Talk about justice delayed being justice denied. This horrific crime occurred in 1981 and the slain officer's widow flies to Philadelphia from California for yet another hearing only to hear the judge grant another 30-day continuance? Then, when the widow protests in a seemingly mild and respectful way, the judge has her removed from the courtroom and then states, “The court is not going to rush to judgment in this matter,” “So, just to be clear, no matter how long it takes, this court is going to do the right thing.” Not going to rush to judgment. You can't make this stuff up.


Link

Officer's Widow Pleads With Judge at Cop-Killer's Hearing

Maureen Faulkner stood up in court Monday morning and cried out to the judge who had just given her husband’s convicted killer 30 more days to appeal.

“With all due respect, your honor,” Faulkner said to Common Pleas Court Judge Leon Tucker, her voice breaking. “I have another 30 days that I have to go through this pain and suffering?”

Tucker had just extended the appeal hearing of Mumia Abu-Jamal in the fatal shooting of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner on Dec. 9, 1981. Maureen Faulkner had flown in from California, hoping her long ordeal would come to an end.

Instead, Tucker granted a 30-day extension to Abu-Jamal’s attorneys, who say they are trying to recover a document they claim helps to show that former state Supreme Court Justice Ronald D. Castille violated Abu-Jamal’s constitutional rights when he did not recuse himself from appeal reviews.

As sheriff’s officers pulled at the sleeve of her maroon sweater and pleaded with her to calm down, her voice rose toward the judge.

“I’ve been fighting back and forth!”

“Have a seat,” Tucker said.

“I have been fighting!”

“Please remove her from the courtroom,” Tucker said.

“Thirty-eight years!” Faulkner yelled as she was escorted out. “This is wrong!”

After her exit, the judge said, “The courtroom is sensitive to both sides.

“The court is not going to rush to judgment in this matter,” he added. “So, just to be clear, no matter how long it takes, this court is going to do the right thing.”

The now 64-year-old Abu-Jamal is serving a life sentence for the fatal shooting of 25-year-old Daniel Faulkner at 13th and Locust Streets.

Abu-Jamal, held at the State Correctional Institution-Mahanoy in Schuylkill County, did not attend the hearing.

“It’s difficult,” the judge said. “I’ll be candid. It’s a difficult case.”

The core argument by Abu-Jamal’s defense is that because Castille had been involved in the case as Philadelphia district attorney from 1986 to 1991, he should have recused himself as a Supreme Court justice during appeals.

The defense is hoping that Tucker finds that Castille was biased, and that Abu-Jamal gets a new appellate review by a higher state court and possibly a new trial.

The lawyers contend that two memos written by Castille when he was district attorney showed he had a significant involvement in pushing for Abu-Jamal to be executed. But Assistant District Attorney Tracey Kavanagh, supervisor of the District Attorney’s Post Conviction Relief Unit, told Tucker that this allegedly missing memo hasn’t been found.

Judith Ritter, one of Abu-Jamal’s lawyers, said she sent a new right-to-know request to the Pennsylvania State Senate Judiciary Committee for documents. She said they are waiting on that request so the judge has all of the information.

They also point to a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a different case, in which a majority of the justices found that Castille was wrong to have participated in an appeal to the state Supreme Court by another convicted Philadelphia killer.

In a hallway after the hearing, Faulkner apologized for her outburst, but said she was tired of the prolonged pain.

“My emotions got the best of me,” she said. “I mean, when is this case going to end for us?”

Meanwhile, more than a dozen protesters on both sides of the case demonstrated outside the courthouse.

I will do a jig when that asshole finally is put down. What a fucking travesty.

I believe that his execution was commuted to Life. Therefore strive to outlive the bastard.

That Bastard has had two trials, both ending in a conviction. Since the early '80's Jamal has become the darling of the leftist movement, they're calling for another trial, a move to vacate death sentence to life in prison.

How much longer is this affair going to last?

My solution is: Kill a COP and get the fucking needle in return.

Any background on the judge?

quote:

Originally posted by ulsterman:
Any background on the judge?

I'm mighty tempted to make some assumptions.

Put him in with the cellmate of the late Whitey Bulger.

quote:

Originally posted by dewhorse:
I will do a jig when that asshole finally is put down. What a fucking travesty.

Put down? In CA? You are an amazing optimist. There was a recent initiative on the ballot to do away with the death penalty in CA and convert everyone on death row to life with no chance of parole. In many ways it made sense, as it would have saved the state a lot of money and given that the state seems incapable of actually executing anyone lately, why hand down a sentence we are apparently incapable of delivering?

quote:

Originally posted by slosig:

quote:

Originally posted by dewhorse:
I will do a jig when that asshole finally is put down. What a fucking travesty.

Put down? In CA? You are an amazing optimist. There was a recent initiative on the ballot to do away with the death penalty in CA and convert everyone on death row to life with no chance of parole. In many ways it made sense, as it would have saved the state a lot of money and given that the state seems incapable of actually executing anyone lately, why hand down a sentence we are apparently incapable of delivering?

Hearing was in PA.

quote:

Originally posted by slosig:

quote:

Originally posted by dewhorse:
I will do a jig when that asshole finally is put down. What a fucking travesty.

Put down? In CA? You are an amazing optimist. There was a recent initiative on the ballot to do away with the death penalty in CA and convert everyone on death row to life with no chance of parole. In many ways it made sense, as it would have saved the state a lot of money and given that the state seems incapable of actually executing anyone lately, why hand down a sentence we are apparently incapable of delivering?

The murder was in PA. The officer’s widow travelled from CA for the hearing.

I'm retired from the PA DOC & the death penalty in PA, like many other states, is a joke. Before I retired there were over 200 pieces of excrement on PAs "death row". Some have been there since 1986. Some have as many as six, yes, that's 6, death warrants, but no one has been executed in the state since 1999. That one only happened because after breathing for way too many years, the slime bag refused any more representation by do-gooder groups.

These "people" have not been sentenced to death for singing too loud in church, & when their sentence is commuted to a life sentence, it's not because they're innocent. It's because of a legal technicality.

I've spent many years around these poor excuses for humans. I refuse to call them animals because I don't want to offend animals. It's really time to thin out the herd, because not one of them will ever have any redeeming social qualities as long as they have a hole in their ass.

OK, rant over.

quote:

Originally posted by Ironbutt:
I'm retired from the PA DOC & the death penalty in PA, like many other states, is a joke. Before I retired there were over 200 pieces of excrement on PAs "death row". Some have been there since 1986. Some have as many as six, yes, that's 6, death warrants, but no one has been executed in the state since 1999. That one only happened because after breathing for way too many years, the slime bag refused any more representation by do-gooder groups.

These "people" have not been sentenced to death for singing too loud in church, & when their sentence is commuted to a life sentence, it's not because they're innocent. It's because of a legal technicality.

I've spent many years around these poor excuses for humans. I refuse to call them animals because I don't want to offend animals. It's really time to thin out the herd, because not one of them will ever have any redeeming social qualities as long as they have a hole in their ass.

OK, rant over.

I also worked in "Capitol Case" housing units.

SCI Graterford.

Your remarks are on target.