Dave Lindorff, grudging treasurer of the Philly
Local of the NWU, has been a journalist since 1973
and a full-time freelancer since 1979. A founder
of the National Writers Union, he was active in the
union's formative years in New York, as a member of
the New York local's steering committee.
A writer for such publications as Salon.com,
Business Week, The Nation, In These Times, and
others, he is also author of "Marketplace Medicine:
The Rise of the For-Profit Hospital Chains" (Bantam
1992). He recently published "Killing Time," the first
independent book about the death-penalty case of
Philadelphia journalist and former Black Panther
activist Mumia Abu-Jamal (Common Courage Press, 2002).
He holds a B.A. in Chinese from Wesleyan
University and an M.S. in Journalism from Columbia
University's School of Journalism. He has worked for
daily newspapers, television, magazines and as a
foreign correspondent in Asia.
Samples of his work can be found at:
http://www.vote.com/magazine/editorials/editorial3307499.phtml
http://www.iacenter.org/nationed.htm
http://www.tibet.ca/wtnarchive/1997/3/24_7.html
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2001/01/02/death_penalty/index.html
http://www.vote.com/magazine/editorials/editorial3307499.phtml
http://www.iacenter.org/nationed.htm
http://www.tibet.ca/wtnarchive/1997/3/24_7.html
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2001/01/02/death_penalty/index.html
http://www.treasuryandrisk.com/display.asp?article_id=86
http://www.treasuryandrisk.com/display.asp?article_id=90
http://www.treasuryandrisk.com/display.asp?article_id=84
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/02/20/cfos/
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2001/04/05/bush/
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2002/08/06/tips/index_np.html
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/10/16/secret_service/print.html
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/07/25/no_fly/print.html
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/05/06/sentencing_errors/print.html
http://www.inthesetimes.org/print.php?id=335_0_1_0
http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff10172003.html
Common Courage Announces:
"
Killing Time: An Investigation Into the Death Penalty Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal"
The Book that Blows the Lid Off the Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal
Why it's guaranteed to challenge both sides of this epic struggle
In the first book by an investigative reporter
to examine the case of
America1s most famous living death row inmate, Dave Lindorff uncovers
explosive evidence in Killing Time: An Investigation Into the Case of Mumia
Abu-Jamal.
Lindorff has re-examined old material and uncovered shocking
new details that raise questions about both the truth of the defendant's story,
and about
the fairness of his trial and appeals process. After all these years, what
can be said about this famous case that's new? Lindorff's book is packed with
original revelations:
1. A Pennsylvania Superior Court Judge, back in June 1982, overheard the
judge sitting at Abu-Jamal's trial, state that he was going to help the D.A.
"
fry that nigger," but has kept that evidence of gross judicial malpractice
to himself for 20 years. Dave is the first person to interview the judge
about that incident.
2. In the first careful review of key documents, Lindorff reveals that
Abu-Jamal's and his brother William Cook's accounts of what happened back on
December 9, 1981, which they released as affidavits for the first time in 2001,
are mutually contradictory on key points.
3. Many are familiar with the fact that Abu-Jamal fired his own stellar team
of lawyers in 2001 after one published a tell-all book on the case even while
it was pending. But Lindorff has uncovered startling news about the lawyers
hired by Abu-Jamal to replace them: Eliot Grossman has no experience litigating
death penalty cases. Marlene Kamish, who was previously peripherally involved
in one death penalty case, was removed from it by her employer.
4. In a surprise turn, the celebrity support movement behind Abu-Jamal has
shut down. Lindorff got the story from the star who turned off the spigot.
5. Joseph McGill, the D.A. who prosecuted the case and won the death penalty,
had at the trial had assured the court that a crucial witness, a police officer
sought by the defense, was away on vacation. For the first time, in an interview
with Lindorff, he now concedes that he may have previously instructed that
police witness to stay at home while on vacation to be available to testify,
a fact kept from the court. It's an earth shaking revelation. At the trial
20 years ago, McGill succeeded in blocking the defense from finding and calling
the witness by convincing the defense counsel the witness was unavailable,
though he now concedes he may have known the officer was available. That officer's
testimony, had it been taken, would have shattered the prosecution's pivotal
claim that Abu-Jamal had confessed to killing Officer Faulkner.
6. The same D.A. concedes that at the time of the trial he himself "wondered
about" the credibility of two police officers who, only after a two-month
lapse, claimed to have heard Abu-Jamal confess to killing Officer Daniel Faulkner.
7. The federal judge, William Yohn, who rejected all 20 of Abu-Jamal's habeas
corpus appeals for an overturning of his conviction, made factual errors so
grievous that it would appear he never really read the documents in the case.
For example, he chastises the defense for not calling in 1995 a prosecution
witness who in fact had been dead since 1992. He also wrongly placed a witness
at the scene of the shooting who was actually never closer than a block away.
8. That same judge was monumentally confused over critical evidence about race-based
jury selection by the prosecution. He incorrectly barred this evidence whose
relevance he tragically misinterpreted. These and several other equally big
errors discussed
at the opening of the book in a last-minute insert, and completely missed by
Abu-Jamal1s new attorneys‹should, if properly presented on appeal, compel
the Third Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse the judge's ruling or to order
him to
reconsider.
Killing Time: An Investigation into the Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal
Author: Dave Lindorff
ISBN: 1-56751-228-3, paper, $19.95 ISBN 1-56751-229-1, cloth,
29.95
400 pages
Contact: Greg Bates,
1 Red Barn Road, Monroe, ME 04951 207-525-0900 fax 207-525-3068
What people are
saying about Killing Time:
At last! At long last! A journalist worthy of the name has finally put his
magnifying glass on America's most notorious death penalty case. Dave
Lindorff's meticulous examination of the trials of Mumia Abu-Jamal spares no
one. Having exposed the failings of prosecutors, judges and defense
attorneys while laying bare the inexcusable rot in its criminal justice
system, Lindorff had better stay out of Philadelphia.
-Mike Farrell, actor/writer/producer and President of Death
Penalty Focus
A terrific courtroom thriller, acted out by real people, brave and cowardly,
honest and deceitful, strong and weak, biased and fair, smart and stupid,
some admirable, some despicable, all fallible-in a word, human. A credit to
investigative journalism.
-John L. Hess, former investigative
reporter for The New York Times
Lindorff, an acclaimed investigative reporter, provides the first thorough,
journalistic, book-length examination of this pivotal death penalty case.
He once told a journalism class that investigative reporting is not so much
new discovery as it is connecting existing dots. Lindorr1s investigation in
Killing Time connects dots in a way that reveals new insights, even to those
convinced of Abu-Jamal1s innocence or his guilt.
-Linn
Washington, columnist, Philadelphia Tribune
Dave Lindorff has written a magnificent book. From the sprawling turbulence
of the Mumia Abu-Jamal case, he has distilled a lucid, absorbing and indeed
ground-breaking account, which should compel the respect of any fair-minded
person. At last I feel I understand the case in its entirety.
-Alexander
Cockburn, columnist for The Nation
An extremely compelling argument for a new trial. I applaud Dave Lindorff's
courageous and thorough examination of this case, which illustrates that in
this justice system, error is virtually guaranteed.
-Rev.
Jesse Jackson
Carefully reported and powerfully written.
-Ed
Lazarus, former federal prosecutor
Dave Lindorff1s Killing Time stands alone
as a full and fair-minded analysis of the case brought against Mumia Abu-Jamal.
As such, it throws lurid light on the workings of the institutions that played
a role in carrying out and publicizing the case: the Philadelphia police, the
judiciary, and the seriously biased media. It also makes a completely compelling
case that Mumia Abu-Jamal1s trial and treatment by police and courts from his
moment of arrest to the present failed to meet minimal standards of justice.
-Edward
S. Herman, U. of Penn Wharton School professor emeritus, media
critic
and co-author with Noam Chomsky of Manufacturing Consent