Maureen Faulkner, the widow of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner, is about to publish her new book called “Murdered By Mumia.” This is one you should put on your Christmas list, it tells of the pain and anguish this woman went through losing her husband and then watching as many people started rooting for her husbands killer. Here is an excerpt:
The reporters began to question me. I was asked about my feelings on how
long it had taken to get to this point, and I mentioned how I had known many of
them when this all started in 1981 and how we had all kind of grown old together
waiting for the case to move forward. That comment drew a pained laugh from a
few of the older folks in the group.Then I was asked if, given all the time that had passed, it wouldn’t be
better for me and my family if the [U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit,
which is considering a 2001 ruling that directed that Abu-Jamal be resentenced]
decided to give Abu-Jamal life in prison (life without parole, or LWOP) and have
this all end. This idea was not new. In the past I had often thought of or been
asked by friends about the same thing.I had never been asked this question in public, but I knew my answer before
the reporter had finished the question.I explained that I was wise enough to know that in our legal system, LWOP
is not what it seems. I explained to the reporters that unless Jamal is
executed, my family and I will have to live every day of the rest of our lives
knowing that a future governor could set Abu-Jamal free with the stroke of a
pen, and that I had no doubt that Abu-Jamal’s misguided and uninformed
supporters and friends would relentlessly lie about the facts to future
generations in order to perpetuate the myth that Abu-Jamal is a victim of a
racist justice system, then demand his release. . . .I noted that over the years I had repeatedly seen governors commute the
sentences of murderers – especially those who had grown old in prison – simply
because they cut a sympathetic image of a harmless old man, a grandfatherly
type, with grown children and grandchildren, or someone who was terminally ill,
a person who committed a crime in a bygone day who had been “punished enough.” .
. .I told them I wanted to be certain that Abu-Jamal could never be free again
– that he would die alone in prison away from his family, as [my husband] Danny
had died alone on the street on Dec. 9 [, 1981].I also explained that first-degree murder – the crime Abu-Jamal had been
unanimously convicted of by a jury of his own choosing – is different from any
other crime. I told them that, in my heart, I firmly believe that a person who
knowingly and violently takes the life of another person, especially a police
officer, should forfeit his or her own life. We owe that to our law-enforcement
officials: the knowledge that criminals know and see that if they choose to kill
a police officer, they will forfeit their own lives in return. Police officers
need and deserve that protection.
From a recent article on Maureen:
Mumia Abu-Jamal’s fatal shooting of Officer Daniel Faulkner has become one of the most prominent death row cases in the world. But throughout 26 years of litigation, one part of the story has been largely overshadowed.
The officer’s widow, Maureen Faulkner, is now speaking at length about the case in “Murdered by Mumia: A Life Sentence of Loss, Pain and Injustice” (The Lyons Press), a book written with radio talk-show host Michael Smerconish that comes out Thursday.
“It’s been a therapy for me. It really has. The truth is now on paper on what happened the night Danny was murdered,” Faulkner said in an interview last week.
~~~Daniel Faulkner was a 25-year-old newlywed when he was gunned down Dec. 9, 1981. A jury concluded Abu-Jamal shot Faulkner several times after seeing the officer scuffle with his brother, who had been pulled over in downtown Philadelphia. The verdict has withstood numerous appeals.
~~~Smerconish, who is also a lawyer and a newspaper columnist, read the entire 5,000-page case file before offering to help Faulkner tell her story. In an interview, he spoke of his admiration for Faulkner – who he said has been smeared, threatened and spit on by Abu-Jamal supporters – and what he called her David vs. Goliath odyssey to fight the “Free Mumia” movement.
Like the time she called Continental Airlines to berate the company for allowing an Abu-Jamal benefit concert to be held at Continental Airlines Arena in New Jersey. Or the time she showed up at the commencements of Antioch and Evergreen State colleges to protest their choice of Abu-Jamal as a speaker (via tape).
Or the time she hired a plane to fly around the offices of Addison-Wesley, the company that published Abu-Jamal’s book “Live From Death Row.” The plane towed a banner that said, “ADDISON-WESLEY SUPPORTS COP KILLER.”
“Every instance where she’s sort of outmanned and outgunned and outfunded, somehow she digs deep and she gets it done,” Smerconish said.
~~~Yet Abu-Jamal has become a celebrity, repeatedly receiving the kind of publicity that still brings Faulkner to tears. She writes of the gut-wrenching shock of hearing Abu-Jamal’s voice in a radio commentary, the anger of seeing pro-Abu-Jamal graffiti on a southern California freeway, and the frustration of running into someone in a “Free Mumia” T-shirt at the gas station.
Faulkner asked that young man what he knew about the case. When he responded that Abu-Jamal was a political prisoner who had been railroaded, Faulkner identified herself as the victim’s widow.
“He looked at me with a shocked look on his face,” Faulkner recalled. She said she told him that he was misinformed about the case, and offered to send him the trial transcripts. “He said, ‘No, that’s OK,’ and he hopped in his car and he drove away.”
Maureen is scheduled to be on the Today Show this Thursday to talk about her new book, and the courageous fight she has led by these liberal idiots who fight for a cop killer. But now these same idiots are planning to protest the Today Show (h/t Is This Life) and have demanded equal time to plead their case. Please make your voice heard, email (if that one doesn’t work use this email) or call the Today Show at
(212) 664-4249 and let them know that anyone, ANYONE, who demands that a convicted cop killer be set free should not be given free press time.
See my other posts on Daniel here and here.
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