Mumia Abu-Jamal Trial: 1982

As jury selection began in June 1982, Abu-Jamal insisted on representing himself. By the third day, however, Judge Albert Sabo disqualified him, ruling that he was taking too long for the voir dire process and intimidating prospective jurors. A court-appointed attorney, Anthony Jackson, took over. In the end, the jury included 10 whites and 2 blacks.

Abu-Jamal was absent during most of the prosecution's seven-day presentation; Judge Sabo had dismissed him from the courtroom because of his continuing and unruly insistence on representing himself. The proceedings were not transmitted to his holding cell, nor was he provided a transcript.

Mumia Abu-Jamal. (AP/Wide World Photos)

Prosecutor Joseph J. McGill gave a description of the presumed sequence of events of that night: Officer Faulkner had stopped a car, probably for a traffic violation. The driver, who turned out to be Abu-Jamal's younger brother, William Cook, took a swing at the cop, who responded by brandishing his billy club or a flashlight. Abu-Jamal, who had witnessed the altercation from his cab, parked nearby, then dashed from the taxi, firing a shot at Faulkner. Downed and wounded, the officer managed to fire back at Abu-Jamal, who then stood over him and shot him directly in the face.

Four witnesses testified for the prosecution. Cynthia White, a prostitute with 38 arrests to her credit, was the only one who said she had seen Abu-Jamal's gun. Robert Chobert, a taxi driver who had pulled up behind the police car (and who was on probation with his license suspended), said he saw Abu-Jamal make the up-and-down motions of firing a gun. "I know who shot the cop and I ain't going to forget it," Chobert declared. Upon cross-examination the defense reminded him that he had told police he had witnessed the shooter flee before more police arrived, and had described the gunman as over six-foot-two and weighing more than 225 pounds, while the defendant weighed barely 170 pounds.

Policeman Garry Bell testified that he had heard Abu-Jamal say, in the hospital, "I shot that mother-f-—, and I hope the mother-f—dies." Hospital security guard Priscilla Durham said she had also heard the same, and that she had told hospital investigators about it the next day. But the defense suggested that Bell had invented the confession, pointing out that he had waited to report it until 77 days after the crime. The defense also revealed that a report filed that night by the cop who took the suspect into custody had made no mention of such comments.