CONTROVERSIAL

Mumia Abu-Jamal, Ex-Black Panther Convicted of Killing Cop, Gets New Appeals Hearing

District Attorney Larry Krasner dropped his opposition to the hearing.

Former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted of killing a Philadelphia police officer, will get a new appeals hearing after spending decades on death row, NBC Philadelphia reports. District Attorney Larry Krasner dropped his opposition to the hearing Wednesday for Abu-Jamal, 64, who has long maintained his innocence in the fatal shooting of Officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981 during a traffic stop. Faulkner’s widow, Maureen Faulkner, told NBC that her family was upset with the district attorney’s decision. “Larry Krasner promised my family and me that he would do everything within his power to keep my husband’s remorseless killer in prison for the rest of his life,” she said in a statement. “We believe today’s decision not to appeal has broken that promise.” The 25-year-old officer had reportedly stopped Abu-Jamal’s brother, William Cook, for driving the wrong way down a one-way street. Prosecutors alleged that Cook assaulted the cop, and Abu-Jamal ran over and shot the officer in the back. During his years in prison Mumia Abu-Jamal has been championed by civil rights activists and celebrities who say he did not get a fair trial.

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