Saiks:
You misconstrued my point.  It was not in defense of the American democratic
system, but a rebuttal to your assertion that Mumia Abu Jamal was framed for
murder.

I remember seeing a rash of "Free Mumia" posters in Boston a few years ago.
It was one of those cause celebres that tends to give one the impression that
the popular opinion is right.  However, upon closer scrutiny of Mumia and the
actual physical evidence in this case, one starts to realize that his
innocence is not that clear-cut.

In the late 70s, Mumia was an award winning journalist/writer in
Philadelphia. He was also part of the Black Panther movement and his
antiestablishment and antipolice slant eventually got him fired.  To
supplement his income, he started moonlighting as a cab driver while working
as a part-time journalist.  Around the same time that these changes were
taking place in Mumia's personal life, MOVE, an antiestablishment, radical
group that Mumia sympathized with, was coming into national prominence.
This, to the chagrin of local authorities who branded the members of this
organizations as trouble makers.

During a confrontation and subsequent shoot-out with local authorities,
MOVE's HQs was fire-bombed by the authorities. A number of members were
killed, and, naturally, their supporters were very unhappy about the outcome
of the confrontation. Mumia was no exception.  It was against this backdrop
of events that the famous crime occurred.

After one of his late night moonlighting sessions, Mumia stumbled upon the
scene of a police officer beating his brother with a 17 inch flashlight.  He
ran across the street, gun pulled out, towards the scene of the crime and
subsequently gunfire was exchanged between the two.  Many people claimed that
both men sustained hits initially.  But, most importantly, they saw a MOVE
member (Dreadlocked Individual) standing over the officer and emptying the
rest of the chamber into him.  It is important to note that the only two
people with dreadlocks at the scene were Mumia and his brother, the gun used
in the shooting was Mumia's.  Also, the testimony of witnesses at the scene,
conclusively establish that he was the shooter.  In fact, when the police
arrived at the scene, Mumia was still wearing the gun's holster.  In defense
of Mumia, the witnesses have changed their stories since probably after some
coercion by the police.  But this not excuse that he was the owner of the gun
neither does it excuse the fact that he was identified by several people as
the shooter.


 I will further proceed to postulate that any policeman who sees an adversary
running towards him with gun drawn out will immediately open fire on the
perceived threat.  Therefore, the fact they exchanged gunshots is no
surprise.  What has to be determined here, is whether there was a motive for
the crime and whether Mumia assassinated the officer after he was already
gravely wounded?

Based on his political affiliations with the Black Panther movement and his
leanings towards the MOVE movement the motive for the killing seemed to be
there.  Note that both these organizations had a serious distrust of law
enforcement.  With the fire-bombing of MOVE HQs still in the minds of many
and the fact that Mumia had some point in his life advocated violence against
the PIGS, as they call law enforcement. A violent confrontation between
himself and a police officer was inevitable.

In regard to whether this was a premeditated killing or not, Mumia was not
that seriously injured and did stand over the police officer and finish him
off.  Several witnesses have testified to seeing a dreadlocked man standing
over the gravely injured police officer, guns blazing away.  Also, though
this is disputed, Mumia supposedly confessed to the crime, saying: "I shot
the officer and hope he dies."  Then there is also the fact that his brother,
while present at the crime scene, has never testified in a court of law about
this case.  Why?

I do give Mumia credit in that he is a remarkable writer who, with the help
of his politically charged articles, has managed to convince many
political-activists that he was framed simply because of his political
beliefs.  Other sympathizers have postulated that he was inadequately
represented in that the jury was mostly white and the judge that presided
over his case had put many minorities on death row.  I doubt the political
orientation theory and believe he is guilty as sin.  Nevertheless, he does
deserve a better trial with a less biased judge and a jury that is more
representative of the ethnic make-up of Philadelphia.

I believe that a new trial might get Mumia of death row but will not
vindicate him of a crime that he clearly committed.  The evidence that he was
the shooter is too overwhelming.  What is disputable is whether this was a
premeditated murder and thus whether he deserves to be on death row?

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