UPDATED: Nov. 13, 10:15 a.m.
Maureen Faulkner has continuously claimed severe conflicts of interest in the case. Her attorney, George Bochetto, has since filed a King’s Bench petition, asking the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to disqualify Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner from handling Mumia Abu-Jamal’s appeal.
“By statute it would then automatically revert to the Attorney General’s Office,” said Bochetto.
Abu-Jamal was convicted nearly four decades ago of killing Officer Faulker, and the controversial case has been playing out for years at the appellate level.
Bochetto claims the case is chock-full of conflicts of interest, since the head of the appeals unit, Paul George, is a former defense attorney for Abu-Jamal, and now, he oversees the office that deals with the appeal. In addition, Krasner’s wife’s old law firm used to represent Abu-Jamal.
A paralegal in the office was an avid supporter of the Friends of Mumia group.
Standing in front of a crowd of her supporters, Maureen Faulkner said prosecutors told her there was no assistant district attorney assigned to her murdered husband’s case.
“He does not understand what the victims are going through,” she said. “I felt fear for the City of Philadelphia and what was going to become of the city, with this man in office.”
“If they hear it, we are asking they enter a ruling disqualifying the Philadelphia district’s entire office, the attorney’s office, from handling any further matters in this case,” Bochetto added. “We will not rest until we get this issue heard.”
A spokeswoman for the district attorney says Paul George, head of the Appeals Unit has never had any involvement with Abu-Jamal’s appeal because of "his prior work with (Abu-Jamal)." She also says it is "not true" that there is no assigned prosecutor as Maureen Faulkner has claimed, and that supervisor Nancy Winkleman is assigned to the case.
Bochetto said if the state’s highest court doesn’t hear the matter, they will go to the Supreme Court.
Krasner said he hasn’t read the petition.