Mumia Abu-Jamal's Case

A video that examines the media coverage in the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal and specifically dissects the 20/20 special with Sam Donaldson.



Mumia Abu-Jamal (born Wesley Cook on April 24, 1954) is an African-American who was convicted and sentenced to death for the December 9, 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. He has been described as "perhaps the best known Death-Row prisoner in the world", and his sentence is one of the most debated today.


According to Wikipedia, before his arrest he was a member of the black nationalist Black Panther Party, an activist, part-time cab driver, journalist, radio personality, news commentator and broadcaster.


Since his conviction, his case has received international attention and he has become a controversial cultural icon. Supporters and opponents disagree on the appropriateness of the death penalty, whether he is guilty, or whether he received a fair trial. During his imprisonment he has published several books and other commentaries, notably Live from Death Row.


Since 1995, Abu-Jamal has been incarcerated at Pennsylvania's SCI Greene near Waynesburg, where most of the state’s capital case inmates are held. In 2008, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the murder conviction, but ordered a new capital sentencing hearing over concerns that the jury was improperly instructed. In April 2009, the United States Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal for a new trial, allowing his July 1982 conviction to stand. A separate appeal by prosecutors to reinstate the death penalty has not yet been heard.