20110429

[resentence] mumia

On April 26, the Court of Appeals for the Third U.S. Circuit held the death sentence of revolutionary journalist (and convicted murderer) Mumia Abu Jamal was obtained unconstitutionally, unanimously upholding that court's earlier determination, upon review directed by the U.S. Supreme Court, and reiterating its order that a new sentencing hearing be convened.

The Philadelphia district attorney says he will appeal the decision to the Supreme Court (again).

Catch up on this development (and the many other related actions pending in various courts -- fascinating pages of procedural history in the opinion linked above too!) with Democracy Now!'s April 27 edition, in which Amy Goodman interviews co-counsel Judith Ritter and columnist Linn Washington, or listen to Mumia's podcast, produced by Prison Radio.

(And, while you're over at Democracy Now!, check out Glenn Greenwald's views on the President of the United States's legally conclusory pronouncements concerning alleged wikileakingwhistleblower Bradley Manning, whose case has yet to be heard:
One of the cardinal rules of being a president is that you don’t decree private citizens guilty of crimes before they’ve been adjudicated of having been convicted of a crime. . . [comparison to Nixon statements during Manson trial, retracted under AG advisement] . . . John Mitchell knew that was inappropriate, that you can’t do that. . . . Here, it’s much worse for Obama to do that, because Bradley Manning is a member of the military under his command. The people who will decide his guilt are inferior officers to Obama as commander-in-chief. It’s an amazing amount of over and improper influence on the military process.
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