PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A federal appeals court is set to hear the latest arguments concerning the sentence of death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal (moo-MEE’-ah AH’-boo jah-MAHL’).
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear arguments Tuesday over jury instructions given during Abu-Jamal’s 1982 trial. Abu-Jamal was convicted of killing 25-year-old Philadelphia police Officer Daniel Faulkner and was sentenced to death.
The court had ordered a new sentencing hearing for Abu-Jamal, but the U.S. Supreme Court this year ordered the court to reconsider.
Abu-Jamal has become an international cause celebre among death penalty opponents and an array of other activists.