Batson Prima Facie (48:30): http://abu-jamal-news.com/audio/m17/DAprimaf.mp3
Burns argues that the State Supreme Court was “reasonable” in denying Abu-Jamal’s Batson claim, and seems to be rebuked by Judge Ambro, who emphasizes the low burden of proof, at the “prima facie” level of evaluating the Batson claim.
CHAPTER TWO: Judith Ritter
Judith Ritter Unedited (52:00): http://abu-jamal-news.com/audio/m17/JR.mp3
Professor Judith L. Ritter, Robert R. Bryan’s associate, argues on behalf of Abu-Jamal, and specifically addresses the “Mills” issue. In December, 2001 U.S. District Court Judge William Yohn affirmed Abu-Jamal's guilt judgment but overturned the death sentence. Citing the 1988 Mills v. Maryland precedent, Yohn ruled that sentencing forms used by jurors and Judge Albert Sabo's instructions to the jury were confusing and violated the U.S. Constitution. Jurors were led to believe that they had to unanimously agree on any mitigating circumstance in order to consider it as weighing against a death verdict.
*Unfortunately the audio quality of the second half of Ritter’s presentation is poor. It can be heard via Real Player instead.
SHORT EXCERPT: Verdict Form: http://abu-jamal-news.com/audio/m17/JRvform.mp3
Judith Ritter argues that the verdict form was confusing.
CHAPTER THREE: Robert R. Bryan
Robert R. Bryan Unedited (1:03:00): http://abu-jamal-news.com/audio/m17/RRB.mp3
This is the complete, unedited version of the argument of Abu-Jamal’s lead attorney, Robert R. Bryan, where his focus is on the Batson issue. Unfortunately, the first 10 minutes of audio is poor quality, but it is included here just in case. To remedy this problem, either 1) Listen to the next segment, which does not include the bad 10 minutes, or 2) Listen via Real Player from the file available at the top of the page.
Robert R. Bryan, Edited, Good Quality: http://abu-jamal-news.com/audio/m17/RRBgood.mp3
For this selection, the first 10 minutes of Robert R. Bryan’s presentation have been removed, so that all of this is high-quality audio.
SHORT EXCERPT: Peremptory Strikes: http://abu-jamal-news.com/audio/m17/RRBstrikes.mp3
Addressing the Batson claim, Robert R. Bryan gives several examples where prosecutor McGill’s justification for striking black jurors contradicts his treatment of potential white jurors.
*Also, listen to Robert R. Bryan’s closing argument below.
