User:Mesplay/A24



Mumia Abu-Jamal (born Wesley Cook on April 24, 1954) was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1981 murder of police officer Daniel Faulkner, and is currently a prisoner at State Correctional Institution Greene near Waynesburg, Pennsylvania.

In December 2001, a judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania affirmed his conviction but quashed the original punishment and ordered resentencing. Both Abu-Jamal and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania appealed. The case was orally argued before a three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Philadelphia on May 17, 2007, and as of March 2008 is pending. His case has received international attention. Supporters and opponents disagree on the appropriateness of the death penalty, whether he is guilty, or whether he received a fair trial and the benefit of due process.

Prior to his arrest he was a Black Panther Party activist, cab driver, and journalist. During his imprisonment he has courted controversy as an honoree of municipal, educational and civil society organizations, and as a spoken word commentator and published author of several works—most notably Live from Death Row.. (more…)