Mumia Abu-Jamal: New hearing for Philadelphia’s racial flashpoint

Mumia Abu-Jamal needs a new sentencing hearing in his conviction of murdering Philadelphia police Officer Daniel Faulkner, a federal appeals court ruled today.

The much-debated, long-winding case stemming from Faulkner’s 1981 murder, which has stewed as Mumia has sat on death row since his 1982 sentencing, will take one last turn. A date for the new sentencing is not yet known.

District Attorney Seth Williams, set to discuss the ruling this afternoon, has reportedly said he may again appeal the appeal court’s ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. The highest court in the land last weighed in on the case by telling the U.S. Third District Court of Appeals to re-examine its earlier ruling that a new hearing be held.

That court today reiterated that earlier ruling.

Abu-Jamal, who has written extensively while on death row, is best known for his book “Live from Death Row.” Philadelphia documentarian Tigre Hill last year released a film called “Barrel of a Gun” that looked at Abu-Jamal’s early life. Faulkner’s widow, Maureen Faulkner, also wrote a book titled “Murdered by Mumia: A Life Sentence of Loss, Pain, and Injustice” in 1997.