Mumia Legal Case for Freedom Now Proceeds
Today, the PA Supreme Court issued an Order dismissing Maureen Faulkner’s King’s Bench Petition. Here is an excerpt from the Order:
“AND NOW, this 16th day of December 2020, the King’s Bench petition is hereby DISMISSED in accordance with the special master’s recommendation. The special master is directed to unseal the record in this matter. This Court’s February 24, 2020 order staying all matters related to the underlying criminal case, Commonwealth v. Wesley Cook, a/k/a Mumia Abu-Jamal, No. 290 EDA 2019; CP-51-CR-0113571-1982, is hereby lifted.”
There was one dissenting PA Supreme Court Justice: Sally Updyke Mundy.
What this means is that now, all pending appeals and motions in the PA Superior Court will move forward from where things were left off in February 2020 when the Supreme Court stayed all proceedings until it decided the King’s Bench Petition.
What had already happened, as of February 2020?
1. Mumia’s attorneys submitted briefs re-arguing issues that were unconstitutionally dismissed by the PA Supreme Court over the course of almost two decades— on account of a conflict of interest on the part of PA Supreme Court Justice, Ronald Castille.
2. Mumia’s attorneys asked the Superior Court to remand the case to the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas to review the new evidence in the case.
What comes next?
1. The District Attorney’s Office will finally be able to submit its briefs to the PA Superior Court. Remember, Philadelphia’s progressive DA, Larry Krasner, had stated that a new evidentiary hearing should be held in Mumia Abu-Jamal’s case because of exculpatory evidence suppressed by the earlier prosecutorial team. Judge Leon Tucker of the Common Pleas Court had excoriated the former prosecutors for literally burying evidence. Then, the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) and Maureen Faulkner filed a desperate, rarely used legal motion called a King’s Bench Petition to try and stop this new evidence showing Mumia’s innocence from seeing the light of day.
Hasta la Victoria
The PA Supreme Court decision can be read here.
The FOP’s and Maureen Faulkner’s denied petition can be read here.
12.14.20
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