> >http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20071010132509633 > >Wednesday, October 10 2007 @ 08:14 PM PDT >Big Media Must Not Ignore New Mumia Abu-Jamal Crime Scene Photos! > >Wednesday, October 10 2007 @ 01:25 PM PDT >Educators for Mumia Abu-Jamal (EmajOnline.com) and Journalists for >Mumia Abu-Jamal (Abu-Jamal-News.com) are asking people to please contact >the media about the new Educators for Mumia press-release titled "Jurors >Never Saw Earliest Photos at Abu-Jamal's 1982 Trial." The press-release >states that "German linguist, Michael Schiffmann (University of >Heidelberg), has disclosed his discovery of 26 photographs, taken by >press photographer Pedro Polakoff, which suggest more evidence that >basic investigative protocol was violated by police from the earliest >moments of the killing....The very existence of these photos, and what >they show, together with the many other indicators of prosecutorial >abuse, manipulation of witnesses and violation of Abu-Jamal's >constitutional rights, give still firmer ground that Abu-Jamal did not >receive a fair trial." > >AKE ACTION! Big Media Must Not Ignore New Mumia Abu-Jamal Crime Scene >Photos > >By Educators and Journalists for Mumia >10.10.2007 > >Both "Educators for Mumia" and "Journalists for Mumia" are asking people >to please contact the media about the new EMAJ press-release titled >"Jurors Never Saw Earliest Photos at Abu-Jamal's 1982 Trial." > >The press-release states that "German linguist, Michael Schiffmann >(University of Heidelberg), has disclosed his discovery of 26 >photographs, taken by press photographer Pedro Polakoff, which suggest >more evidence that basic investigative protocol was violated by police >from the earliest moments of the killing...." > >While Polakoff's photos have received coverage from the alternative >media, not even one big media outlet has reported on these photos yet. >(View 4 Photos here) > >A list of media contacts and a sample letter have been made for this >important media-activist campaign. > >---------- > >TAKE ACTION! Big Media Must Not Ignore New Mumia Abu-Jamal Crime Scene >Photos > >by Educators and Journalists for Mumia > >Educators for Mumia Abu-Jamal (EmajOnline.com) and Journalists for Mumia >Abu-Jamal (Abu-Jamal-News.com) are asking people to please contact the >media about the new Educators for Mumia press-release titled "Jurors >Never Saw Earliest Photos at Abu-Jamal's 1982 Trial." > >The press-release states that "German linguist, Michael Schiffmann >(University of Heidelberg), has disclosed his discovery of 26 >photographs, taken by press photographer Pedro Polakoff, which suggest >more evidence that basic investigative protocol was violated by police >from the earliest moments of the killing....The very existence of these >photos, and what they show, together with the many other indicators of >prosecutorial abuse, manipulation of witnesses and violation of >Abu-Jamal's constitutional rights, give still firmer ground that >Abu-Jamal did not receive a fair trial." > >In May, Dr. Schiffmann unveiled the new photos at a well-attended >evening event in Philadelphia, and issued a press-release with quotes >from Abu-Jamal's lead attorney Robert R. Bryan, as well as journalists >Dave Lindorff, and Linn Washington, Jr (Read the May press-release). > >In response, Polakoff's photos have received coverage from several >activist-oriented websites, newspapers, and radio shows. However, not >even one of the really big media outlets has reported on these photos >yet, which makes it a fresh and timely story. (View 4 Photos here) > >We have written a polite sample letter to use for contacting the media, >but please feel free to give it your own personal touch and explain why >you think it is important for these new photos to be presented to the US >public. > >A compiled list of media contacts is available here. > >The sample letter is pasted immediately below, but it can also be >downloaded as a Word file. > >SAMPLE LETTER: > >Dear Editor, > >I am writing to share the new press release from Educators for Mumia >Abu-Jamal, titled "Jurors Never Saw Earliest Photos at Abu-Jamal's 1982 >Trial." German linguist, Michael Schiffmann (University of Heidelberg), >has disclosed his discovery of 26 photographs of the Dec. 9, 1981 Mumia >Abu-Jamal / Daniel Faulkner crime scene, taken by press photographer >Pedro P. Polakoff, which suggest even more evidence that basic >investigative protocol was violated by police from the earliest moments >of the killing, and most importantly, that Abu-Jamal did not receive a >fair trial, as Amnesty International and others have documented. (View 4 >of the photos at www.Abu-Jamal-News.com) > >These photos were discovered at a critical time for this controversial >death-row prisoner and journalist, whose case is currently before the US >Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Oral arguments were held on May 17, 2007 >concerning four different issues regarding the fairness of Abu-Jamal's >original trial. The Court's decision is now expected any week. > >In May, Dr. Schiffmann unveiled the new photos at a well-attended >evening event in Philadelphia, and issued a press-release with quotes >from Abu-Jamal's lead attorney Robert R. Bryan, as well as journalists >Dave Lindorff, and Linn Washington, Jr, available at this link: > >http://www.abu-jamal-news.com/temp/press%20release.html > >In response, Polakoff's photos have received coverage from several >activist-oriented websites, newspapers, and radio shows. However, not >even one of the really big media outlets has reported on these photos >yet, which makes it a fresh and timely story. > >These new photos were not considered at the May 17 hearing because of >the limited "four-issue scope," however, I feel that the media should >report on these photos and present the facts to the US public so that >they can consider this new evidence for themselves. > >I urge you to please consider doing a news story about the new evidence >in this controversial death-penalty case. > >Sincerely, > >The press release below is based upon these seven points: > >#1--Polakoff's photos were the earliest taken at the crime scene, >preceding even those taken by the police and used at trial. > >#2--The DA's office not once, but twice ignored Polakoff's attempts to >make the photos available to them. > >#3-- Polakoff found the crime scene to be surprisingly and unusually >unsecured and unprotected by authorities. > >#4--Many of Polakoff's photos appear to show both manipulation of >evidence (e.g. changed position of Faulkner's hat) and corruption of the >crime scene (e.g. police touching of the guns' metal parts). > >#5--Two Polakoff photos show that the cab of prosecution key witness >Robert Chobert was not parked at the point from which he says he >witnessed the crime. > >#6--A full six of the Polakoff photos challenge prosecutors' claim that >Faulkner was on his back and shot by a killer standing above him. > >#7-- Polakoff reports that the police's own earliest theory of the >shooting focused on a person who emerged from the passenger seat of >Billy Cook's VW. Police mistook this passenger/shooter for Mumia, when >it was likely Kenneth Freeman, who other evidence suggests, rode with >Cook. > >FOR MEDIA INQUIRIES, please contact: > >--Professor Mark L. Taylor (Princeton University, NJ): Author of the >EMAJ press-release. [EMAIL PROTECTED] (609) 672-8199 EmajOnline.com > >--Dr. Michael Schiffmann (University of Heidelberg, Germany): Discovered >the new crime scene photos, which appear in his new German book on >Abu-Jamal's case, Race Against Death, and is the co-founder of >Journalists for Mumia Abu-Jamal (Abu-Jamal-News.com) >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >--Hans Bennett (Philadelphia, PA): Philadelphia journalist and >co-founder of Journalists for Mumia Abu-Jamal (Abu-Jamal-News.com) >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >EMAJ: EDUCATORS FOR MUMIA ABU-JAMAL 12 Years Educating and Organizing >for Abu-Jamal and Justice > >PRESS RELEASE - OCTOBER, 2007. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. Contact: Professor >Mark Taylor, Princeton Theological Seminary*, 64 Mercer Street, >Princeton, NJ 08542. Phone: 609 672-8199. *Institution for >identification purposes only. >__________________________________________________ > >Jurors Never Saw Earliest Photos at Abu-Jamal's 1982 Trial > >RECENT DISCOVERY OF 26 PHOTOS OF OFFICER FAULKNER'S SCENE OF DEATH >_________________________________________________ > >More Evidence that Mumia Abu-Jamal was Denied a Fair Trial > >Princeton, NJ. September 16, 2007. Analysts and leaders in human rights >investigations for years have charged that Pennsylvania death row >prisoner, Mumia Abu-Jamal, did not receive a fair trial when convicted >in 1982 of the shooting death of Officer Daniel Faulkner. Amnesty >International, for example, continues to call for a new trial, a "fair >retrial" of Abu-Jamal. > >Now in 2007, German linguist, Michael Schiffmann (University of >Heidelberg), has disclosed his discovery of 26 photographs, taken by >press photographer Pedro Polakoff, which suggest more evidence that >basic investigative protocol was violated by police from the earliest >moments of the killing. (As a guide to this Press Release, use the >one-page summary at the end of the release, "7 KEY POINTS ON THE >POLAKOFF PHOTOS," which gives in capsule form the significance of the >Polakoff photos.) > >The very existence of these photos, and what they show, together with >the many other indicators of prosecutorial abuse, manipulation of >witnesses and violation of Abu-Jamal's constitutional rights, give still >firmer ground that Abu-Jamal did not receive a fair trial. > >Officer Faulkner was slain near the corner of Locust and 13th Streets in >the early morning hours of December 9, 1981. At a trial the following >summer of 1982, Mumia Abu-Jamal was convicted of the crime and continues >to be on death row in Pennsylvania. > >Now, the photos show a crime scene in 1981 that was almost completely >unsecured by police, with officers holding crime weapons in their bare >hands though they denied doing so at trial, and, with someone evidently >having changed the position of Officer Faulkner's hat at the scene for >later dramatic effect at trial. > >Before commenting on these revelations more, recall the basics of the >case. Abu-Jamal, previously Wesley Cook, a noted journalist and >political activist in Philadelphia, was found on the sidewalk along with >his brother, Billy Cook, when police arrived on the scene to find the >dying Faulkner. Abu-Jamal had also been shot, was beaten by arriving >police, and was arraigned in the hospital during recovery from his own >critical injuries. > >To get the conviction at the 1982 trial, prosecutors argued that >Abu-Jamal emerged from a cab he had been driving in the area, and ran >through a parking lot across the street to confront Faulkner who had >pulled over a Volkswagen driven by Mumia's brother, Billy Cook. >Prosecutors claim that as he approached, Mumia shot Faulkner in the >back, and then straddled Faulkner, in spite of having taken a shot in >the chest, discharging his revolver at the fallen officer and killing >him with a bullet between the eyes. > >Abu-Jamal's case is one of the most contested in the history of the >United States. Prosecutors, and the Fraternal Order of Police in support >of them, have always claimed to possess a water-tight case of >eye-witnesses and conclusive evidence. > >Nevertheless, Abu-Jamal's conviction and death sentence have prompted >jurists and human rights organizations worldwide to denounce the trial >and death sentence as a travesty of justice. They cite bias in the >original judge, a racially-skewed process of jury selection, numerous >other denials of due process, and prosecution and police intimidation of >witnesses. Amnesty International advised, for example, that "justice >would best be served by granting a new trial." > >Abu-Jamal's defense team identified 29 claims of constitutional >violation of Abu-Jamal's constitutional rights, three of which have >recently (May 17, 2007) been argued before the justices of the U.S. >Third Circuit Court of Appeals that now is in deliberation on those >claims. > >Schiffmann's discovery of the 26 photos is announced in his thorough >analysis of the case in his 2006 book, Race Against Death: The Struggle >for the Life and Freedom of Mumia Abu-Jamal (published already in >Germany, and awaiting publication in English). The book is an excellent >introduction to the case's complexities. The most startling feature of >his study, though, may be the 26 photos he discovered through internet >research, taken by experienced press photo-reporter, Pedro P. Polakoff. > >These photos still have not been acknowledged or discussed at length by >the U.S. media in spite of the long-running public controversy this case >has engendered. Seven points, summarized in chart form at end of this >press release, dramatize the importance of the Polakoff photos: > >Point 1 - The Earliest Photos of the Crime Scene. Press photo-reporter >Polakoff arrived at the crime scene just 12 minutes after Faulkner's >killing was reported to police, and he produced at least 26 photos of >the scene over a 30-45 minute period, completing them before the >Philadelphia Police Department's Mobile Crime Unit began taking its own >pictures. > >Point 2 - Officials Ignore Polakoff's Evidence. Polakoff offered his >photos to the D.A.'s office, not once, but twice (before the original >1982 trial and during Mumia's 1995 PCRA hearings), but at neither >opportunity did the prosecutors show any interest or respond to >Polakoff's attempts to contact them. No jury, judge or other legal group >has formally reflected on these photos. > >Point 3 - An Unsecured Crime Scene. Reflecting on the crime scene in >conversation with Schiffmann, Polakoff described it as the "most messed >up crime scene I have ever seen," and, contrary to almost all police >protocol and manual instructions, he recalls being permitted to move >freely almost everywhere at the scene. > >Point 4 - Police Ploys at the Crime Scene. Polakoff's photos show what >appear to be manipulation of evidence and corruption of the crime scene: > >(a) A key example of the manipulation of evidence is the movement of >slain Officer Faulkner's hat. The police photos taken later, and then >presented to the jury in 1982, show the hat lying on the sidewalk where >Faulkner was shot. But one of the earlier of Polakoff's photos shows the >hat resting on the top of his brother's, Billy Cook's, Volkswagen. > >(b) Exemplary of the corruption of the crime scene are signs of police >officers touching the revolvers of Faulkner and Abu-Jamal. At trial, >Officer James Forbes denied touching the guns' metal parts during the >full one-and-one-half hour he held them. But not only one, but several >of Polakoff's photos show Forbes holding the guns and touching their >metal parts while he stood at the crime scene. > >Point 5 - Prosecution's Cab-Driver Witness: Where Was He? One of the >prosecution's key witnesses, cab driver Robert Chobert, claimed that as >the shooting started he was sitting in his cab right behind Faulkner's >police car. But two of Polakoff's photos show the space behind >Faulkner's squad car at the crime scene, and Chobert's cab is not parked >there. > >Point 6 - Did the Killer Really Shoot Downwards at Faulkner on the >Pavement? Prosecutors argued that Abu-Jamal, after first shooting him in >the back, killed Faulkner by standing over him, unloading several shots >from his .38 revolver while Faulkner lay face-up and wounded on the >sidewalk, one bullet hitting the policeman "right between the eyes, >literally blowing his brains out." But six of the Polakoff photos show >only a clean blood-stain trickling toward the street gutter, not the >sidewalk splatter that a .38 revolver would have produced. Even more >importantly, the photos also show no traces in the side-walk of the >large pieces of cement that the other shots from the .38 revolver would >surely have broken out from the pavement. > >Point 7 - Police Officers' Early "Passenger" Theory. Polakoff reported >to Schiffmann that officers at the crime scene expressed the conviction >that the shooter had been in the passenger seat of Billy Cook's >Volkswagen and had shot Faulkner from that position. > >Point 7 warrants special commentary. This early theory of the police was >abandoned by the prosecution at trial in favor or an argument that the >shooter - according to them, Abu-Jamal - shot Faulkner not from Billy >Cook's Volkswagen, but after running from his own cab parked across the >street and toward the crime scene. (Abu-Jamal's defense did not dispute >that Mumia came through a parking lot across the street and had been >shot by Faulkner, though of course defense denied claims that Mumia was >the shooter.) > >Nevertheless, the police officers' reference to the shooter being in the >passenger seat of Cook's car (based on reports by three unnamed >witnesses on the street) is another indication that there was a >passenger riding with the driver, Billy Cook. This also gives further >support to the much talked-about "third man," who may have been the >shooter and fled the scene. > >Schiffmann and others have discussed the various indicators that such a >third man was present. These include: > >(a) testimony from defense witnesses Dessie Hightower and Veronica Jones >(and reports by others) claiming that they saw one or more other persons >running from the crime scene after the shooting; > >(b) testimony at a 1995 Post-Conviction Relief hearing that a driver's >"license" document found in Officer Faulkner's shirt pocket after the >crime, had been lent to one, Kenneth Freeman, Billy Cook's business >partner and friend who often rode with him in his car. (Freeman, an >African-American with dreadlocks, could easily have been confused by >police with Mumia when he was emerging from the passenger seat of the >VW.) > >(c) testimony by one of the prosecution's own star witnesses, Cynthia >White, that two distinct figures, both a driver and a passenger, emerged >from Billy Cook's Volkswagen when it was stopped by Faulkner. This >testimony is in the transcript of the earlier March 1982 trial of Billy >Cook. > >This passenger, this third man, Kenneth Freeman, according to a >deposition by journalist Linn Washington, Jr., frequently reported his >experiences of police brutality to the Philadelphia Tribune where >Washington worked. Washington knew Freeman as a person who had been >victimized by police abuse. The person eyewitnesses saw leaving the >scene is consistent with the physical description of Freeman. (For more >context on Washington's observations, see his sworn Declaration.) > >Billy Cook and Mumia Abu-Jamal did not testify about Freeman, which >could have meant pinning criminal blame on a friend of the family. > >Kenneth Freeman died on May13/14, 1985, the night of the fire-bombing of >the MOVE house, "handcuffed and shot up with drugs and dumped upon a >Grink's lot on Roosevelt Blvd, buck naked" (from testimony at a 1995 >PCRA hearing). > >No jury heard testimony about Kenneth Freeman, this third man at the >crime scene. > >(written by Mark L. Taylor, for EMAJ) > >View the PDF version of this press release, featuring the "7 KEY POINTS >ON THE POLAKOFF PHOTOS," which gives in capsule form the significance of >the Polakoff photos: >http://www.emajonline.com/files/PressRelease.Polakoff.Photos.EMAJ.pdf > >View a Sample of the Photos: http://www.abu-jamal-news.com/ > >Homepage:: http://Abu-Jamal-News.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
