Executing Justice An Inside Account of the Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal

by Williams, Daniel R.; Doctorow, E. L.

• ISBN13: 9780312283179
• ISBN10: 0312283172
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-05-20
• Publisher: Griffin

Summary

Mumia Abu-Jamal is an award-winning journalist and author of three well-received books and many essays. He is also a death-row inmate, awaiting execution in Pennsylvania for allegedly killing a police officer in 1981. For many around the world, he is an inspired leader and the centerpiece to a revived progressive movement critical of our justice system and escalating global economic inequities. For others, he is a cold-blooded killer who has duped millions, including a vast array of Hollywood celebrities, writers, intellectuals and world political leaders, into believing that he is a political prisoner falsely imprisoned. Whatever the outlook, he and his case have become a flashpoint in the ever-raging debate over capital punishment in this country and a symbol of what is wrong with our criminal justice system. Here, for the first time, the story of Mumia Abu-Jamal's trial and his struggle to gain his freedom has been told. Executing Justice takes us inside the courtroom where a fierce and skilled prosecutor wove a damning narrative of a young black radical who brutally murdered a young white police officer in the red-light district of Philadelphia, and then later boasted about the killing. It was, the prosecutor said, the strongest murder case he's ever tried. Daniel R. Williams, defense lawyer and chief legal strategist for Mumia Abu-Jamal, invites us to ask: why has this case engendered such enormous attention and aroused the passions of people worldwide? Executing Justice is the story of how the death penalty really works in this countrynot from the perspective of appellate judges, academics, or politicians who pontificate about the pros and cons of capital punishment, but from ground zero, within the pit of the courtroom where the war over life and death is fought. It is also a story of one of the most remarkable trials in our history. Above all, Executing Justice is an honest, at times confessional, book that seeks not to preach, but to raise questions about what we expect from our legal system and the depth of our commitment to capital punishment as a form of executing justice.

Author Biography

Daniel R. Williams was Mumia Abu-Jamal's defense lawyer and chief strategist for eight years. He has been involvd in many high-profile criminal cases, both as a trial and appellate lawyer. Awards for his work include the Thurgood Marshall Award and the Morton Stavis Memorial Justice Award. He lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
E. L. Doctorow
Introduction: The Problem of Ambiguity	xiii
ONE: GOOD VERSUS EVIL
The Killing	3	(6)
An Open-and-Shut Case	9	(22)
The Source of Good and Evil	31	(19)
Constructing Good versus Evil	50	(14)
The Struggle for Money	64	(9)
Seeds of Rebellion	73	(10)
Jury Selection	83	(18)
Race and the Death Penalty	101	(9)
Flowering of Rebellion	110	(18)
Priming for Death	128	(28)
Deciding on Guilt	156	(23)
Deciding on Death	179	(22)
TWO: RECONFIGURING GOOD VERSUS EVIL
A New Team, a New Portrait, and an Old Judge	201	(39)
Revisiting the Past	240	(17)
Attacking the Open-and-Shut Case	257	(39)
Fighting Ideology	296	(35)
Confessing to Lies	331	(22)
Ambiguity Revisited	353	(18)
Appendix	371	(8)
Acknowledgments	379	(2)
Notes	381	(4)
Index	385

Supplemental Materials

What is included with this book?

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

Rewards Program

Currently unavailable