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| 教 育 專 題 深 入 報 導《2007-05-25》 |
| 本期內容 | |
| ◎國際專題：美殺警案25年 審判疑雲未散 | |
| ◎為弱勢發聲 法庭激烈交鋒 | |
| ◎New Mumia Abu-Jamal crime scene photos unveiled for the first time犯罪現場照片首度公開 | |
| 國際專題：美殺警案25年 審判疑雲未散 | |
| 策劃、編譯■唐澄暐 | |
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A Pennsylvania man who has spent a quarter-century on death row for a murder he says he did not commit appealed for a new trial on Thursday, arguing he was the victim of racism at the time of his conviction. Mumia Abu-Jamal, a black journalist and taxi driver, was convicted and sentenced to death in July 1982 for killing Daniel Faulkner, a white police officer, in central Philadelphia on December 9, 1981. Abu-Jamal, who has become an international cause celebre for the anti-death penalty movement, has maintained his innocence. He claims he was framed in a city that had a reputation for police brutality during the 1980s and where he antagonized officials with his reporting on alleged police corruption. In arguments before a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Abu-Jamal's lawyer, Robert Bryan, argued that both the prosecutors and judge in the original trial were tainted by racism and that blacks had been removed from the jury by prosecutors eager for a conviction. Bryan said the prosecutors secured the release of twice as many blacks as whites from the pool of available jurors. "All we're asking for in this case is a fair trial," Bryan said outside the court. "The first trial was riddled with racism." But Hugh Burns, an attorney for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, rejected arguments that jury selection had been skewed by racism and noted that the jury, when finally selected, included four blacks. "It would be a strange thing for a prosecutor to do who was trying to keep black people off the jury to select four blacks," he said. Abu-Jamal has attracted supporters as diverse as Amnesty International, the European Parliament and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, many of whom believe he is the victim of police and judicial racism and deserves at least a new trial. Among several hundred supporters at Thursday's hearing was the veteran black comedian Dick Gregory. According to court documents, the now-deceased trial Judge Albert Sabo who sentenced Abu-Jamal to death was overheard saying, "Yeah, and I'm going to help 'em fry the nigger." The appeals court, which may not rule for several months, may grant a new trial, order a new evidentiary hearing or reject the appeal, in which case Mumia would face execution within a short period, Bryan said. 美國賓州一名男子，在25年前因為一件他未認罪的殺警案而被求處死刑，但由於調查審判過程問題重重，他在上週四請求重審，並聲稱他是當年種族歧視的受害者。 姆米亞‧阿布‧賈馬爾是一位直言不諱的記者，也曾是非裔組織「黑豹黨」的活躍成員，在槍擊案發生當時是一位計程車司機，在1982年被控殺害一名費城警官。在1981年的12月寒冷夜晚，警官丹尼爾‧福克納被人發現遭槍擊死亡，背上和兩眼間各中一槍。當警方抵達現場時，阿布‧賈馬爾就坐在福克納遺體的幾呎外人行道上。犯罪現場證人表示看到阿布‧賈馬爾對福克納背上開了一槍。另外，檢察官表示，他們比對出殺害福克納的彈頭。兩證據導致陪審團認定福克納有罪。 阿布‧賈馬爾堅持本身的無罪，並成為了國際知名的反死刑運動案例。他聲稱1980年代費城警方執法殘暴，並因他的報導揭發警方腐敗而誣陷他。 聯邦上訴法院第三巡迴審判庭展開三審辯論前，阿布‧賈馬爾的律師勞勃‧布萊恩抗議初審的檢察官和法官都被種族歧視的偏見所染，而急於定罪的檢察官甚至將非裔人士從陪審團中排除。 布萊恩表示，檢察官在挑選可用的陪審員名單時，放棄了比白人多了一倍的非裔。「我們在本案中要求的要求的祇是公平審判。」他在法庭外說。「當年的第一次審判充滿了種族主義。」 但是「賓州公民」的律師休斯‧柏恩斯，反駁了陪審團選舉有種族歧視的異議，並指出最後選出的陪審團有4位非裔。「如果說一個不想讓非裔進入陪審團還會選了4個非裔，那實在是說不通。」 阿布‧賈馬爾也獲得了許多支持者，如國際特赦組織、歐洲議會和屠圖主教，許多人都相信他是警察與司法種族主義的受害者，至少必須得到一次新的審判。在週四的上百位支持者中，有一位是老牌喜劇演員狄克‧葛雷葛利。 根據法庭上的紀錄，有人聽到判決阿布‧賈馬爾死刑的第一審法官，已故的亞伯特‧沙伯說過：「對呀，我準備要幫他們幹掉黑鬼。」 布萊恩表示，上訴法庭可能不會在數個月內做出判決，但可能會展開新的審判，召開新的證據公聽會，也可能駁回上訴，代表不久後姆米亞將面臨死刑。 （路透社） |
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| （回目錄） | |
| 為弱勢發聲 法庭激烈交鋒 | |
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週四，律師針對姆米亞‧阿布‧賈馬爾一案提出上訴，指出1982年審判的法官與檢察官有種族主義嫌疑。「整個案件以一貫之，就是種族主義。」阿布‧賈馬爾的律師布萊恩事後表示。 2001年，聯邦法官就推翻了阿布‧賈馬爾的死刑，但依舊維持了定罪。不論原告被告兩方都對此判決上訴。檢察官一方希望死刑恢復，而阿布‧賈馬爾要求重新審判。 現在的上訴法庭正衡量3個議題：當初的審判法官是否有種族偏見；判決死刑時，法官在告知陪審團的時候有沒有犯錯；以及在挑選陪審團的時候，是否不正當地排除了非裔的陪審員。 布萊恩指控當時的檢察官培養了反對非裔的「歧視文化」，而至今費城的律師公司仍在隱瞞這個情形。 在當年的陪審團中，有10位白人和2非裔判決阿布‧賈馬爾有罪。布萊恩表示，檢察官在名單中剔除了5個白人和10個非裔，卻接受了20個白人和4個非裔。但現在的上訴法官表示，他們在決定這個選擇是否有偏差前，必須知道在這個估計150人的名單中，原本的種族分布。然而，這樣的紀錄並不存在。「很可惜我們在這個議題上就差那麼一步。」 檢查官柏恩斯反駁，阿布‧賈馬爾在1995年的幾場上訴公聽會上缺席，因此現在有許多問題他已無法再反駁。 當初陪審團判阿布‧賈馬爾殺害警官丹尼爾‧福克納罪名成立。福克納將阿布‧賈馬爾的弟弟威廉‧庫克拉走之後遭到槍殺，檢察官則提出了犯人為阿布‧賈馬爾的關鍵證據，即福克納有開槍擊傷阿布‧賈馬爾，且他在案件發生後直到警方抵達前都還在現場。 週四當天，阿布‧賈馬爾並未被列名出席法庭，但許多關鍵人士都參加了。包括福克納的遺孀毛玲，福克納的搭檔蓋瑞‧貝爾，首席審判檢察官約瑟夫‧麥吉爾，以及阿布‧賈馬爾的長兄凱斯‧庫克。 「（法官）他們對疑點維持注意，鼓舞了我。」64歲的庫克表示。「我們所一直保持的就是希望。」1981年，現在是財務規劃員的庫克還在海外當兵。而威廉‧庫克對於槍擊案只有一句發言。「我跟那一點關連也沒有。」 福克納的遺孀則在公聽會後表示，她相信任何陪審團都應該會認定姆米爾‧阿布‧賈馬爾有罪。「不管誰是陪審團，我覺得他們都應該會做出一樣的結論，就是賈馬爾犯了一級謀殺罪。」50歲的毛玲‧福克納表示。 約有5百位支持阿布‧賈馬爾的抗議者在法庭外抗議，部分人來自法國。在巴黎郊區，有條街道以他為名。來自費城的馬可斯‧謝爾表示，阿布‧賈馬爾並沒有得到公平審判，因為他的身分是「前黑豹黨員，無聲弱勢者的聲音」。他表示：「姆米亞代表了許多現在關在監獄裡的黑人處境。」目前法庭的判決還不明，但按往例這至少還要再等數個月。 |
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| （回目錄） | |
| New Mumia Abu-Jamal crime scene photos unveiled for the first time犯罪現場照片首度公開 | |
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New Mumia Abu-Jamal crime scene photos unveiled for the first time in the United States, during the week of Abu-Jamal's May 17 oral arguments at the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Abu-Jamal's lead attorney, Robert R. Bryan, Linn Washington, Jr, and Dave Lindorff respond. Speaking in Philadelphia on Friday, May 18, German author, Dr. Michael Schiffmann presented findings from his new book (not yet published in the US) "Race Against Death. Mumia Abu-Jamal: a Black Revolutionary in White America," an expansion of Schiffmann's PhD dissertation at the University of Heidelberg, just released in Germany. Schiffmann traveled from Germany to Philadelphia to observe Abu-Jamal's May 17 oral arguments before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Along with original ballistics analysis, Schiffmann unveiled explosive new crime scene photos from the morning of December 9, 1981, taken by press photographer Pedro P. Polakoff, III. In 1982, Abu-Jamal was convicted of killing Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner and sentenced to death in a trial that Amnesty International has declared a "violation of minimum international standards that govern fair trial procedures and the use of the death penalty." In May, 2006, Schiffmann discovered two photographs on the Internet that were taken by the only press photographer immediately present at the 1981 crime scene - Pedro P. Polakoff, III. Polakoff arrived within 12 minutes of hearing about the shooting on the police radio and about ten minutes before the Mobile Crime Unit (responsible for forensics and photographs) arrived. According to Polakoff, this unit had still not taken any photos when Polakoff left after 30-45 minutes at the scene. Upon contacting Polakoff, Schiffmann learned that three of his 31 original shots were published in Philadelphia newspapers at the time, and five others were lost. Schiffmann explains that he published five of the 26 remaining photos to show the following three points: 1) "The cops manipulated evidence and supplied the trial court with stuff that was simply stage-managed. On Polakoff's photos, P.O. Faulkner's police hat at first is clearly on the roof of Billy Cook's VW, and only later on the sidewalk in front of 1234 Locust where it was photographed by the police photographer who arrived 10 minutes after Polakoff! 2) "In court Police Officer James Forbes claimed that he had 'secured' the weapons of both Faulkner and Abu-Jamal without touching them on their metal parts in order to not destroy potential fingerprints. However, in the single photo reprinted in the book you can see that Forbes is touching the weapons on their metal parts, and quite a few of Polakoff's other photos make it clear that Forbes touched and smudged these weapons all over, destroying any potential fingerprint evidence that may have been on them. 3) "The second-most important prosecution witness, cab driver Robert Chobert, simply was not parked in the spot, allegedly right behind Officer Faulkner's police squad car, where he claimed to have been and from where he claimed to have observed Abu-Jamal fire the shot that killed the officer." Polakoff's observations don't stop there. Schiffmann writes in Race: "According to Polakoff, at that time all the officers present expressed the firm conviction that Abu-Jamal had been the passenger in Billy Cook's VW and had killed Faulkner by a single shot fired from the passenger seat of the car." | |