The Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal: A Life in the Balance

This is a very well researched, very thoughtful and very interesting book which in my opinion everyone should read as part of understanding the world we live in. I agree with the other reviewer that this book makes a compelling case that a re-trial absolutely essential in order for justice to triumph. Please buy and read this book. It is first rate in every way.

If you are from Philadelphia or the Philadelphia area, then you can truly understand the problems of the case of Mummia. It seems that every time you mention his name here you get into some kind of arguement. The sad thing about this is most people have absolutely no knowledge of the facts on the case of Mumia. This book, if you read it, can change that. The book attempts, and does a good job of, explaining why Amnesty International thinks that Mumia Abu Jamal recieved an unfair trial. At no time does Amnesty International say that Mumia should be set free, or that he is innocent of said charges. I will repeat this so there are no misunderstandings,AT NO TIME DOES AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL SAY THAT MUMIA SHOULD BE SET FREE OR THAT HE IS INNOCENT. Now anyone should be skeptical of a book written on such a sensitive subject, but Amnesty International is a highly respected global human rights watch dog group, and I believe that their information is reliable. If you are from Philadelphia and would like to read a book on Mumia, or you are from somewhere else and just interested, this book is a good start, but not an end to informing you on this subject.

Amnesty International in this little pamphlet presents the gross problems in the way Mumia Abu Jamal, black journalist and activist on death row since 1982 for allegedly killing a police officer, has been treated by the legal system. And there are a great many gross problems. AI does not declare him to be guilty or innocent nor have they adopted him as a prisoner of conscience.AI points out that of the three witnesses who claimed to have heard him confess to killing officer Faulkner after being brought into the emergency room, on, officer Gary Wakshul wrote in his log after finishing his shift that night that "the negro male made no comments." Another, a hospital security gaurd, claimed to have handwritten a note to her supervisor after the incident. Another, officer Gary Bell, Faulkner's "best friend," made no record of the incident until two months later.The security gaurd did not come forth with her claim until two months later. The alleged handwritten note was not found but a supposed typewritten copy of it was. The security gaurd denied having seen that copy before but despite its dubious authenticity Judge Sabo admitted it into evidence. Wakshull, Bell and Durham, the security gaurd, all came forward two months after the alleged confession, after Mumia had complained of being beaten by police after his arrest. Mumia tried to get Wakshul to testify but he was for some reason "on vacation" and Judge Sabo refused to pursue the matter furhter.The alleged witnesses to the crime. AI points out that Cynthia White, the prostitute, who changed the details of her story numerous times, was serving an eighteen month sentence in Massachusetts at the time of the trial, with three charges pending, and was arrested twice in the days following the shooting, though she was not prosecuted for those two incidents. They point out that in 1987 a detective involved in Mumia's case testified successfully in support of releasing White, who was then on trial for numerous felonies, on bail despite her very extensive criminal record. They point out that Veronica Jones, the second prostitute, testified at the trial that "they [the police] told us we could work the area [as prostitutes] if we tell them [that Abu Jamal was the shooter]." She said that "they [the police] were trying to get me to say something the other girl [White] said. I couldn't do that." She said that she saw two men running from the scene but later retracted the statement, as she later testified in 1996, after being visited by police officers in jail where she was being held on charges of robbery and assault. Judge Sabo struck her original statements from the record. AI points out that Robert Chobert, the cab driver, intially told police that the shooter had "run away." He was on probation for arson at the time and was driving with a suspended liscence for which he was not prosecuted and he approached the prosecutor, as he later testified, wanting to know how he could get his liscence back so he coul