MUMIA PLUS 20 - THE INSANITY CONTINUES

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I RECENTLY PULLED from the archives a newspaper dated Dec. 10, 1981, because I wanted to see the coverage of an event from the day before. What a throwback. Lots of time has ticked off the clock since the event that sparked my curiosity.

There was big story about a city politician named Street, but it was Milton, not John. The president was in the news - Ronald Reagan, in just his 11th month of office. There was also a foreboding article about health woes of homosexuals, 75 of whom were first thought to have died from pneumonia or cancer but now a "new ailment" was suspected. Gimbels, still in business, had a two-page ad. Another ad offered "betamax" recorders on sale.

But it was the banner headline of the day that I was looking for:

Policeman shot to death;

radio newsman charged

The cop's name was Danny Faulkner. You know the rest of the story. As I read the first news account, surrounded by other 20-year-old items, it occurred to me that Danny is now twice the victim.

First at the hands of Mumia Abu-Jamal, and now at the hands of a justice system that for two decades has allowed itself to be manipulated to spare the life of a convicted cop-killer.

Why the delay? A combination of fiction and misinformation - a process hell bent on protecting perpetrators, not victims.

Consider Arnold Beverly. He's the guy who recently came forward to say he was the triggerman, not Mumia. Is he credible? Hardly. But don't take my word. Consider what Mumia's lawyer first said about him: "I also wasn't about to embarrass myself by running with such a patently outrageous story on the most visible death-penalty case in the world."

Unfortunately, that didn't stop other Mumia lawyers from doing just that, throwing up another roadblock to closure.

There are countless examples of the truth being bent to strangle the system into submission.

Take the continued insistence that an eyewitness named Robert Chobert saw the "true shooter [flee] towards a nearby alleyway." Sounds compelling - but there's just one problem. He never said it. Just 25 minutes after the murder, he told police he saw Mumia "stand over the cop and shoot him a couple more times" and that Mumia ran "maybe 30 or 35 steps and then he fell."

Still, it was grounds for many filings, and the wasting of much time.

Another favorite: the .44-caliber myth. This one bought some more time. That is, until a 1995 hearing, when Mumia's own ballistics expert conceded that the bullet was most "likely" a .38, the same as Mumia's revolver.

Then there is the invocation of the name of another "witness" called William Singletary. HBO made him a celebrity. Too bad they didn't focus on the fact that Singletary once claimed under oath that Mumia was wearing "safari outfit. . .like the Arabs wear - harem pants." Mumia was wearing no such outfit when apprehended at the scene. His own lawyer once described him as wearing a "red and blue striped jacket." There is no rational debate on the issue.

But there is plenty of blame to spread around for the delay. Gov. Bob Casey's refusal to sign a death warrant probably bought Mumia another five years.

Now the case sits in federal court, but the delay continues. It has been there for two years. Nothing is left to litigate, but still no closure. And the new setting hasn't ended the same old delay tactics. Since August, Mumia's "new" lawyers have filed something just about once every week.

How bad has it become? Last week, Mumia's lawyers filed a new motion seeking to invoke a 1927 article by Felix Frankfurter about the Sacco and Vanzetti case, claiming there are "parallels." Are you kidding me?

It's been a full-time job for an unsung ADA named Hugh Burns, who has ably defended the Commonwealth against the chicanery. No matter how competently he responds, it never seems to end. And so Danny Faulkner, victimized once by Mumia, is now victimized by a system that permits the perpetuation of an appellate process with no compassion for either the Faulkner brothers nor Faulkner's bride.

On Sunday at noon, a bronze plaque will be laid at 1234 Locust St. to honor Officer Faulkner on the 20th anniversary of his execution. Here's hoping the charade ends soon, and that Danny Faulkner, having once been victimized by Mumia, is victimized no longer by the judicial system. *

Michael Smerconish's column appears on Thursdays. His e-mail address is mas@mastalk.com.

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