 9 a.m., in Judge Leon Tucker's Courtoom at the Criminal Justice Center.

If the Common Pleas Court rules in Mumia Abu-Jamal’s favor, his attorneys will have to wade through a labyrinth of appeals and procedures but they stand a chance of securing a new trial. There is key evidence that was not given a fair hearing the first time around, that will be back in play. 

So what is the story leading up to the August 30th hearing? Common Pleas Court Judge Leon Tucker ordered the Philadelphia DA’s office to search for any record of former DA and PA Supreme Court Justice Ronald Castille's "personal involvement" in the most high profile case in Philadelphia- Mumia Abu-Jamal's conviction and sentence to death. The U.S. Supreme court admonished Castille and others for not recusing themselves from sitting in judgement on the PA Supreme Court on cases they handled "personally" as the prosecutors. This precedent applies to Mumia's criminal conviction and appeals. 

Evidence is key.  Judge Tucker, unimpressed by the efforts of the now former DA's office in 2017, ordered the entire case record delivered to his chambers so he could look himself.  During his review he found a cover note to a now missing, potential smoking gun letter written by Castille.  The new DA's office (as of January 2018) under Larry Krasner has been searching under pressure from Judge Tucker and Mumia’s lawyers Judith Ritter and Sam Spital (NAACP LDF) for this memo and other evidence of Castille's involvement.  Judge Tucker expanded the order to include additional files on other death penalty cases pending during Castille's tenure.
 

The DA’s office was unable to find “ANYTHING” in its own files relevant to Ronald Castille’s involvement in this case.  Yet,  Mumia’s attorney’s this summer discovered evidence, a newsprint reference, to an additional letter from Castille to then Governor Casey regarding death penalty cases.  Proof that this additional letter existed was brought to light by the defense, not the DA. This new revelation, this summer, prompted the DA to admit that  “approximately an additional 193 boxes had been overlooked in its prior search—9 of which it still cannot find" and remained unexamined.  
 

"In its failure to recognize that Ronald Castille played an active role in pursuing the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal, the new District Attorney’s office, headed by Larry Krasner, is failing to do what justice requires. It is continuing the position of his predecessors, to the satisfaction of the Fraternal Order of Police.”—Bret Grote, Esq. Abolitionist Law Center Legal Director
 

See the link the most recent court filing here. This story is not over, and we will keep reporting from the front lines.  Stay tuned.