Sometimes it's HARD to solve a murder case.....
Sometimes, there are no witnesses. Sometimes, detectives and forensic scientists spend months, even years, piecing together the evidence.
Sometimes it's VERY easy.....
In 1981, Mumia Jamal was a Philadelphia Taxi Driver named Wesley Cook. Cook stood in the middle of a city street, in front of several witnesses, and shot Officer Daniel Faulkner in the back. The witnesses watched as Cook stood over the fallen officer and emptied his gun into the officer's face. Police arrived within moments, and Mumia was caught red-handed at the scene, the murder weapon still in his possession. The witnesses watched as the cold blooded killer was arrested and loaded into the back of a police wagon.
Cook was transported to the hospital, since the heroic officer had managed to draw his weapon and return fire before dying. Cook bragged to emergency room staff that he had shot the "pig", and that he hoped he was dead.
The murder weapon was registered to Wesley Cook himself. Ballistics test proved that this gun, recovered at the scene, fired the bullets that killed Officer Faulkner. The bullet removed from Wesly Cook was proven to have come from Officer Faulkner's service weapon.
The trial was called a "Prosecutor's Dream". Mumia had mountains of evidence and a parade of eyewitnesses stacked against him. There has never been even the slightest doubt that Mumia murdered Officer Faulkner. Not then, not now.
Sometimes there's a defense.....
There is no explanation being offered by the defense as to how anyone other than
Wesley Cook, now known as "Mumia Jamal", could have possibly committed the murder. Mumia himself has never denied that he killed Officer Faulkner. He has hinted that it was self-defense, and has stated that Officer Faulkner was an oppressor of the people and that he deserved to die. Mumia's brother was present and witnessed the shooting, yet even his own brother does not deny that Mumia is the killer.
Sometimes there is remorse and compassion.....
There are over 3,000 people on death row today. Some of them have compelling stories to tell. Some of them were convicted under questionable circumstance. Some of them are remorseful. None of that applies to Mumia Jamal. Jamal has publicly advocated the murder of police officers. He has never retracted those statements, and has publicy taunted Officer Faulkner's widow.
Sometimes there are LIES.......
It's hard to believe how completely gullible some people can be. Here are some of the lies that Mumia supporters have used to trick people, like Ben Cohen, into supporting their cause...
LIE: Mumia did not receive a fair trial.
FACT: No judge has ever reviewed the case and found any fault with Mumia's trial. This case has been under a microscope for two decades, scutinized by scores of judges, and not a single one has ever formed the opinion that his trial was unfair. The PA Supreme Court, often bitterly divided, was UNANIMOUS in ruling that Mumia had received a fair trial, and they went so far as to take the unusual step of calling Mumia's defense claims "remarkable" and "incredible". They even chastised Mumia's defense in their written opinion, admonishing them for being untruthful in their arguments.
LIE: The Judge at Mumia trail was a racist who sentenced more black men to death than any other judge in the state.
FACT: Judges do not pass death sentences in the state of PA. Only juries can pass death sentences. Mumia was sentenced to death by a jury of his peers. The Judge in the case, Judge Sabo, was by no means a favorite of the appeals courts. They had overturned his decisions in previous trials on more than one occassion. His handling of the Mumia trial has been under a microscope for two decades. Every judge who has ever reviewed the case has upheld every one of his decisions in the Mumia trial. The PA Supreme Court went so far as to commend Sabo for maintaining order in his court room despite Mumia's attempts to turn it into a circus. The court also took the rare step of chastising Mumia's defense for making things up.
LIE: The jury that convicted Mumia was racially stacked against him.
FACT: 16 judges, including the PA Supreme Court, have ruled this to be untrue. The jury was a perfect reflection of Philadelphia at the time. And unlike most other criminals, Mumia actually had a chance to personally select his jury. Court record reveals that Mumia was granted total control over which questions to ask the jury and was able to control each of his 20 preemptory challenges.
LIE: Mumia was not allowed represent himself at his trial.
FACT: Mumia did act as his own defense. Mumia had no legal training and attempted to use the trial to make political statements. Judge Sabo appointed an experienced capital crime defense attorney to sit next to Mumia and advise him. Incredibly, Mumia objected to this.
LIE: Mumia is a political prisoner. He is the "Voice of the Voiceless", a famous radio personality and former black panther, the police framed him so they could silence him and his politically volatile message.
FACT: Mumia Jamal was just an unknown taxi driver named Wesley Cook when he murdered Officer Faulkner. It is highly unlikely that any of the arresting officer's had ever heard of him or of the late night radio show he had done on a college radio station years previous. If they had heard of him, it is extremely unlikely that they would have recognized his face from a radio show. It is nearly certain that none of those street cops were privy to FBI files that named Cook as a former member of the Black Panthers. The cops arrived at the scene within moments of the shooting and arrested Mumia on the spot. There was no time, nor the neccessity, to construct a frame up. Mumia became famous after he murdered Officer Faulkner.
LIE:Mumia's gun was a .38, while the bullet that killed Faulkner was a .44 cal.
FACT: Ballistics tests have proved beyond any doubt that Mumia's gun was the murder weapon. Even Mumia's defense-paid ballistics expert has admitted under oath that it was "probably" Mumia's gun which was the murder weapon. There is no ballistics evidence whatsoever to suggest otherwise. A medical examiner with no ballistics training recovered the bullet from Faulkner's body and guessed that it might have been a .44 cal. The defense has grasped at this off-hand comment as "proof" that Mumia was framed! The medical examiner has testified that he has no ballistics training and is not qualified to testify as to the calibre of the bullet.
LIE: Mumia's defense was given only $150 to prepare it's case, so he was unable to hire expert witnesses and investigators.
FACT: At the time, every defendant was given $150 to start with. What Mumia's supporters fail to mention is that Mumia was given $13,000.00 (about $36,000.00 in today's dollars), which he used to hire a criminologist, a ballistics expert, a personal court stenographer, several individuals functioning as "legal runners", and an investigator. This was well in excess of the customary level of support offered to a defendant accused of murder in Philadelphia in 1982.
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