PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A Philadelphia judge has dismissed the sixth appeal attempt from Mumia Abu-Jamal, the man convicted of first-degree murder for the 1981 shooting death of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner.
Abu-Jamal’s most recent appeal had three claims. He alleged the original prosecutor struck potential jurors from serving because of their race. The two other claims focused on two of four eyewitnesses who testified at trial.
Court of Common Pleas Supervising Judge Lucretia Clemons said Abu-Jamal legally exhausted the time in which he could have made claims of discrimination against potential jurors. He “failed to show due diligence in learning anything about [the prosecutor’s] thought process in jury selection,” she wrote.
Abu-Jamal, 68, has been in prison since his conviction in 1981.
Abu-Jamal said the taxi driver, who testified to the jury that he saw the entire shooting, was paid by prosecutors — a claim he based on a note from the driver to the prosecutor about lost wages he was owed.
Abu-Jamal also alleged a woman facing prostitution charges, who was also a testifying eyewitness, was getting a deal for her testimony.
Clemons called both witness claims meritless. The judge said, even if the court were to side with the defendant on them, it would have not changed the outcome of his first-degree murder conviction, which included a total of four eye-witnesses.
Abu-Jamal can appeal to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. His lawyer has not said whether they will.