Doug Henwood wrote:
>But I think Marc makes lots of
>good points - about the odd cultishness of the Free Mumia movement,
>about its excessive claims of innocence, and about its inability to
>broaden into a comprehensive anti-DP movement.
Doug, on the last score, I think the criticism of the Mumia movement is wrong, since the death penalty is not the central issue for a lot of folks involved for good reason.
This is post I sent to DSANET, but it covers some of the territory of why Mumia is the wrong case to highlight for death penalty advocates (even as it might energize activists within that movement): ----
I think the issue of capital punishment is not raised as the primary issue in the Mumia movement because it is not the issue for most folks involved in the Mumia issue-- the brutality of the police and the overall racism and oppression of the criminal justice system is the issue. That Mumia might receive the worst penalty possible helps accentuate the issue, but the insistence of focus on the possibility of innocence, rather than the barbarism of the potential punishment shows a very different political focus.
The reason the Mumia case is engaging, aside from the celebrity power and articulateness of the defendant, is that it involves multiple issues of concern to those engaged in crime and prison work:
** political repression of activists-- Mumia's history as a Black Panther and MOVE ally and his fights with the police ** police brutality-- undisputed testimony that the police officer involved was beating the shit out of Mumia's brother ** framing of defendants by coercion of winesses-- allegations of witness tampering by the police, accentuated by the documented history of the Philadelphia police doing so in scores of other cases (and a recent LA example as well) ** coerced or falsified confessions-- controversy over Mumia's reported "confession" ** hanging judges and abusive trials-- restrictions on Mumia's defense and humiliation by the judge, connected to Judge Sabo's overall history as a "hanging judge" ** media repression of prisoner's voices-- PBS's backing down from running Mumia's commentaries, an issue tied to a range of media access to prison information issues ** rise of "supermax" high security prisons-- whether prisoners are sentenced to death or not, new prisons are considered fates as bad as death for their psychological isolation ** new legal restrictions on prisoner appeals-- recent legislation at both state and federal levels are increasing deference to abuses by judges like Sabo, so many see Mumia's case as symbolic of the failure of higher courts to review such abuses ** and finally, yes, the death penalty
And probably a number of other issues endemic in high-stakes criminal defense areas. With all these issues at stake and many groups emphasizing different ones, it's not that surprising that the message around Mumia is muddled. Single-issue causes should focus on single-issue defendants-- Karla Fay Tucker whom the Christian Right raised a big stink about was a good poster child for pure anti-death penalty advocacy since everyone including her admitted she was guilty so the only issue was the severity of the penalty.
Mumia is a rather poor poster child for anti-death penalty advocacy precisely because his guilt is at issue-- it is the other issues of police and judge misconduct that are most engaged in the call for a new trial for Mumia. The stakes for the retrial would be less without the death penalty, but the same issues would exist even if he had a life sentence.
Now, I have a lot of problems with the Mumia activism because of the sectarianism of those who have seized control of local coalitions around the country and, in many cases, have alienated other groups both because of message and because of their actions.
Honestly, I am pretty convinced even from the prosecution evidence that Mumia is innocent of First Degree Murder-- someone involved initially in no crime who comes across another person beating the shit out of his brother qualifies for "heat of passion" and 2nd degree or even manslaughter if anything does under the law. And that assumes that Mumia used his gun first rather than returned fire which would reduce the punishment even farther or create innocence. And that ignores the evidence that another person was very possibly responsible.
Stuart Taylor of the NATIONAL JOURNAL- a very mainstream even conservative legal analyst - has argued that Mumia's trial was illegitimate and he deserves a new trial.
It is police and judicial misconduct that has failed to deliver that new trial that is the issue for most Mumia activists. Focusing on the death penalty is frankly an implicit acceptance of the justice of the verdict with quibbles only in the sentencing. That is why there is little interest in promoting death penalty issues around Mumia.
Free Mumia is a basic statement of innocent until proven guilty-- the processes that convicted Mumia were illegitimate, so his conviction should be annulled. The state can retry him under fair procedures, but until that point he should be as free as any other unconvicted innocent person.
-- Nathan Newman