THIRD CIRCUIT RULING
The Third Circuit’s ruling rested on a procedural finding by two of the three judges on this appeal’s court panel. This finding stated that lawyers for Abu-Jamal during the 1982 trial and the 1995 appeal hearing failed to follow the procedures legally required to properly raise the issue of prosecutors improperly using racism during the jury selection process.
The panel’s majority asserted that “Abu-Jamal has forfeited his Batson claim by failing to make a timely objection” to improper procedures by prosecutors referencing the US Supreme Court’s 1986 Batson ruling that outlaws the exclusion of black jurors for reasons rooted in racism.
Philadelphia area author and investigative reporter Dave Lindorff notes the absurdity of holding Abu-Jamal’s lawyer responsible for not strictly following procedures during the 1982 trial that the US Supreme Court did not create until four years later in that 1986 Batson case.
No lawyer (or judge) in the United States could predicted what procedure the US Supreme Court would order four years in the future observes Lindorff, author of the seminal 2003 book on the Abu-Jamal case: “Killing Time…”
In reaching this conclusion against Abu-Jamal’s jury discrimination claim, that Third Circuit panel’s majority created a new standard for persons raising Batson claims in that court.
This standard requires that a Batson violation claim must be raised at the time of jury selection -- a contemporaneous objection.
Interestingly, in reaching this conclusion of procedural errors by Abu-Jamal’s attorney, the panel’s majority failed to note that this lawyer at 1982 trial was unfairly thrust into the jury selection process after that process was underway without the opportunity to do any preparation.
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