Stellina: June 2008

14.6.08

legal update on Mumia

Date: June 10, 2008

From: Robert R. Bryan, lead counsel

Subject: Legal Update on behalf of Mumia Abu-Jamal, death row, Pennsylvania

This Legal Update is made on behalf of Mumia Abu-Jamal, who is on Pennsylvania’s death row.

United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Philadelphia Yesterday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit entered an order extending the due date for submitting the Petition for Rehearing En Banc on behalf of my client, Mumia Abu-Jamal. We will file it on June 27, 2008.

There apparently is still confusion regarding the March 27 federal decision. A new jury trial was ordered on the question of whether the penalty should be life or death. The court did not rule that Mumia should receive a life sentence as some have stated. The penalty-phase was reversed because the trial judge gave misleading and unconstitutional jury instructions. Nonetheless, I expect far greater gains.

There was a lengthy dissenting opinion on the issue of racism in jury selection. It found that there was prima facie evidence of the prosecutor engaging in racism. He removed prospective African-American jurors for no reason other than the color of their skin. That violates the United States Constitution. This extraordinary dissent goes to the core of our effort to secure an entirely new trial. The first step in that process is what we presently are about—convincing the entire federal court that the case should be reheard and full relief granted. This dissent serves as the basis for that effort and, if need be, going to the United States Supreme Court.

Mumia remains on death row. The prosecution has vowed to appeal and continue its quest to see him executed. I will not let that happen.

Donations for Mumia's Legal Defense in the United States The only way to ensure that donations in the U.S. go only to the legal defense is to make checks payable to the National Lawyers Guild Foundation (indicate "Mumia" on the bottom left). The donations are tax deductible. Checks should be mailed to:

Committee To Save Mumia Abu-Jamal

P.O. Box 2012

New York, NY 10159-2012

Conclusion This case can be won. In over three decades of successfully defending people in capital murder cases, I have not seen one more compelling. Racism is a thread that has run through the case since its inception. My objective remains to obtain a new jury trial in which Mumia will be acquitted by a jury so that he can return to his family, a free person.

On behalf of Mumia Abu-Jamal, I thank you.

Yours very truly,

Robert R. Bryan

Law Offices of Robert R. Bryan

2088 Union Street, Suite 4

San Francisco, California 94123-4117

Lead counsel for Mumia Abu-Jamal

[RobertRBryan@aol.com

10.6.08

Mum and Dad finally arrive.

It's hard to describe the emotion of seeing your parents again after so long. I hadn't seen mine for almost a year and seeing them arrive at the airport, watching the smile of joy shine from their faces after the long 24 hour journey from Australia as we first caught sight of eachother, was a priceless moment, one that you wish you could stop in time. The next two weeks will be wonderful, just having them around. I feel blessed and i feel inspired. Thank you for making this long journey to be with me.

4.6.08

The problem with assumptions

DALE RECINELLA SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA CATHOLIC
Published: 06.06.08

When I was an economics major attending Catholic college in Kentucky almost 40 years ago, a popular academic joke was: "Two economists find themselves thousands of miles from civilization stranded on a deserted island where there is no edible vegetation and there are no animals. How do they survive?" The punchline was: "One of them assumes he has a can of food and the other one assumes he has a can opener."
The point of the jest is that the discipline of economics is fragile indeed, because the outcome of the deliberations always rests on the assumptions. The result is only as good as those assumptions. My specific discipline was mathematical economics and the assumptions were frequently stated in statistical formulae that ran for pages. Yet, no matter how complex or intriguing the integrals and summations of the model might be, the juice was always in the assumptions.
All this quickly came to memory as I read the seven opinions totaling a hundred pages that comprise the recent U.S. Supreme Court's decision authorizing Kentucky to proceed with lethal injections. Contrary to the pronouncements by many pro-death spin doctors, the court did not rule on the constitutionality of capital punishment in America. I know that because the justices said so. Their written opinions say that, for purposes of the Kentucky decision, capital punishment is assumed to be constitutional.
That is not all. Contrary to the sound bites in the media, the U.S. Supreme Court did not even rule on the constitutionality of lethal injection. Once again, I know that because they said so. Their opinions say that, for purposes of the Kentucky decision, lethal injection is assumed to be constitutional.
So what did the U.S. Supreme Court actually decide about capital punishment? The answer is: incredibly little. In the 7 to 2 decision, the highest justices in the land proclaimed that assuming capital punishment is constitutional in the U.S. and assuming lethal injection is a constitutional way of killing people in the U.S., then the two death-row inmates from Kentucky had failed to put forward enough evidence to justify forcing Kentucky to change the chemicals that the state uses to kill people.
Actually, the result is even more narrow that that. The Supreme Court justices, ruling in favor of Kentucky, relied heavily on the fact that Kentucky did not botch its one lethal injection.
Perhaps this is why even some of the justices who agreed with Chief Justice John Roberts predicted the decision would spawn an explosion of death penalty appeals. For example, what about the states that have had problems with lethal injection? What about states like Florida that has had horrendous problems? What about states like Ohio that have had people screaming in agony on the gurney? What about California, and Missouri, and North Carolina and all the others that have not had a one-good for one-shot record?
The most disturbing element of the narrow decision has gone unmentioned in the press. Most states prohibit the lethal injection chemicals used by Kentucky (and the other lethal injection states) from being used to euthanize animals because they can cause extreme and unnecessary agony and suffering. What was the authoritative source used by our five Catholic Supreme Court justices to override that concern?
The authority that our Catholic Chief Justice Roberts cites for this purpose is none other than the horrendous handbook for assisted suicide and euthanasia in the Netherlands. Our Catholic Supreme Court justices are citing the Dr. Kevorkians of northern Europe as authority for lethal injections in America. The Dutch bible of the culture of death has now been enshrined in our case law.
Dare we assume that the precedent set by the Kentucky case will never be applied to us in our nursing homes? That is not an assumption I would bet money on.

Recinella is the coordinator of Death Row Ministries, St. Mary's Church, Macclenny.
http://www.thefloridacatholic.org/rop/2008_rop/2008_roparticles/20080606_rop_recinella_assumptions.php

3.6.08

Just back!

Just got back from my trip to the USA. It was wonderful and very inspiring. Now the work starts again to help all those on the row who are in danger. It struck me while i was away that we cant capture the essence of ourselves by just looking in the mirror; it takes understanding how others see us to make us reflect on where we must go to find the essence of who we are. No man is an island.......and understanding ourselves, means understanding others above all.

WHAT'S IN THE BROWN PAPER BAG?

What's In the Brown Paper Bag ?
By Luis Ramirez #999309

I'm about the share with you a story who's telling is long past due. It's a familiar story to most of you reading this from death row. And now it's one that all of you in "free world" may benefit from. This is the story of my first day on the row.I came here in May of 1999. The exact date is something that I can't recall.I do remember arriving in the afternoon . I was placed in a cell on H-20 wing over at the Ellis Unit in Huntsville, Tx.

A Tsunami of emotions and thoughts were going through my mind at the time. I remember the only things in the cell were a mattress, pillow, a couple of sheets, a pillow case, a roll of toilet paper ,, and a blanket .. I remember sitting there, utterly lost.The first person I met there was Napolean Beasley. Back then, death rowprisoners still worked . His job at the time was to clean up the wing and help serve during meal times. He was walking around sweeping the pod in these ridiculous looking rubber boots. He came up to the bars on my cell and asked me if I was new.. I told him that I had just arrived on d/r.

He asked what my name is. I told him., not seeing any harm in it. He then stepped back where he could see all three tiers. He hollered at everyone, "There's a new man here. He just drove up. His name is Luis Ramirez."When he did that, I didn't know what to make of it at first. I thought I had made some kind of mistake.

You see ? Like most of you, I was of the impression that everyone on d/r was evil. I thought I would find hundreds of "Hannibal Lecter's in here. And now , they all knew my name. I thought "Oh well," that's strike one. I was sure that they would soon begin harassing me. This is what happens in the movies after all.Well, that's not what happened .

After supper was served. Napolean wasonce again sweeping the floors. As he passed my cell, He swept a brownpaper bag into it. I asked him "What's this"? He said for me to look inside and continued on his way . Man, I didn't know what to expect. I was certain it was something bad. Curiosity did get the best of me though. I carefully opened the bag. What I found was the last thing I ever expected to find on death row, and everything I needed. The bag contained some stamps, envelopes notepad, pen, soap, shampoo, toothpaste, tooth brush, a pastry, a soda, and a couple of Ramen noodles. I remember asking Napolean where this came from ?He told me that everyone had pitched in . That they knew that I didn'thave anything and that it may be a while before I could get them.

I asked him to find out who had contributed . I wanted to pay them back. He said, "It's not like that . Just remember the next time you see someone come here like you.You pitch in something ?"I sat there on my bunk with my brown paper bag of goodies, and thought about what had just happened to me. The last things I expected to find on death row was kindness and generosity. I thought of how many times I had seen "good people" of the world, pass by some man, woman, or child holding a sign that read, "Hungry, or will work for food." I'm guilty of the same. I just passed them by.

By the end of the block, or upon reaching my destination . That poor, hungry, tattered, and perhaps dirty , soul had been forgotten. Lost among my daily challenges and struggles with life. Yet, here on death row Among the worst of the worst . I didn't have to hold up a sign.They knew what I needed and they took it upon themselves to meet thoseneeds.They did this without any expectation of reimbursement or compensation. They did this for a stranger, not a known friend. I don't know what they felt when they committed this act of incredible kindness. I only know that like them,, twelve "good people" had deemed me beyond redemption.

The only remedy that these "good people" could offer us, is death. Somehow what these "good people" saw and what I was seeing didn't add up. How could these men, who just showed me so much, humanity, be considered the "worst of the worst."It chills me to my core when I think about it. Those twelve "good people" were given this enormous God like responsibility . They had to decide who lives, and who dies. The state of Texas gave them this responsibility. But they didn't give them any God like training.

I'm sure that they all meant well. They probably thought, as the DA and judge told them, that they were doing their civic duty. I personally have never considered murder a civic duty. That aside, how many times have we gotten this wrong ? I'm on the inside looking out now. I have that advantage over you. So I can tell you this. I have yet to meet a man here who I feel is beyond redemption. If you took a good look, and I invite you to do that, You may just come to realize how often you have been wrong.Ever since Napolean was executed, for a crime he committed as a teen. I've wanted to share this story with his family.

I've never been able to find anyone with their address. If anyone out there can share this with them, I would appreciate it very much. I would like for them to know that their son was a good man. One who I will never forget. I want for them to know how sorry I am that we as a society failed them and him. I still find it ridiculous that we as a people feel that we cannot teach or love our young properly. I'm appalled at the idea that a teen is beyond redemption, that the only solution that we can offer is death. It's tragic that this is being pointed out to the "good people" by one of the "worst of the worst." God help us all.What's in the brown paper bag? I found caring, kindness, love, humanity, and compassion of a scale that I've never seen the "good people" in the free world show towards one another.

Luis Ramirez# 999309
Executed October 20, 2005
http://www.deathrow-usa.us/luis_ramirez.htm