Head Strong: Maureen Faulkner's never-ending battle
After yet another court setback, she must push on to win justice for her husband.
May 01, 2011|By Michael Smerconish
'Till death do us part."
Maureen Faulkner accepts no such limitation on her marital vow, which she recited to her husband, Danny, on Nov. 8, 1980. She knew him for only 913 days, 396 of which they were married, but she views this as an infinite commitment. And when District Attorney Seth Williams called her with bad news Tuesday, she reaffirmed that commitment.
She will never forget the knock on the door at about 4 a.m. on Dec. 9, 1981, and hearing the news that her husband, Police Officer Danny Faulkner, had been shot.
A chain reaction of misery ensued.
Her parents, Annamae and Jim Foley, were then awakened with the news, as were her brothers. Danny's father, Thomas, a trolley operator, died when Danny was just 10, but his mother, Mary, who raised seven children on her own, was then living with Danny's brother Kenny.
Kenny answered the phone, and when told of his brother's shooting, asked, "Where?"
"In the face," was the reply, and Kenny then heard a shriek. He realized that his mother had picked up an extension.
The calls continued.
Sister Joanne was told, so, too, brothers Thomas Jr., Joseph, Lawrence, and Patrick. Patrick knew only that Danny had been shot, but, driving to Thomas Jefferson Hospital, he heard on KYW a report on the passing of a cop. He knew it was his kid brother.
Maureen's parents accompanied her to every day of the trial in 1982, but they are gone now. So, too, is Danny's mother. And Joanne, as well as brothers Thomas, Joseph, and Kenny. Only Pat and Larry remain. All the others passed without a sense of closure, a chance to see justice served on their loved one's killer.
They all died of natural causes, and sadly, Mumia Abu-Jamal probably will, too. Surely Maureen knows this, which only makes her battle to see the will of the jury imposed that more laudatory.
The federal judicial system has made a mockery of the verdict. Pennsylvania's death penalty is a fraud and a fiction. More than 200 inmates sit on death row, but even they know that only three individuals have had such sentences carried out since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstituted capital punishment in the 1970s - and each of them asked for it. Heck, not only can you live a long life after murdering a cop, but you also can deliver radio commentaries, write books, and be a college commencement speaker.
Faulkner: Teachers' union support for cop-killer outrages widow
Maureen Faulkner lives in Thousand Oaks.
Published Sunday, April 17, 2011
I am Maureen Faulkner, the widow of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel J. Faulkner. On December 9, 1981, my 25 year-old-husband was murdered in cold blood by Mumia Abu-Jamal while he lay wounded and unarmed on a cold sidewalk.
I recently became aware that The California Federation of Teachers, a branch of the AFL-CIO, adopted a resolution last month at its annual conference supporting convicted cop-killer Abu-Jamal, who it call a "journalist" and has called for a new trial for him based on some ridiculous "new evidence" that its uninformed members conjured up to serve their purpose.
The committee report reads: "Therefore, be it resolved, that the California Federation of Teachers reaffirm its support and demand that the courts consider the evidence of innocence of Mumia Abu-Jamal."
The truth about "civil rights activist" Abu-Jamal is readily available online (http://www.danielfaulkner.com) to anyone with an ounce of personal integrity who cares to read them.
At the site, you can read the actual words by the five eye-witnesses to my husband's murder, all who witnessed it as they stood less than 60 feet away. The posted information is not my spin on the ballistics evidence that unquestionably ties Abu-Mumia to the gun that fired the high-velocity ammunition that ended my husband's life. Or you can read about how Abu-Mumia, when taken to a hospital after he slaughtered my husband, to remove a bullet shot in self-defense from my husband's gun, said in front of two witnesses, "I shot the ... and I hope the ... dies."
If this "teachers" organization had shown even a modest amount of professionalism and decency by taking just a few moments to research the actual facts of my husband's brutal murder, it would have seen that the courts have in fact reviewed the "new evidence" presented over the past three decades by Abu-Jamal and his lying gaggle of attorneys.
You would also see that every one of over a dozen appellate court judges who have exhaustively reviewed these fabricated fairy tales has found them to be patently false. But to know the truth would not serve the California Federation of Teachers' political and social purpose, so it tells the necessary lies and inflicts further pain on my family and me.
Thursday, I called and spoke with Marty Hittelman, president of the California Federation of Teachers, to inquire if I had the facts straight regarding its endorsement of the murderer of my husband.
During my brief conversation with Mr. Hittelman, I calmly asked him if he knew what happened the night my husband was murdered. He replied that he did not know and "he has not read any of the transcripts" yet, he believes "Abu-Mumia deserves a third trial."
He told me that the resolution (by the teachers) only took one minute and he had not personally voted on it. I responded that it may have only taken one minute but the continuing trials, appeals and propaganda have resulted in many years of emotional distress for me and my family. He replied, "I'm sure it has."
He also said this wasn't supposed to get out into the press, asking, How did you find out about this?" I replied that I found out through the newspapers and told him, "You have no idea what victims go through when they lose a loved one to murder." At this point, Hittelman hung up on me!
There was a time when I and many others admired teachers for their honesty and integrity. We believed that they, of all people, would seek to uncover the truth rather than to politicize a tragedy for their own gain. Unfortunately, many organizations across the country — like the one Hittleman leads — have turned the vast majority of the American public against their members.
We can no longer trust many of our teachers because we know they have been indoctrinated with lies and because they allow political ideology to trump their responsibility to tell the truth. Organizations like Hittleman's, which champion racist, politically motivated killers like Mumia Abu-Jamal, have defiled a time-honored profession that is the foundation of everything great about our society.
How dare the California Federation of Teachers support a remorseless hate-filled cop killer, let alone do so in the name of California's teachers.
On December 9, 1981, at approximately
3:55 a.m., Officer Danny Faulkner, a five year veteran
of the Philadelphia Police Department, made a traffic
stop at Locust Street near Twelfth Street. The car stopped
by Officer Faulkner was being driven by William Cook.
After making the stop, Danny called for assistance on
his police radio and requested a police wagon to transport
a prisoner. Unbeknownst to him, William Cook's brother,
Wesley (aka Mumia Abu-Jamal) was across the street. As
Danny attempted to handcuff William Cook, Mumia Abu-Jamal
ran from across the street and shot the officer in the
back. Danny turned and was able to fire one shot that
struck Abu-Jamal in the chest; the wounded officer then
fell to the pavement. Mumia Abu-Jamal stood over the downed
officer and shot him four more times at close range, once
directly in the face. Mumia Abu-Jamal was found still
at the scene of the shooting by officers who arrived there
within seconds. The murderer was slumped against the curb
in front of his brother's car. In his possession was a
.38 caliber revolver that records showed Mumia had purchased
months earlier. The chamber of the gun had five spent
cartridges. A cab driver, as well as other pedestrians,
had witnessed the brutal slaying and identified Mumia
Abu-Jamal as the killer both at the scene and during his
trial. On July 2, 1982, after being tried before a jury
of ten whites and two blacks, Mumia Abu-Jamal was convicted
of murdering Officer Danny Faulkner. The next day, the
jury sentenced him to death after deliberating for two
hours. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania heard the defendant's
appeals and upheld the conviction on March 6, 1989.
