Murdered By Mumia

"Murdered by Mumia: A Life Sentence of Loss, Pain, and Injustice"


By Maureen Faulkner and Michael Smerconish

Release Date: December 2007

Description


Finally, the widow’s side of the highest-profile death penalty case in America. Maureen Faulkner de-mystifies Mumia Abu-Jamal, the man who murdered her husband. Maureen Faulkner’s husband, Philadelphia police office Danny Faulkner, was shot between the eyes on a cold December night in 1981. Mumia Abu-Jamal was unanimously convicted of the crime by a racially mixed jury based on: the testimony of several eyewitnesses, his ownership of the murder weapon, matching ballistics, and Abu-Jamal’s own confession.


After his conviction, however, a national, anti-death penalty movement was started to "Free Mumia;" Mike Farrell, Ed Asner, Alec Baldwin, and Susan Sarandon rallied on his behalf, and led the charge. For his part, while on death row, Abu-Jamal published several books, delivered radio commentaries, was a college commencement speaker, found himself named an Honorary Citizen of France, and had his defense coffers enhanced by ticket sales from a sold out (20,000 person) concert featuring Rage Against the Machine.


Standing virtually alone, and against seemingly insurmountable odds, Maureen Faulkner has confronted a well-funded, expertly orchestrated defense of the shooter at every turn. Now, Maureen will explain her efforts to honor her police officer husband’s memory over a quarter century of standing up to the Hollywood left while it seeks to martyr the man who killed her husband.


She’s found the perfect person to put her story in print Philadelphia author, columnist, and talk show host Michael Smerconish. Smerconish, a lawyer, has provided pro bono legal counsel to Faulkner for more than a decade and knows both the legal intricacies and personal subtleties of the case like no other person. He’s personally acquainted himself with the more than five thousand pages of trial transcript. "My reading starkly revealed that Abu-Jamal murdered Danny Faulkner in cold blood and that the case tried in Philadelphia in 1982 bore no resemblance to the one being home-cooked by the Abu-Jamal defense team."


Together, Faulkner and Smerconish weave a compelling, never-before-told account of one fateful night and the 25-years of rewriting history. Their timing is perfect. The book comes just as Abu-Jamal’s appellate rights will finally be exhausted, perhaps with the overturning of his death sentence.