The whole argument claiming that racial data about all 157 venirepersons in the Abu-Jamal case are even relevant to evaluate his Batson claim about racial discrimination in jury selection is transparently illogical and absurd, but everything indicates that once all indisputable facts about the venire composition are in, even this last ditch argument to deny Abu-Jamal “on the merits” relief in the Batson issue will lie in shambles. It will then have turned out as np more than a pseudo-statistical sham to justify a ruling that the court wanted to reach.
Readers in Philadelphia in particular, stay posted. Your help might be needed to find out more and conclusively establish these facts. You can contact Abu-Jamal News, or myself: mikschiff@t-online.de.
Michael Schiffmann, April 17, 2008
[1] The habeas petition identifies 15 instead of 14 black persons as contenders for the jury proper, but I will ignore this fact here since the race of the additional person continues to be unknown and since it alters nothing substantial.
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