Mumia "Conspiracy" Answered

Philadelphia Daily News

(The author of the following letter is a long-time Jamal supporter whose role within the "movement" is writing letters to the media touting whatever pro-Jamal propaganda is fashionable at the moment. Prior to this letter, he was writing about how great the disgraced affidavits presented by disgraced attorney Eliot Grossman were. In a letter from a few years back he justified the murder of Officer Faulkner in the following, borderline insane statement:

"If so, wasn't whoever did do the shooting acting in defense of Cook and to stop a crime?"

Unfortunately, various editors at Philly papers are still giving this mulletted, communist, hippie a forum to spew his pseudo-intellectual rubbish. Thankfully, there are people who do are smart enough and sophisticated enough to run roughshod over his nonsense. Their letters follow his.)

Dear Editor,

IT'S A TIMEWORN tactic of those who seek to disparage Mumia Abu-Jamal's claim of innocence to blur his situation with those others charged with or convicted of completely unrelated crimes.

One would think, however, that letter-writer Don Buttenbusch could come up with something more creative than the hackneyed O.J. Simpson comparison. It is neither Mumia's nor his supporters' responsibility to "find the real killer." But in the unlikely event that Buttenbusch sincerely wants to know "Who else could have killed Officer Faulkner?" I'll offer a few suggestions:

Perhaps a more likely possibility is a man named Kenneth Freeman. It is now almost indisputable that Freeman, a friend of Mumia's brother William Cook, was in the car when Cook was stopped by Faulkner on Dec. 9, 1981. The prosecution, which claimed that Cook, Mumia and Faulkner were the only people on the scene, never revealed that on the fallen officer were found driver's ID belonging to Freeman. Cook has confirmed that Freeman was in the car with him that night. Why was this evidence withheld?

Is it plausible to conjecture that, upon witnessing Cook being beaten by Faulkner and Mumia then being shot as he ran toward the scene, Freeman shot Faulkner and fled into the night?
We may never know, as Freeman was found dead the night of the MOVE bombing, and delivered to the hospital naked and bound. Coincidence?

Bob Harris, Philadelphia

Dear Editor,

Bob Harris' Nov. 24 letter tries another untestable theory as to how Officer Danny Faulkner was murdered. We seem to forget that Faulkner was the victim, not Mumia Abu-Jamal. While Mumia has been alive in prison for almost 26 years, Officer Faulkner has been in his grave.
Harris' theory that Kenneth Freeman may have been the shooter is ludicrous. Faulkner was shot in the back at close range by Mumia's gun. Faulkner, while on the ground, shot Mumia at point-blank range, not as he ran toward the scene, as Harris suggests. Simultaneously, Mumia's gun was fired at point-blank range into Faulkner's forehead. The only person who could have shot Faulkner twice at close range and been shot by Faulkner was Mumia.

Wesley (Mumia) Cook did not testify in his defense. His brother, William Cook, an eyewitness, refuses to testify. If I witnessed a murder, and my brother was accused, and I knew he was innocent, I would be the first on the stand to come to his defense.

How come William Cook has never said a word after a quarter-century? My untestable theories: William Cook did it and won't confess, or just won't come out and admit Mumia is Faulkner's killer.
Mike Lawler, Pottstown

(Anti-MOVE blog note. William Cook did supply an affidavit affirming his and Jamal's innocence, however it was so sloppy and ill-conceived that it contradicted Jamal's own statement)

Dear Editor,

Bob Harris has a suggestion on who killed Officer Faulkner: The man in the back seat of Cook's car did it, then ran away. Before he ran, though, he took Mumia's gun, then returned it to Mumia as Mumia sat on the curb where he was found still holding the gun registered in his name. Does that sound about right, Mr. Harris?

If that was truly the case, why didn't Cook or Mumia or anyone else throw that story at someone? I'm sure one of the hundreds of lawyers Mumia's had would have brought that fact up somewhere during the last 25 years. Then you add that this Mr. Freeman was one of the people in the MOVE house that allowed innocent children to die in the bombing by not letting them escape.

Don't bother saying that they would have been shot by police. If that was the case, why were Ramona and Birdie Africa, who escaped on their own and saved by the police, not shot?
I guess, sir, the only thing we really know is your story is full of baloney.

Rus Slawter, Philadelphia