Murdered by Mumia

Book excerpt: New and updated in paperback! Maureen Faulkner is the widow of police officer Danny Faulkner, infamously murdered in Philadelphia in 1981 by Wesley Cook, who goes by the name of Mumia Abu-Jamal. Although Abu-Jamal was convicted and sentenced to death in 1982, in May of 2007 his attorneys appealed his sentence once more (the federal appeals court has not yet ruled). The defendant has become an international cult figure, who has been supported by such Hollywood activists as Ed Asner, Tim Robbins, and Susan Sarandon. Faulkner and radio-host Smerconish tell the other side of the story: the widow's anguish and grief and her attempts to bring closure to her husband's murder more than 25 years later. Smerconish (who is also a lawyer) has studied the 5,000 pages of trial transcripts (transcripts Asner readily admits he has never looked at), and outlines and analyzes the issues and evidence. The case is compelling, and the reader comes away convinced – as is Smerconish – that Abu-Jamal is guilty as charged. It is a latter-day In Cold Blood.