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Mumia Abu-Jamal Death Sentence Thrown Out

Aired December 18, 2001 - 13:14   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: We want to bring you this story that has just come in to CNN from the Associated Press, and that is a federal judge in Philadelphia has thrown out the death sentence of Mumia Abu-Jamal. He is the former journalist and Black Panther who was convicted of killing a Philadelphia police officer back in 1981.

Abu-Jamal, at one point, considered America's most famous death row inmate, revered by virtually worldwide "Free Mumia" movement as a crusader against racial injustice and reviled by the police officer's supporters as a, quote, "unrepentant cop killer who deserves to die."

Now the judge refused Abu-Jamal's request for a new trial and upheld his 1982 conviction. This ruling today could be appealed to the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Once again, a federal judge in Philadelphia throwing out the death sentence of Mumia Abu-Jamal, the former journalist and Black Panther convicted of killing a police officer in Philadelphia in 1981.

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