text
stringlengths 1
3.86k
|
|---|
Hornung had worked on the novel manuscript he brought back from Australia and , between July and November 1890 , the story , " A Bride from the Bush " , was published in five parts in the Cornhill Magazine . It was also released that year as a book — his first . The story — described by Rowland as an " assured , graceful comedy of manners " — used Hornung 's knowledge of Australia as a backdrop , and the device of an Australian bride to examine British social behaviour ; the novel was well received by critics . In 1891 Hornung became a member of two cricket clubs : the Idlers , whose members included Arthur Conan Doyle , Robert Barr and Jerome K. Jerome , and the Strand club . |
Hornung knew Doyle 's sister , Constance ( " Connie " ) Aimée Monica Doyle ( 1868 – 1924 ) , whom he had met when he visited Portugal . Connie was described by Doyle 's biographer , Andrew Lycett , as being attractive , " with pre @-@ Raphaelite looks ... the most sought @-@ after of the Doyle daughters " . By December 1892 , when Hornung , Doyle and Jerome visited the Black Museum at Scotland Yard , Hornung and Connie were engaged , and in 1893 Hornung dedicated his second novel , Tiny Luttrell , " to C.A.M.D. " They were married on 27 September 1893 , although Doyle was not at the wedding and relations between the two writers were sometimes strained . The Hornungs had a son , Arthur Oscar , in 1895 ; while his first name was from Doyle , who was also Arthur 's godfather , the boy 's middle name was probably after Doyle and Hornung 's mutual friend Oscar Wilde and it was by his second name that he was known . In 1894 Doyle and Hornung began work on a play for Henry Irving , on the subject of boxing during the Regency ; Doyle was initially eager and paid Hornung £ 50 as a down payment before he withdrew after the first act had been written : the work was never completed . |
Like Hornung 's first novel , Tiny Luttrell had Australia as a backdrop and also used the plot device of an Australian woman in a culturally alien environment . The Australian theme was present in his next four novels : The Boss of Taroomba ( 1894 ) , The Unbidden Guest ( 1894 ) , Irralie 's Bushranger ( 1896 ) and The Rogue 's March ( 1896 ) . In the last of these Hornung wrote of the Australian convict transport system , and showed evidence of a " growing fascination with the motivation behind criminal behaviour and a deliberate sympathy for the criminal hero as a victim of events " , while Irralie 's Bushranger introduced the character Stingaree , an Oxford @-@ educated , Australian gentleman thief , in a novel that " casts doubt on conventional responses " to a positive criminal character , according to Hornung 's biographer , Stephen Knight . |
= = = Introducing Raffles : 1898 – 1914 = = = |
In 1898 Hornung 's mother died , aged 72 and he dedicated his next book , a series of short stories titled Some Persons Unknown , to her memory . Later that year Hornung and his wife visited Italy for six months , staying in Posillipo ; his account of the location appeared in an article of the May 1899 edition of Cornhill Magazine . The Hornungs returned to London in early 1899 , to a house in Pitt Street , West Kensington , where they lived for the next six years . |
The fictional character Stingaree proved to be a prototype of a character Hornung used in a series of six short stories published in 1898 in Cassell 's Magazine , A. J. Raffles . The character was modelled on George Cecil Ives , a Cambridge @-@ educated criminologist and talented cricketer who , like Raffles , was a resident of the Albany , a gentlemen 's only residence in Mayfair . The first tale of the series " In the Chains of Crime " was published in June that year , titled " The Ides of March " . The stories were collected into one volume — with two additional tales — under the name The Amateur Cracksman , which was published the following year . Hornung used a narrative form similar to Doyle 's Sherlock Holmes stories , with Raffles and his partner @-@ in @-@ crime ( and former school fag ) Bunny Manders being the criminal counterparts to Holmes and Dr. Watson — although Rowland writes that Raffles and Manders " were also fictionalized versions of Wilde and Bosie " ( Wilde 's lover , Lord Alfred Douglas ) . — and he dedicated the stories to his brother @-@ in @-@ law : " To A.C.D. This form of flattery " . Doyle had warned against writing the stories , and reflected in his memoirs that " there are few finer examples of short @-@ story writing in our language than these , though I confess I think they are rather dangerous in their suggestion . I told him so before he put pen to paper , and the result has , I fear , borne me out . You must not make the criminal the hero " . The book was a popular and financial success , although some critics also echoed Doyle 's fears . The reviewer in The Spectator wrote that " stern moralists " would consider the book 's premise " as a new , ingenious , artistic , but most reprehensible application of the crude principles involved in the old @-@ fashioned hero @-@ worship of Jack Sheppard and Dick Turpin " . The book ends with Manders imprisoned and Raffles apparently dead , something that left The Spectator reviewer " expressing [ their ] satisfaction that this audaciously entertaining volume is not issued in a cheap form . It is emphatically a feat of virtuosity rather than a tribute to virtue . " |
After publishing two novels , Dead Men Don 't Tell Tales in 1899 and Peccavi in 1900 , Hornung published a second collection of Raffles stories , The Black Mask , in 1901 . The nearly broke Manders is told to apply for the post of a nurse to an elderly invalid , who then reveals himself to be Raffles , who , as Manders describes , had " aged twenty years ; he looked fifty at the very least . His hair was white ; there was no trick about that ; and his face was another white . The lines about the corners of the eyes and mouth were both many and deep " . In the final story of the collection , " The Knees of the Gods " , Raffles and Manders enlist in the army to fight in the Second Boer War ; the story closes with Manders wounded and Raffles killed . The critics again complained about the criminal aspect ; The Spectator declared " this sort of book presents crime in a form too entertaining and attractive to be moral " , while the reviewer for The Illustrated London News thought that Hornung 's " invention has obviously flagged ... It is laughable , in a sense which the author never intended , to hear these burglars rant about the honour of Old England . It is a pity that the man who wrote Peccavi should stoop to this " . |
In 1903 Hornung collaborated with Eugène Presbrey to write a four @-@ act play , Raffles , The Amateur Cracksman , which was based on two previously published short stories , " Gentlemen and Players " and " The Return Match " . The play was first performed at the Princess Theatre , New York , on 27 October 1903 with Kyrle Bellew as Raffles , and ran for 168 performances . |
In 1905 , after publishing four other books in the interim , Hornung brought back the character Stingaree , previously seen in Irralie 's Bushranger . Later that year he responded to public demand and produced a third series of short Raffles stories in A Thief in the Night , in which Manders relates some of his and Raffles 's earlier adventures . The reviewer for the Boston Herald thought that " the sentimental side of the story has never before been shown so dramatically and romantically " , and described the book as " thrilling and exciting " . Hornung 's next book was published in 1909 and was the final Raffles story , the full @-@ length novel Mr. Justice Raffles ; the book was poorly received , with the reviewer for The Observer asking if " Hornung is perhaps a little tired of Raffles " , and stating that " it has not the magic or the ' go ' of the first Raffles , and there is no good in pretending that it has " . During the course of the year he collaborated with Charles Sansom to write a play A Visit From Raffles , which was performed in November that year at the Brixton Empress Theatre , London . |
Hornung turned away from Raffles thereafter , and in February 1911 published The Camera Fiend , a thriller whose narrator is an asthmatic cricket enthusiast with an ironmaster father , much as Hornung was himself . The story concerned the attempts of a scientist to photograph the soul as it left the body . Hornung followed this up with Fathers of Men ( 1912 ) and The Thousandth Woman ( 1913 ) before Witching Hill ( 1913 ) , a collection of eight short stories in which he introduced the characters Uvo Delavoye and the narrator Gillon , whom Rowland considers to be " reincarnations of Raffles and Bunny " . Hornung 's next work , The Crime Doctor ( 1914 ) marked the end of his fictional output . |
= = = First World War and aftermath = = = |
Oscar Hornung left Eton College in 1914 , intending to enter King 's College , Cambridge later that year . When Britain entered the war against Germany , he volunteered , and was commissioned into the Essex Regiment . He was killed at the Second Battle of Ypres on 6 July 1915 , aged 20 . Although heartbroken by the loss , Hornung was adamant that some good would come of it and he edited a privately issued collection of Oscar 's letters home under the title Trusty and Well Beloved , released in 1916 . Around this time he joined an anti @-@ aircraft unit . In either 1916 or 1917 he joined the YMCA and did volunteer work in England for soldiers on leave ; in March 1917 he visited France , writing a poem about his experience afterwards — something he had been doing more frequently since Oscar 's death — and a collection of his war poetry , Ballad of Ensign Joy , was published later that year . |
In July 1917 Hornung 's poem , " Wooden Crosses " , was published in The Times , and in September , " Bond and Free " appeared . Towards the end of the year , he was accepted as a volunteer in a YMCA canteen and library " a short distance behind the Front Line " . During his service in Arras , in February 1918 he borrowed a staff car from a friend and visited his son 's grave near Ypres , before returning to the library in Arras . Hornung was concerned about support for pacifism among troops , and wrote to his wife about it . When she spoke to Doyle about the matter , rather than discussing it with Hornung he informed the military authorities . Hornung was angered by Doyle 's action , and " told him there was no need for him to ' butt in ' except for his own ' satisfaction ' . " Relations between the two men were strained as a result . Hornung continued to work at the library until the German Spring Offensive in March overran the British positions and he was forced to retreat , firstly to Amiens and then , in April , back to England . He stayed in England until November 1918 , when he again took up his YMCA duties , establishing a rest hut and library in Cologne . In 1919 Hornung 's account of his time spent in France , Notes of a Camp @-@ Follower on the Western Front , was published . Doyle later wrote of the book that " there are parts of it which are brilliant in their vivid portrayal " , while Hornung 's biographer , Alison Cox , described the book as " one of the best records of the war as experienced on the front lines " . That year Hornung also published his third and final volume of poetry , The Young Guard . |
= = = Death and legacy = = = |
Hornung finished his work with the YMCA and returned to England probably in early 1919 , according to Rowland . He worked on a new novel but was hampered by poor health . His wife 's health was of even greater concern , so in February 1921 they took a holiday in the south of France to recuperate . He fell ill on the train with a chill that turned into influenza and pneumonia from which he died on 22 March 1921 , aged 54 . He was buried in Saint @-@ Jean @-@ de @-@ Luz , in the south of France , in a grave adjacent to that of Gissing . Doyle , returning from a spiritualist lecture tour of Australia , received the news in Paris and travelled south in time for the funeral . |
When Hornung had still been courting Doyle 's sister , Doyle wrote that " I like young Willie Hornung very much ... he is one of the sweetest @-@ natured and most delicate @-@ minded men I ever knew " . Honouring him after his death , Doyle wrote that he " was a Dr. [ Samuel ] Johnson without the learning but with a finer wit . No one could say a neater thing , and his writings , good as they are , never adequately represented the powers of the man , nor the quickness of his brain " . His obituarist in The Times described him as " a man of large and generous nature , a delightful companion and conversationalist " . |
Much of Hornung 's work fell out of favour as time passed ; Rowland observed that " all of Hornung 's other works have been forgotten , with the possible exception of Stingaree , but the cricketing Cracksman continues to enthral " . The idea of a criminal as a positive character was one of Hornung 's legacies , and Twentieth @-@ Century Literary Criticism states that " critics have also interpreted Raffles as a prototype of the antihero in modern crime fiction " . The academic Frank Wadleigh Chandler , describing Raffles 's death , writes that " all his creator 's attempts to portray him as a hero , rather than an anti @-@ hero , deservedly fail . " Valentine highlights one aspect of the stories was the mix of " devilry and daring " demonstrated by Raffles ; in this respect he was a literary " forerunner of The Saint , James Bond and other insouciant types " . The writer Colin Watson agrees , and called Hornung " a precursor of [ Ian ] Fleming " . |
The character continued in book form : the writer Philip Atkey , under the pseudonym Barry Perowne , obtained permission from the Hornung estate to continue the Raffles stories , and seven more novels followed between 1933 and 1940 , with Raffles transformed from a gentleman thief to a tough adventurer . Perowne continued the series in 1950 , and 14 of his stories were published in the 1974 volume Raffles Revisited . Hornung 's original stories have undergone a number of reprints , and when all the short stories were published in a single volume , Graham Greene considered it " a splendid idea " . In 1975 Greene had written a play based on the Raffles stories , The Return of A.J. Raffles , which premiered at the Royal Shakespeare Company , with Denholm Elliott as Raffles . |
There were several Raffles films made during Hornung 's lifetime , Further films followed in the years after his death , including Raffles , the Amateur Cracksman ( 1925 ) , with House Peters , Sr. ; Raffles ( 1930 ) , featuring Ronald Colman ; The Return of Raffles ( 1933 ) , with George Barraud ; and Raffles ( 1939 ) , starring David Niven ; the last of these was a Samuel Goldwyn Productions remake of their own 1930 film , which the academic Victor E. Neuburg called the " most memorable portrayal " of the character . |
The BBC has dramatised some of Hornung 's Raffles stories for radio , first in the 1940s and again in the 1990s , when Nigel Havers played Raffles . In 1977 Anthony Valentine played the thief , and Christopher Strauli his partner , in a Yorkshire Television series . A 2001 TV version , The Gentleman Thief , adapted the stories for a contemporary audience , with Havers playing the lead . |
The number of members of the councils is defined by the councils themselves , based on applicable legislation . Electoral committees are then tasked with determining whether the national ethnic minorities are represented on the council as required by the constitution . Further members who belong to the minorities may be added to the council in no candidate of that minority has been elected through the proportional representation system . Election silence , as in all other types of elections in Croatia , when campaigning is forbidden , is enforced the day before the election and continues until 19 : 00 hours on the election day when the polling stations close and exit polls may be announced . Six nationwide local elections have been held in Croatia since 1990 , the most recent being the 2009 local elections to elect county prefects and councils , and city and municipal councils and mayors . In 2009 , the HDZ @-@ led coalitions won a majority or plurality in fifteen county councils and thirteen county prefect elections . SDP @-@ led coalitions won a majority or plurality in five county councils , including the city of Zagreb council , and the remaining county council election was won by IDS @-@ SDP coalition . The SDP won four county prefect elections and the city of Zagreb mayoral election , the HSS won three county prefect elections , and the HNS and the HDSSB won a single county prefect election each . |
= = History = = |
= = = Within Austria @-@ Hungary = = = |
Events of 1848 in Europe and the Austrian Empire brought dramatic changes to Croatian society and politics , provoking the Croatian national revival that strongly influenced and significantly shaped political and social events in Croatia . At the time , the Sabor and Ban Josip Jelačić advocated the severance of ties with the Kingdom of Hungary , emphasising links to other South Slavic lands within the empire . Several prominent Croatian political figures emerged , such as Ante Starčević , Eugen Kvaternik , Franjo Rački and Josip Juraj Strossmayer . A period of neo @-@ absolutism was followed by the Austro @-@ Hungarian Compromise of 1867 and the Croatian – Hungarian Settlement , which granted limited independence to Croatia . This was compounded by Croatian claims of uninterrupted statehood since the early Middle Ages as a basis for a modern state . Two political parties that evolved in the 1860s and contributed significantly to the sentiment were the Party of Rights , led by Starčević and Kvaternik , and the People 's Party , led by Janko Drašković , Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski , Josip Juraj Strossmayer and Ivan Mažuranić . They were opposed by the National Constitutional Party , which was in power for most of the period between the 1860s and the 1918 , and advocated closer ties between Croatia and Hungary . |
Other significant parties formed in the era were the Serb People 's Independent Party , which later formed the Croat @-@ Serb Coalition with the Party of Rights and other Croat and Serb parties . The Coalition ruled Croatia between 1903 and 1918 . The leaders of the Coalition were Frano Supilo and Svetozar Pribićević . The Croatian Peasant Party ( HSS ) , established in 1904 and led by Stjepan Radić , advocated Croatian autonomy but achieved only moderate gains by 1918 . In Dalmatia , the two major parties were the People 's Party – a branch of the People 's Party active in Croatia @-@ Slavonia – and the Autonomist Party , advocating maintaining autonomy of Dalmatia , opposite to the People 's Party demands for unification of Croatia @-@ Slavonia and Dalmatia . The Autonomist Party , most notably led by Antonio Bajamonti , was also linked to Italian irredentism . By 1900 , the Party of Rights had made considerable gains in Dalmatia . The Autonomists won the first three elections , but all elections since 1870 were won by the People 's Party . In the period 1861 – 1918 there were seventeen elections in the Kingdom of Croatia @-@ Slavonia and ten in the Kingdom of Dalmatia . |
= = = First and Second Yugoslavia = = = |
After the establishment of the Kingdom of Serbs , Croats and Slovenes , the HSS established itself as the most popular Croatian political party and was very popular despite efforts to ban it . The 1921 constitution defined the kingdom as a unitary state and abolished the historical administrative divisions , which effectively ended Croatian autonomy ; the constitution was opposed by HSS . The political situation deteriorated further as Stjepan Radić of the HSS was assassinated in the Yugoslav Parliament in 1928 , leading to the dictatorship of King Alexander in January 1929 . The HSS , now led by Vladko Maček , continued to advocate the federalisation of Yugoslavia , resulting in the Cvetković – Maček Agreement of August 1939 and the autonomous Banovina of Croatia . The Yugoslav government retained control of defence , internal security , foreign affairs , trade , and transport while other matters were left to the Croatian Sabor and a crown @-@ appointed Ban . This arrangement was soon made obsolete with the beginning of World War II , when the Independent State of Croatia , which banned all political opposition , was established . Since then , the HSS continues to operate abroad . |
In the 1945 election , the Communists were unopposed because the other parties abstained . Once in power , the Communists introduced a single @-@ party political system , in which the Communist Party of Yugoslavia was the ruling party and the Communist Party of Croatia was its branch . In 1971 , the Croatian national movement , which sought greater civil rights and the decentralisation of the Yugoslav economy , culminated in the Croatian Spring , which was suppressed by the Yugoslav leadership . In January 1990 , the Communist Party fragmented along national lines ; the Croatian faction demanded a looser federation . |
= = = Modern Croatia = = = |
In 1989 , the government of the Socialist Republic of Croatia decided to tolerate political parties in response to growing demands to allow political activities outside the Communist party . The first political party founded in Croatia since the beginning of the Communist rule was the Croatian Social Liberal Party ( HSLS ) , established on 20 May 1989 , followed by the Croatian Democratic Union on 17 June 1989 . In December 1989 , Ivica Račan became the head of the reformed Communist party . At the same time , the party cancelled political trials , released political prisoners and endorsed a multi @-@ party political system . The Civil Organisations Act was formally amended to allow political parties on 11 January 1990 , legalising the parties that were already founded . |
By the time of the first round of the first multi @-@ party elections , held on 22 April 1990 , there were 33 registered parties . The most relevant parties and coalitions were the League of Communists of Croatia – Party of Democratic Changes ( the renamed Communist party ) , the Croatian Democratic Union ( HDZ ) , and the Coalition of People 's Accord ( KNS ) , which included the HSLS led by Dražen Budiša , and the HSS , which resumed operating in Croatia in December 1989 . The runoff election was held on 6 May 1990 . The HDZ , led by Franjo Tuđman , won ahead of the reformed Communists and the KNS . The KNS , led by Savka Dabčević @-@ Kučar and Miko Tripalo – who had led the Croatian Spring – soon splintered into individual parties . The HDZ maintained a parliamentary majority until the 2000 parliamentary election , when it was defeated by the Social Democratic Party of Croatia ( SDP ) , led by Račan . Franjo Gregurić , of the HDZ , was appointed prime minister to head a national unity government in July 1991 as the Croatian War of Independence escalated in intensity . His appointment lasted until August 1992 . During his term , Croatia 's declaration of independence from Yugoslavia took effect on 8 October 1991 . The HDZ returned to power in the 2003 parliamentary election , while the SDP remained the largest opposition party . |
Franjo Tuđman won the presidential elections in 1992 and 1997 . During his terms , the Constitution of Croatia , adopted in 1990 , provided for a semi @-@ presidential system . After Tuđman 's death in 1999 , the constitution was amended and much of the presidential powers were transferred to the parliament and the government . Stjepan Mesić won two consecutive terms in 2000 and 2005 on a Croatian People 's Party ( HNS ) ticket . Ivo Josipović , an SDP candidate , won the presidential elections in December 2009 and January 2010 . Kolinda Grabar @-@ Kitarović defeated Josipović in the January 2015 election run @-@ off , becoming the first female president of Croatia . |
= Mumia Abu @-@ Jamal = |
Mumia Abu @-@ Jamal ( born Wesley Cook April 24 , 1954 ) is a convicted murderer who was sentenced to death in 1982 for the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner . His sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment without parole . |
Abu @-@ Jamal became involved in black nationalism in his youth and was a member of the Black Panther Party until October 1970 , after which he became a radio journalist , eventually becoming president of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists . On December 9 , 1981 , Faulkner was fatally shot while conducting a routine traffic stop of Abu @-@ Jamal 's brother , William Cook . Abu @-@ Jamal was found at the scene with a bullet wound from Faulkner 's gun and his own discharged revolver beside him . He was arrested and charged with Faulkner 's murder . |
Prosecution witnesses identified Abu @-@ Jamal as the shooter and two testified that he had confessed to shooting Faulkner . A jury convicted Abu @-@ Jamal on all counts and sentenced him to death . He spent the next 30 years on death row . After a succession of all possible appeals by Abu @-@ Jamal were exhausted , his conviction was upheld but his death sentence vacated . He was resentenced to life in prison without parole . District Attorney Seth Williams later stated that no further appeals would be filed in pursuit of the death penalty . |
Activists , celebrities , and liberal groups have criticized the fairness of Abu @-@ Jamal 's trial , professed his innocence , and opposed his death sentence . The Faulkner family , public authorities , police organizations , and conservative groups have maintained that Abu @-@ Jamal 's trial was fair , his guilt undeniable , and his death sentence appropriate . Once described as " perhaps the world 's best known death @-@ row inmate " by The New York Times , during his imprisonment Abu @-@ Jamal has published books and commentaries on social and political issues , including Live from Death Row ( 1995 ) . |
= = Early life and activism = = |
Abu @-@ Jamal was given the name Mumia in 1968 by his high school teacher , a Kenyan instructing a class on African cultures in which students took African classroom names . According to Abu @-@ Jamal , ' Mumia ' means " Prince " and was the name of Kenyan anti @-@ colonial African nationalists who fought against the British before Kenyan independence . He adopted the surname Abu @-@ Jamal ( " father of Jamal " in Arabic ) after the birth of his son Jamal on July 18 , 1971 . His first marriage at age 19 , to Jamal 's mother , Biba , was short @-@ lived . Their daughter , Lateefa , was born shortly after the wedding . Abu @-@ Jamal married his second wife , Marilyn ( known as " Peachie " ) , in 1977 . Their son , Mazi , was born in early 1978 . By 1981 , Abu @-@ Jamal was living with his third and current wife , Wadiya . |
= = = Involvement with the Black Panthers = = = |
In his own writings , Abu @-@ Jamal describes his adolescent experience of being " kicked ... into the Black Panther Party " after suffering a beating from " white racists " and a policeman for his efforts to disrupt a George Wallace for President rally in 1968 . From the age of 14 , he helped form the Philadelphia branch of the Black Panther Party with Defense Captain Reggie Schell , and other Panthers , taking appointment , in his own words , as the chapter 's " Lieutenant of Information " , exercising a responsibility for writing information and news communications . In one of the interviews he gave at the time he quoted Mao Zedong , saying that " political power grows out of the barrel of a gun " . That same year , he dropped out of Benjamin Franklin High School and took up residence in the branch 's headquarters . He spent late 1969 in New York City and early 1970 in Oakland , living and working with BPP colleagues in those cities . He was a party member from May 1969 until October 1970 and was subject to Federal Bureau of Investigation COINTELPRO surveillance , with which the Philadelphia police cooperated , from then until about 1974 . |
= = = Education and journalism career = = = |
After returning to his old high school after his departure from the Panthers , Abu @-@ Jamal was suspended for distributing literature calling for " black revolutionary student power " . He also led unsuccessful protests to change the school name to Malcolm X High . After attaining his GED , he studied briefly at Goddard College in rural Vermont . |
By 1975 he was pursuing a vocation in radio newscasting , first at Temple University 's WRTI and then at commercial enterprises . In 1975 , he was employed at radio station WHAT and he became host of a weekly feature program of WCAU @-@ FM in 1978 . He was also employed for brief periods at radio station WPEN , and became active in the local chapter of the Marijuana Users Association of America . From 1979 he worked at National Public Radio @-@ affiliate ( NPR ) WUHY until 1981 when he was asked to submit his resignation after a dispute about the requirements of objective focus in his presentation of news . As a radio journalist he earned the moniker " the voice of the voiceless " and was renowned for identifying with and giving exposure to the MOVE anarcho @-@ primitivist commune in Philadelphia 's Powelton Village neighborhood , including reportage of the 1979 – 80 trial of certain of its members ( the " MOVE Nine " ) convicted of the murder of police officer James Ramp . During his broadcasting career , his high @-@ profile interviews included Julius Erving , Bob Marley and Alex Haley , and he was elected president of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists . |
At the time of Daniel Faulkner 's murder , Abu @-@ Jamal was working as a taxicab driver in Philadelphia two nights a week to supplement his income . He had been working part @-@ time as a reporter for WDAS , then an African @-@ American @-@ oriented and minority @-@ owned radio station . |
= = Arrest for murder and trial = = |
At 3 : 55 am on December 9 , 1981 , in Philadelphia , close to the intersection at 13th and Locust Streets , Philadelphia Police Department officer Daniel Faulkner conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle belonging to William Cook , Abu @-@ Jamal 's younger brother . During the traffic stop , Abu @-@ Jamal 's taxi was parked across the street . He ran across the street towards Cook 's car , where Faulkner was shot from behind and then in the face . Abu @-@ Jamal was shot by Faulkner in the stomach . Faulkner died at the scene from the gunshot to his head . Police arrived and arrested Abu @-@ Jamal , who was found wearing a shoulder holster . His revolver , which had five spent cartridges , was beside him . Abu @-@ Jamal was taken directly from the scene of the shooting to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital , where he received treatment for his wound . |
Abu @-@ Jamal was charged with the first @-@ degree murder of Officer Faulkner . The case went to trial in June 1982 in Philadelphia . Judge Albert F. Sabo initially agreed to Abu @-@ Jamal 's request to represent himself , with criminal defense attorney Anthony Jackson acting as his legal advisor . During the first day of the trial , Sabo warned Abu @-@ Jamal that he would forfeit his legal right to self @-@ representation if he kept being intentionally disruptive in a fashion that was unbecoming under the law . Due to Abu @-@ Jamal 's continued disruptive behavior , Sabo ruled that Abu @-@ Jamal forfeited his right to self @-@ representation . |
= = = Prosecution case at trial = = = |
The prosecution presented four witnesses to the court . Robert Chobert , a cab driver who testified he was parked behind Faulkner , identified Abu @-@ Jamal as the shooter . Cynthia White , a prostitute , testified that Abu @-@ Jamal emerged from a nearby parking lot and shot Faulkner . Michael Scanlan , a motorist , testified that from two car lengths away , he saw a man , matching Abu @-@ Jamal 's description , run across the street from a parking lot and shoot Faulkner . Albert Magilton , a pedestrian who did not see the actual murder , testified to witnessing Faulkner pull over Cook 's car . At the point of seeing Abu @-@ Jamal start to cross the street toward them from the parking lot , Magilton turned away and lost sight of what happened next . |
The prosecution also presented two witnesses who were at the hospital after the shootings . Hospital security guard Priscilla Durham and police officer Garry Bell testified that Abu @-@ Jamal confessed in the hospital by saying , " I shot the motherfucker , and I hope the motherfucker dies . " |
A .38 caliber Charter Arms revolver , belonging to Abu @-@ Jamal , with five spent cartridges was retrieved beside him at the scene . He was wearing a shoulder holster , and Anthony Paul , the Supervisor of the Philadelphia Police Department 's firearms identification unit , testified at trial that the cartridge cases and rifling characteristics of the weapon were consistent with bullet fragments taken from Faulkner 's body . Tests to confirm that Abu @-@ Jamal had handled and fired the weapon were not performed , as contact with arresting police and other surfaces at the scene could have compromised the forensic value of such tests . |
= = = Defense case at trial = = = |
The defense maintained that Abu @-@ Jamal was innocent and that the prosecution witnesses were unreliable . The defense presented nine character witnesses , including poet Sonia Sanchez , who testified that Abu @-@ Jamal was " viewed by the black community as a creative , articulate , peaceful , genial man " . Another defense witness , Dessie Hightower , testified that he saw a man running along the street shortly after the shooting although he did not see the actual shooting itself . His testimony contributed to the development of a " running man theory " , based on the possibility that a " running man " may have been the actual shooter . Veronica Jones also testified for the defense , but she did not see anyone running . Other potential defense witnesses refused to appear in court . Abu @-@ Jamal did not testify in his own defense . Nor did his brother , William Cook , who told investigators at the crime scene : " I ain 't got nothing to do with this . " |
= = = Verdict and sentence = = = |
The jury delivered a unanimous guilty verdict after three hours of deliberations . |
In the sentencing phase of the trial , Abu @-@ Jamal read to the jury from a prepared statement . He was then cross @-@ examined about issues relevant to the assessment of his character by Joseph McGill , the prosecuting attorney . |
In his statement Abu @-@ Jamal criticized his attorney as a " legal trained lawyer " who was imposed on him against his will and who " knew he was inadequate to the task and chose to follow the directions of this black @-@ robed conspirator , Albert Sabo , even if it meant ignoring my directions " . He claimed that his rights had been " deceitfully stolen " from him by Sabo , particularly focusing on the denial of his request to receive defense assistance from non @-@ attorney John Africa and being prevented from proceeding pro se . He quoted remarks of John Africa , and said : |
Does it matter whether a white man is charged with killing a black man or a black man is charged with killing a white man ? As for justice when the prosecutor represents the Commonwealth the Judge represents the Commonwealth and the court @-@ appointed lawyer is paid and supported by the Commonwealth , who follows the wishes of the defendant , the man charged with the crime ? If the court @-@ appointed lawyer ignores , or goes against the wishes of the man he is charged with representing , whose wishes does he follow ? Who does he truly represent or work for ? ... I am innocent of these charges that I have been charged of and convicted of and despite the connivance of Sabo , McGill and Jackson to deny me my so @-@ called rights to represent myself , to assistance of my choice , to personally select a jury who is totally of my peers , to cross @-@ examine witnesses , and to make both opening and closing arguments , I am still innocent of these charges . |
Abu @-@ Jamal was subsequently sentenced to death by the unanimous decision of the jury . |
= = Appeals and review = = |
= = = State appeals = = = |
Direct appeal of his conviction was considered and denied by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania on March 6 , 1989 , subsequently denying rehearing . The Supreme Court of the United States denied his petition for writ of certiorari on October 1 , 1990 , and denied his petition for rehearing twice up to June 10 , 1991 . |
On June 1 , 1995 , his death warrant was signed by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge . Its execution was suspended while Abu @-@ Jamal pursued state post @-@ conviction review . At the post @-@ conviction review hearings , new witnesses were called . William " Dales " Singletary testified that he saw the shooting and that the gunman was the passenger in Cook 's car . Singletary 's account contained discrepancies which rendered it " not credible " in the opinion of the court . William Harmon , a convicted fraudster , testified that Faulkner 's murderer fled in a car which pulled up at the crime scene , and could not have been Abu @-@ Jamal . However , Robert Harkins testified that he had witnessed a man stand over Faulkner as the latter lay wounded on the ground , who shot him point @-@ blank in the face and then " walked and sat down on the curb " . |
The six judges of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ruled unanimously that all issues raised by Abu @-@ Jamal , including the claim of ineffective assistance of counsel , were without merit . The Supreme Court of the United States denied a petition for certiorari against that decision on October 4 , 1999 , enabling Ridge to sign a second death warrant on October 13 , 1999 . Its execution in turn was stayed as Abu @-@ Jamal commenced his pursuit of federal habeas corpus review . |
In 1999 , Arnold Beverly claimed that he and an unnamed assailant , not Mumia Abu @-@ Jamal , shot Daniel Faulkner as part of a contract killing because Faulkner was interfering with graft and payoff to corrupt police . The Beverly affidavit became an item of division for Mumia 's defense team , as some thought it usable and others rejected Beverly 's story as " not credible " . |
Private investigator George Newman claimed in 2001 that Chobert had recanted his testimony . Commentators also noted that police and news photographs of the crime scene did not show Chobert 's taxi , and that Cynthia White , the only witness at the trial to testify to seeing the taxi , had previously provided crime scene descriptions that omitted it . Cynthia White was declared to be dead by the state of New Jersey in 1992 although Pamela Jenkins claimed that she saw White alive as late as 1997 . Mumia supporters often claim that White was a police informant and that she falsified her testimony against Abu @-@ Jamal . Priscilla Durham 's step @-@ brother , Kenneth Pate , who was imprisoned with Abu @-@ Jamal on other charges , has since claimed that Durham admitted to not hearing the hospital confession . The hospital doctors stated that Abu @-@ Jamal was " on the verge of fainting " when brought in and they did not overhear a confession . In 2008 , the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania rejected a further request from Abu @-@ Jamal for a hearing into claims that the trial witnesses perjured themselves on the grounds that he had waited too long before filing the appeal . |
On March 26 , 2012 the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania rejected his most recent appeal for retrial asserted on the basis that a 2009 report by the National Academy of Science demonstrated that forensic evidence put by the prosecution and accepted into evidence in the original trial was unreliable . It was reported to be the former death row inmate 's last legal appeal . |
= = = Federal ruling directing resentencing = = = |
Abu @-@ Jamal did not make any public statements about Faulkner 's murder until May 2001 . In his version of events , he claimed that he was sitting in his cab across the street when he heard shouting , then saw a police vehicle , then heard the sound of gunshots . Upon seeing his brother appearing disoriented across the street , Abu @-@ Jamal ran to him from the parking lot and was shot by a police officer . The driver originally stopped by police officer Faulkner , Abu @-@ Jamal 's brother William Cook , did not testify or make any statement until April 29 , 2001 , when he claimed that he had not seen who had shot Faulkner . |
Judge William H. Yohn Jr. of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania upheld the conviction but vacated the sentence of death on December 18 , 2001 , citing irregularities in the original process of sentencing . Particularly , |
... the jury instructions and verdict sheet in this case involved an unreasonable application of federal law . The charge and verdict form created a reasonable likelihood that the jury believed it was precluded from considering any mitigating circumstance that had not been found unanimously to exist . |
He ordered the State of Pennsylvania to commence new sentencing proceedings within 180 days and ruled that it was unconstitutional to require that a jury 's finding of circumstances mitigating against determining a sentence of death be unanimous . Eliot Grossman and Marlene Kamish , attorneys for Abu @-@ Jamal , criticized the ruling on the grounds that it denied the possibility of a trial de novo at which they could introduce evidence that their client had been framed . Prosecutors also criticized the ruling ; Officer Faulkner 's widow Maureen described Abu @-@ Jamal as a " remorseless , hate @-@ filled killer " who would " be permitted to enjoy the pleasures that come from simply being alive " on the basis of the judgment . Both parties appealed . |
= = = Federal appeal = = = |
On December 6 , 2005 , the Third Circuit Court admitted four issues for appeal of the ruling of the District Court : |
in relation to sentencing , whether the jury verdict form had been flawed and the judge 's instructions to the jury had been confusing ; |
in relation to conviction and sentencing , whether racial bias in jury selection existed to an extent tending to produce an inherently biased jury and therefore an unfair trial ( the Batson claim ) ; |
in relation to conviction , whether the prosecutor improperly attempted to reduce jurors ' sense of responsibility by telling them that a guilty verdict would be subsequently vetted and subject to appeal ; and |
in relation to post @-@ conviction review hearings in 1995 – 6 , whether the presiding judge , who had also presided at the trial , demonstrated unacceptable bias in his conduct . |
The Third Circuit Court heard oral arguments in the appeals on May 17 , 2007 , at the United States Courthouse in Philadelphia . The appeal panel consisted of Chief Judge Anthony Joseph Scirica , Judge Thomas Ambro , and Judge Robert Cowen . The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania sought to reinstate the sentence of death , on the basis that Yohn 's ruling was flawed , as he should have deferred to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court which had already ruled on the issue of sentencing , and the Batson claim was invalid because Abu @-@ Jamal made no complaints during the original jury selection . Although Abu @-@ Jamal 's jury was racially mixed with 2 blacks and 10 whites at the time of his unanimous conviction , his counsel told the Third Circuit Court that Abu @-@ Jamal did not get a fair trial because the jury was racially biased , misinformed , the judge was a racist , and noted that the prosecution used eleven out of fourteen peremptory challenges to eliminate prospective black jurors . Terri Maurer @-@ Carter , a former Philadelphia court stenographer claimed in a 2001 affidavit nearly 20 years after the trial that she overheard Judge Sabo say " Yeah , and I 'm going to help them fry the nigger " in the course of a conversation with three people present regarding Abu @-@ Jamal 's case . Sabo denied having made any such comment . |
On March 27 , 2008 , the three @-@ judge panel issued a majority 2 – 1 opinion upholding Yohn 's 2001 opinion but rejecting the bias and Batson claims , with Judge Ambro dissenting on the Batson issue . On July 22 , 2008 , Abu @-@ Jamal 's formal petition seeking reconsideration of the decision by the full Third Circuit panel of 12 judges was denied . On April 6 , 2009 , the United States Supreme Court also refused to hear Abu @-@ Jamal 's appeal , allowing his conviction to stand . On January 19 , 2010 , the Supreme Court ordered the appeals court to reconsider its decision to rescind the death penalty , with the same three @-@ judge panel convening in Philadelphia on November 9 , 2010 , to hear oral argument . On April 26 , 2011 , the Third Circuit Court of Appeals reaffirmed its prior decision to vacate the death sentence on the grounds that the jury instructions and verdict form were ambiguous and confusing . The Supreme Court declined to hear the case in October . |
= = = Death penalty dropped = = = |
On December 7 , 2011 , District Attorney of Philadelphia R. Seth Williams announced that prosecutors , with the support of the victim 's family , would no longer seek the death penalty for Abu @-@ Jamal . Faulkner had indicated she did not wish to relive the trauma of another trial , and that it would be extremely difficult to present the case against Abu @-@ Jamal again , after the passage of 30 years and the deaths of several key witnesses . Williams , the prosecutor , said that Abu @-@ Jamal will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole , a sentence that was reaffirmed by the Superior Court of Pennsylvania on July 9 , 2013 . After the press conference , Maureen Faulkner made an emotional statement harshly condemning Abu @-@ Jamal : |
I would like to say that I believe the lowest dimension of hell has been reserved for child molesters and unrepentant murderers , like Mumia Abu @-@ Jamal . After thirty years of waiting , the time remaining before Abu @-@ Jamal stands before his ultimate judge . It doesn 't seem so far off as it once did when I was younger . I look forward to that day so I can finally close the chapter of my life and live with the gratification and assurance that Mumia Abu @-@ Jamal will finally receive the punishment he deserves , for all eternity . |
= = Life as a prisoner = = |
In 1991 Abu @-@ Jamal published an essay in the Yale Law Journal , on the death penalty and his death row experience . In May 1994 , Abu @-@ Jamal was engaged by National Public Radio 's All Things Considered program to deliver a series of monthly three @-@ minute commentaries on crime and punishment . The broadcast plans and commercial arrangement were canceled following condemnations from , among others , the Fraternal Order of Police and US Senator Bob Dole ( Kansas Republican Party ) . Abu @-@ Jamal sued NPR for not airing his work , but a federal judge dismissed the suit . The commentaries later appeared in print in May 1995 as part of Live from Death Row . |
In 1999 , he was invited to record a keynote address for the graduating class at The Evergreen State College . The event was protested by some . In 2000 , he recorded a commencement address for Antioch College . The now defunct New College of California School of Law presented him with an honorary degree " for his struggle to resist the death penalty " . On October 5 , 2014 , he gave the commencement speech at Goddard College , via playback of a recording . As before , the choice of Abu @-@ Jamal was controversial . |
With occasional interruptions due to prison disciplinary actions , Abu @-@ Jamal has for many years been a regular commentator on an online broadcast , sponsored by Prison Radio , as well as a regular columnist for Junge Welt , a Marxist newspaper in Germany . In 1995 , he was punished with solitary confinement for engaging in entrepreneurship contrary to prison regulations . Subsequent to the airing of the 1996 HBO documentary Mumia Abu @-@ Jamal : A Case For Reasonable Doubt ? , which included footage from visitation interviews conducted with him , the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections acted to ban outsiders from using any recording equipment in state prisons . In litigation before the US Court of Appeals in 1998 he successfully established his right to write for financial gain in prison . The same litigation also established that the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections had illegally opened his mail in an attempt to establish whether he was writing for financial gain . When , for a brief time in August 1999 , he began delivering his radio commentaries live on the Pacifica Network 's Democracy Now ! weekday radio newsmagazine , prison staff severed the connecting wires of his telephone from their mounting in mid @-@ performance . He was later allowed to resume his broadcasts , and hundreds of his broadcasts have been aired on Pacifica Radio . |
His publications include Death Blossoms : Reflections from a Prisoner of Conscience , in which he explores religious themes , All Things Censored , a political critique examining issues of crime and punishment , Live From Death Row , a diary of life on Pennsylvania 's death row , and We Want Freedom : A Life in the Black Panther Party , which is a history of the Black Panthers drawing on autobiographical material . |
At the end of January 2012 he was released into general prison population at State Correctional Institution – Mahanoy . He went into diabetic shock on March 30 , 2015 and has been diagnosed with active Hepatitis C. In August 2015 his attorneys filed suit in the US District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania upon the allegation that he has not received appropriate medical care for his health conditions . |
= = Popular support and opposition = = |
Labor unions , politicians , advocates , educators , the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund , and human rights advocacy organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have expressed concern about the impartiality of the trial of Abu @-@ Jamal , though Amnesty International neither takes a position on the guilt or innocence of Abu @-@ Jamal nor classifies him as a political prisoner . They are opposed by the family of Daniel Faulkner , the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , the City of Philadelphia , Republican politicians , and the Fraternal Order of Police . In August 1999 , the Fraternal Order of Police called for an economic boycott against all individuals and organizations that support Abu @-@ Jamal . |
Abu @-@ Jamal has been made an honorary citizen of about 25 cities around the world , including Montreal , Palermo , and Paris . |
In 2001 , he received the sixth biennial Erich Mühsam Prize , named after an anarcho @-@ communist essayist , which recognizes activism in line with that of its namesake . In October 2002 , he was made an honorary member of the German political organization Society of People Persecuted by the Nazi Regime – Federation of Anti @-@ Fascists ( VVN @-@ BdA ) which Germany 's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has considered to be influenced by left @-@ wing extremism . |
On April 29 , 2006 , a newly paved road in the Parisian suburb of Saint @-@ Denis was named Rue Mumia Abu @-@ Jamal in his honor . In protest of the street @-@ naming , US Congressman Michael Fitzpatrick and Senator Rick Santorum , both members of the Republican Party of Pennsylvania , introduced resolutions in both Houses of Congress condemning the decision . The House of Representatives voted 368 – 31 in favor of Fitzpatrick 's resolution . In December 2006 , the 25th anniversary of the murder , the executive committee of the Republican Party for the 59th Ward of the City of Philadelphia — covering approximately Germantown , Philadelphia — filed two criminal complaints in the French legal system against the city of Paris and the city of Saint @-@ Denis , accusing the municipalities of " glorifying " Abu @-@ Jamal and alleging the offense " apology or denial of crime " in respect of their actions . |
In 2007 , the widow of Officer Faulkner coauthored a book with Philadelphia radio journalist Michael Smerconish entitled Murdered by Mumia : A Life Sentence of Pain , Loss , and Injustice . The book was part memoir of Faulkner 's widow , part discussion in which they chronicled Abu @-@ Jamal 's trial and discussed evidence for his conviction , and part discussion on supporting the death penalty . J. Patrick O 'Connor , editor and publisher of crimemagazine.com , argues in his book The Framing of Mumia Abu @-@ Jamal that the preponderance of evidence establishes that it was not Abu @-@ Jamal but a passenger in Abu @-@ Jamal 's brother 's car , Kenneth Freeman , who killed Faulkner , and that the Philadelphia Police Department and District Attorney 's Office framed Abu @-@ Jamal . His book was criticized in the American Thinker as " replete with selective use of testimony , distortions , unsubstantiated charges , and a theory that has failed Abu @-@ Jamal in the past . " |
In 2009 , Radio host Rush Limbaugh professed no doubt about Abu @-@ Jamal 's guilt , calling him a " notorious Philadelphia murderer " . |
In early 2014 , President Barack Obama nominated Debo P. Adegbile , a former lawyer for the NAACP who worked on Abu @-@ Jamal 's case , to head the civil rights division of the Justice Department , but the nomination was rejected by the U.S. Senate on a bipartisan basis because of Adegbile 's prior public support of Abu @-@ Jamal . |
In April 10 , 2015 Marylin Zuniga , a teacher at Forest Street Elementary School in Orange , New Jersey , was suspended without pay after asking her students to write letters to Abu @-@ Jamal , who fell ill in prison due to complications from diabetes , without approval from the school or parents . Some parents and police leaders denounced her actions . On the other hand , community members , parents , teachers , and professors expressed their support and condemned Zuniga 's suspension . Scholars and educators nationwide including Noam Chomsky , Chris Hedges and Cornel West among others signed a letter calling for her immediate reinstatement . On May 13 , 2015 The Orange Preparatory Academy board voted to dismiss Marylin Zuniga after hearing from her and several of her supporters . |
= = Written works = = |
Subsets and Splits
No saved queries yet
Save your SQL queries to embed, download, and access them later. Queries will appear here once saved.