Whats Billy Got To Do With It?

It was pointed out that Mumia's brother recently attended the long-awaited hearing before the Third Circuit Judges.

Unfortunatly, it wasn't the brother who matters.

William "I ain't got nothing to do with it" Cook was a no-show at yet another Jamal court hearing.

While he was at Jamal's 1982 trial long enough to get himself put in jail for contempt of court after he and another of Jamal's brothers created a ruckus in the courtroom, he has not been in court room with his brother since.

The only legal document we have from Billy Cook is a clumsily written and contradictory affadavit that makes anyone dumber for reading it, as it offers nothing in the way of helping to unravel the tragic events of Dec, 9 1981.

In the affadavit, Cook swears that he was inside his car when Mumia raced across the street, while Mumia claimed that Cook was out of the car staggering and "screaming". Moreover, in Cook's affadavit (William not Wesley), he claims that he never laid a hand on Faulkner who was trying to arrest him.

This, despite the fact that he was convicted of assaulting Faulkner. This conviction was reversed in 1983, when he voluntarily plead guilty to punching Faulkner in the face in exchange for a non-jail sentence.

Who was lying? Mumia or Billy?

Who knows? Probably both.

What we can say with some certainty is that Billy Cook knows much more than he has said in his affadavit. We can also say with some certainty that Cook was nearest to the shooting and that his self-serving statement to police practically implicates his brother in the killing.

That he stays silent and out of public view speaks volumes.

We have all heard that Billy Cook has stayed on the down low because he is "afraid".

And there probably is some truth in that.

It is very likely that he fears coming to grips with the terrible reality that his own brother blew somebody's brains out right in front of him. He has to know that if he takes the stand and lies that he will only further damage his brother's case and on the other hand he knows that if he tells the truth that he will ensure his brother never breaths the free air.

I have a brother and if I knew he had spent a quarter of a century locked up for a crime that he did not commit, that I can say without hesitation that no force would stop me from getting the word out...