Convicted police killer Mumia Abu-Jamal has asked a federal judge to let him fire his long-time legal team, contending that one of his attorneys is writing an "insider's account" of his case.

The handwritten motion by Abu-Jamal, currently on death row at a state prison near Pittsburgh, was filed early today in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia.

The motion contends that on Feb. 24 Abu-Jamal confirmed that defense attorney Daniel R. Williams, a death-penalty specialist from New York, was "in the late processes of publishing a book on the case, purported to be an `inside account.'"

Abu-Jamal's motion maintains that such a situation violates the lawyers' Rules of Professional Conduct, creates a "clear undeniable conflict of interest" and is a "breach of client loyalty."

Leonard I. Weinglass, the New York City civil rights attorney who for years has represented Abu-Jamal in the his campaign to overturn his death penalty in his murder conviction in the 1981 death of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner, today confirmed that he had received Abu-Jamal's handwritten motion.

Weinglass, however, declined to comment on Abu-Jamal's allegations about Williams' purported insider's book.

Williams could not be reached for comment. Two other members of Abu-Jamal's legal team, Steve Hawkins, of the National Conference of Black Lawyers, and Philadelphia civil rights lawyer Jules Epstein, also could not be reached for comment.

Abu-Jamal's motion to fire his lawyers must be approved by U.S. District Judge William H. Yohn Jr.

If the motion is approved, Abu-Jamal would represent himself until he can hire a new legal team. It would also undoubtedly delay further his final appellate attempt to avoid execution.

At issue in the federal appeal is whether Abu-Jamal's constitutional rights were violated during his 1982 trial before Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Albert F. Sabo, and a 1995 state post-conviction appeal hearing Sabo also conducted.

Abu-Jamal, 45, was convicted of shooting Faulkner, a decorated five-year veteran officer who had pulled over Abu Jamal's brother in an early morning traffic stop in Center City. Abu-Jamal, driving a taxi, reported passed by, spotted Faulkner and his brother, and parked the cab.

Back-up officers responding to a report of a shooting found the fatally wounded Faulkner, 25, on the ground, shot at close range in the face, and Abu-Jamal lying nearby wounded by a bullet from Faulkner's gun. Abu-Jamal's gun, with five spent shells, was also found.

A former radio reporter and Black Panther, Abu-Jamal has always maintained that he was framed by police in the Faulkner murder and that his defense was undermined by an incompetent trial attorney who did not research his cases, or press Judge Sabo for more money to hire experts on pathology and ballistics who might have proved Abu-Jamal was not the shooter.