Mumia Abu-Jamal (born 1954) is an American convict, serving a life sentence for the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. He was sentenced to death at his first trial in July 1982, and his case became an international cause célèbre. Before his arrest, he was an activist and radio journalist who became President of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists. He was a member of the Black Panther Party until October 1970. Supporters and opponents disagreed on the appropriateness of the death penalty, his guilt, and whether he received a fair trial. He was described as "perhaps the world's best known death-row inmate". During his imprisonment he has published several books and other commentaries, notably Live from Death Row (1995). In 2008, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the murder conviction but ordered a new capital sentencing hearing because the jury was improperly instructed. Subsequently, the United States Supreme Court also allowed his conviction to stand but ordered the appeals court to reconsider its decision as to the sentence. In 2011, the Third Circuit again affirmed the conviction as well as its decision to vacate the death sentence, and the District Attorney of Philadelphia announced that prosecutors would no longer seek the death penalty. He was removed from death row in January 2012.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumia_Abu-Jamal

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1405:

Chinese explorer Zheng He led a massive fleet of 317 ships from Suzhou on a trade mission to India. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zheng_He

1804:

U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr mortally wounded former U.S. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton during a duel (pistols pictured) in Weehawken, New Jersey. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burr%E2%80%93Hamilton_duel

1882:

Anglo-Egyptian War: British naval forces began their bombardment of Alexandria against Urabi forces. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardment_of_Alexandria

1957:

Prince Karīm al-Hussaynī succeeded Sultan Mahommed Shah as the Aga Khan, becoming the 49th Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aga_Khan_IV

1960:

To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel by Harper Lee, featuring themes of racial injustice and the destruction of innocence in the American Deep South, was first published. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Kill_a_Mockingbird

1986:

The Parliament of New Zealand passed the Homosexual Law Reform Act, legalising consensual homosexual sex. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexual_Law_Reform_Act_1986

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

gaggle: 1. A group of geese when they are on the ground or on the water. 2. Any group or gathering of related things; bunch. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gaggle

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what. --Harper Lee https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Harper_Lee