Responding to msg by jlasser@rwd.goucher.edu (Jon Lasser) on Mon, 31 Jul 12:43 PM
On Mon, 31 Jul 1995, Timothy C. May wrote:
The Rosenbergs were certainly the Mumia Abu Jamals of their day.
The Mumia case (something friends of mine are more than peripherally acquainted with) seems to be very much in doubt. Of course, they'll kill him anyway, probably. But I suggest reading E.L. Doctrow's essay on the subject from the NYT of several weeks (months? possibly) back.
------------ In addition to Doctorow's OpEd piece, there have been three recent NYPaper articles on the case and a half-page ad. Here's a judicious benchwarmer from the July 30 article: Judge Albert F. Sabo of Common Pleas Court, who conducted Mr. Abu-Jamal's first contentious trial, is presiding over his hearing for a new trial, and defense lawyers contend that not much has changed. Judge Sabo, a retired member of the Fraternal Order of Police, has sent more people to death row than any judge in the state. In the current hearing he has been openly contemptuous of the defense. "Objection is over-ruled, whatever it was," the judge told Mr. Abu-Jamal's lead lawyer, Leonard I. Weinglass, a veteran of some of the most politically charged trials of recent decades, including that of the Chicago Eight after the 1968 Democratic Convention. Judge Sabo has sustained virtually every prosecution objection while shooting down almost every defense objection. At one point, when Mr. Weinglass asked for a four-minute recess to locate a crucial witness, Judge Sabo, looking at his watch, said, "It's ten-twenty-eight-and-a- half. You have until 10:30." On Wednesday, the first day of the hearing, Judge Sabo turned his back and walked out of the courtroom as another defense lawyer, Rachel H. Wolkenstein, was addressing him about a legal issue. He came back a few minutes later, saying that he could not hear because of the noise coming from the street, where a large group of Mr. Abu-Jamal's supporters were chanting, "Free Mumia now." Richard B. Costello, the president of the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police, said he did not understand why Mr. Abu-Jamal's plight had drawn so much attention and big- league legal help. "He has more lawyers than Snow White had dwarfs," Mr. Costello said. "There's nothing special about this guy. He's a cop killer. We've had cop killers before, and, unfortunately, we'll have them again." Although Judge Sabo has frequently urged the defense to hurry, he interrupted the proceedings for several minutes to argue and reminisce with a baffled witness about the location of a swimming pool in his old neighborhood sometime around "1926 or '28." As he talked about the pool, a woman in the audience jumped to her feet and shouted, "Aren't we here to talk about a man's life?" She was escorted from the courtroom. Minutes later, the judge asked another question about the pool. Several of Mr. Abu-Jamal's supporters were removed for refusing to stand when Judge Sabo entered and another was taken outside for giving the judge a Nazi-style salute. ---------- To eye the outcry, send a blank msg with subject: MUM_fry.