J Patrick O'Connor: Civil Rights Investigation for Mumia Abu-Jamal

Interviewed in July, 2009, J. Patrick O'Connor is the author of the 2008 book 'The Framing of Mumia Abu-Jamal' which has been completely ignored by the mainstream media in Philadelphia, despite a New York Times article released on the day of the book's release. In this new interview O'Connor argues for a federal civil rights investigation into Abu-Jamal's case, on grounds that the DA withheld the fact that a license application was found in Officer Daniel Faulkner's front shirt pocket. On April 6, 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider an appeal from death-row journalist and former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted of first-degree murder in the shooting death of white Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner in a 1982 trial deemed unfair by Amnesty International, the European Parliament, the Japanese Diet, Nelson Mandela and numerous others. Citing the Supreme Court denial and several instances of withheld evidence, Abu-Jamals international support network is now calling for a federal civil rights investigation into Abu-Jamals case. The facts of the Abu-Jamal/Faulkner case are highly contested, but all sides agree on certain key points: Abu-Jamal was moonlighting as a taxi-driver on Dec. 9, 1981, when, shortly before 4 a.m., he saw his brother, William Billy Cook, in an altercation with Officer Faulkner after Faulkner had pulled over Cooks car at the corner of 13th and Locust streets, downtown Philadelphia. Abu-Jamal approached the scene. Minutes later when police arrived, Faulkner had been shot dead, and Abu-Jamal had been shot in the chest. The bullet removed from Faulkner, reportedly a .38, was officially too damaged to match it to the legally registered .38 caliber gun that Abu-Jamal says he carried as a taxi driver, after he was robbed several times on the job. Further, Amnesty International has criticized the official failure of the police to test Abu-Jamals gun, hands, and clothing for gunshot residue as deeply troubling. Abu-Jamal has always maintained his innocence, and today still fights the conviction from his death-row cell in Waynesburg, Penn., where he also records weekly radio commentaries and has now written six books. For more information visit www.freemumia.com and also read the new article about the civil rights campaign in the SF Bay View Newspaper: http://www.sfbayview.com/2009/citing-withheld-evidence-supporters-of-mumia-abu-jamal-call-for-civil-rights-investigation/ In their recent books, Michael Schiffmann (Race Against Death: The Struggle for the Life and Freedom of Mumia Abu-Jamal, 2006), and J. Patrick OConnor (The Framing of Mumia Abu-Jamal, 2008) argue that the actual shooter of Officer Faulkner was a man named Kenneth Freeman. Schiffmann and OConnor argue that Freeman was an occupant of Billy Cooks car who shot Faulkner in response to Faulkner having shot Abu-Jamal first, and then fled the scene before police arrived. Central to Schiffmann and OConnors argument was the presence of a drivers license application for one Arnold Howard, which was found in the front pocket of Officer Faulkners shirt. Abu-Jamals defense would not learn about this until 13 years later, because the police and DAs office had failed to notify them about the applications crucial location. Journalist Linn Washington argues that this failure was a critical and deliberate omission and a major violation of fair trial rights and procedures. If the appeals process had any semblance of fairness, this misconduct alone should have won a new trial for Abu-Jamal. More importantly, Washington says, This evidence provides strong proof of a third person at the scene along with Faulkner and Billy Cook. The prosecution case against Abu-Jamal rests on the assertion that Faulkner encountered a lone Cook minutes before Abu-Jamals arrival on the scene, but Faulkner got that application from somebody other than Cook, who had his own license. At the 1995 PCRA hearing, Arnold Howard testified that he had loaned his temporary, non-photo license to Kenneth Freeman, who was Billy Cooks business partner and close friend. Further, Howard stated that police came to his house early in the morning on Dec. 9, 1981, and brought him to the police station for questioning because he was suspected of being the person who had run away from the scene, but he was released after producing a 4 a.m. receipt from a drugstore across town which provided an alibi and telling them that he had loaned the application to Freeman, who Howard reports was also at the police station that morning.