Mumia Abu-Jamal

Legal Update - 19 January 2010

The following text is an excerpt from a 19 January statement by Robert R. Bryan, Mumia's lawyer, on the recent Supreme Court ruling:


"This morning the U.S. Supreme Court issued the long-awaited ruling in the case of my client, Mumia Abu-Jamal, which we have been litigating for 15 months.  The decision was as we expected.  Mumia's case has been sent back to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Philadelphia, for further proceedings consistent with the decision last week in another case:

"The petition for a writ of certiorari is granted. The judgment is vacated, and the case is remanded to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit for further consideration in light of Smith v. Spisak, 558 U.S. ___ (2010)."

The decision is not bad and was unavoidable in view of the Spisak case ruling.  Now we must resume litigating the issue of the death penalty in the lower federal court.  It previous ruled that the trial judge misled the jury and thus Mumia was entitled to a new jury trial on the issue of death or life.  That is still the issue.

What occurred in Mumia's case is different both procedurally and factually from the jury instructions in Spisak.  The prosecution disagrees.

Soon I will be posting more information on our website: http://www.MumiaLegalDefense.org.  That may be checked regularly for updated information.


Posted: 20 January 2010