Supreme Court lets Abu-Jamal s conviction stand



WASHINGTON (AP) — Mumia Abu-Jamal has lost his bid for a new trial in 
the killing of a police officer in 1981.
The Supreme Court said Monday it will not take up Abu-Jamal's claims 
that prosecutors improperly excluded blacks from the jury that 
convicted him of murdering Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner.

Since Abu-Jamal's 1982 conviction, activists in the United States and 
Europe have rallied in support of his claims that he was the victim 
of a racist justice system. Abu-Jamal, 54, has kept his case in the 
spotlight through books and radio broadcasts.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia upheld Abu-
Jamal's conviction but held his death sentence invalid. The appeals 
court said it would not second-guess state court rulings rejecting 
Abu-Jamal's claims of bias in the composition of the jury.

The high court considered only the conviction. The state has 
separately asked the court to reinstate the death sentence, but the 
justices have not acted on that request.

A Philadelphia jury convicted Abu-Jamal, who is black, of killing 
Faulkner, who was white, in 1981 after the patrolman pulled over Abu-
Jamal's brother in an overnight traffic stop.

Prosecutors say Faulkner, 25, managed to shoot Abu-Jamal during the 
confrontation. A wounded Abu-Jamal, his own gun lying nearby, was 
still at the scene when police arrived, and authorities consider the 
evidence against him overwhelming.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.