Pennsylvania Supreme Court denies Mumia Abu-Jamal permission to appeal

This denial ends Mumia’s Pennsylvania court challenge to overturn his conviction.

by Rachel Wolkenstein, attorney

April 1, 2025 – In September 2024, the Pennsylvania Superior Court denied Mumia Abu-Jamal’s sixth Pennsylvania petition to reverse his 1982 conviction. A request to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for permission to appeal was denied on March 26, 2025. In Pennsylvania, an appeal to the state Supreme Court is not a right; a specific request for “allowance” (permission) is required. This denial by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ends Mumia’s Pennsylvania court challenge to overturn his conviction.

Judge Lucretia Clemons presided over Mumia’s case since December 2021 and, without a hearing, issued a denial on March 31, 2023. This sixth petition was based on corroborative new evidence of prosecutorial misconduct, Brady violations, for undisclosed inducements given to witnesses Cynthia While and Robert Chobert; and new evidence of racial bias in jury selection, a Batson violation.

That sixth petition did not include the substantial evidence already in the record from the evidentiary hearings before the infamous Judge Albert Sabo from 1995-97 or the voluminous newly discovered proof of Mumia’s innocence and the falsification of evidence against him by the police and prosecution, which was presented to the Pennsylvania and federal courts in filings from 2001-2003.

None of that new evidence of innocence was considered by the courts, All those filings were dismissed on grounds that they were “not timely filed.” Yet, none of the evidence discovered from 1995-2003 was included in the sixth petition to make the required legal argument that new evidence in the sixth petition presented in 2021 was “material” and grounds to reverse Mumia’s conviction.

Mumia’s arrest, conviction and death sentence were politically motivated and racially biased. The evidence uncovered over the decades following his conviction is proof that Mumia is innocent and framed. Future advocacy and action, as well as new legal challenges to win Mumia’s freedom, must be rooted in the understanding that Mumia is Innocent and Framed with the complicity of the Philadelphia police, prosecution, Pennsylvania courts and the FBI/U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The Mumia Freedom Tour, April 21-25, the week of Mumia’s 71st birthday, will take place at locations throughout the SF Bay Area – in Oakland, San Francisco and San Jose. This campaign Is spearheaded by Jamal Ibn Mumia, the oldest son of Mumia. Jamal will speak of the impact of his father’s beliefs and actions as a Black Panther, a legendary reporter, a prolific author and imprisoned freedom fighter on Mumia’s children and grandchildren. He will discuss the goal of the Mumia Freedom Tour to build a reinvigorated campaign to fight for Mumia’s freedom and win his unconditional release from prison.

Rachel Wolkenstein will also be speaking at these events, underscoring the evidence of Mumia’s innocence and his frame-up.

Rachel Wolkenstein has been a legal advocate for Mumia since 1987; co-counsel 1995-1999 during the proceedings of his first PCRA petition; attorney in charge of the evidentiary investigation; arrested in court by Judge Sabo in August 1995 for opposing the denial of a witness subpoena for testimony of jury selection methods that created racially segregated jury pools.

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