Maryland Conservatarian

The Federal Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has ruled that Pennsylvania can’t execute convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal without a new hearing. As he has been on death row for over 25 years, this isn’t exactly the equivalent of the last-second call from the governor.

Mumia’s attorney had this to say:

"I've never seen a case as permeated and riddled with racism as this one," Bryan said Thursday. "I want a new trial and I want him free. His conviction was a travesty of justice." Court: Mumia Deserves New Hearing

Is there anything more sanctimonious than a white liberal opining on race?

Mr. Bryan wasn’t the defense attorney at the original trial so his is not a first-hand reaction. The jury included 2 blacks and, as even the most casual of “Law & Order” viewers knows, a criminal conviction requires a unanimous verdict. However, this is such a cause célèbre among much of the limousine liberal set that, like with their idolatry of Che Guevara, the facts just don’t matter:

“A total of five eyewitnesses have testified that they saw Mumia Abu-Jamal run from a parking lot and shoot Officer Faulkner to death as the officer attempted to arrest Jamal's brother. None of these eyewitnesses knew each other. Each gave their accounts within minutes of the shooting, and the accounts agreed with each other in every significant detail. Several of these individuals stated that -- in some cases from less than 30 feet away -- they watched as Jamal repeatedly fired at the fallen and unarmed officer from point blank range. One even stated that Jamal took the time to bend down and fire the final shot into the wounded officer's face from less than a foot away and that the officer's "whole body jerked" when the shot hit his face. Was each and every one of these eyewitnesses - including a man called by Jamal's own lawyers in 1995, Robert Harkins - "confused" about what they saw, as Jamal and his attorneys allege?” Justice For Police Officer Daniel Faulkner

It is the height of arrogance that allows Mr. Bryan to conclude that he is a better arbiter of racist attitudes at the trial then the two blacks that were actually there and voted for conviction. Trials are never perfect but nothing has come forward to suggest that Pennsylvania doesn’t have the right person behind bars…where, hopefully – with or without a state execution – he will spend the rest of his life.

Side Notes: As noted, Mr. Bryan was not the trial attorney for Mumia. Celebrated death penalty defense attorneys rarely make their name actually defending the accused at trial. Rather, the associated glamour and fame come from the appellate work (actually, this is true of most legal work) where you don’t have to deal with the nitty-gritty and time consumption of day-to-day in-court trial work. This is not meant to disparage the work of Mr. Bryan – who, by all accounts, is quite competent in his chosen field – but instead to point out that one way to obviate the so-called incompetence of legal representation at trial is to have the critics actually pitch in and provide said missing competence themselves.