Word: weinglass
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Jamal's legal defense is headed by Leonard Weinglass, a longtime champion of the so-called oppressed. Over the years he has presented a variety of crackpot theories that ostensibly seek to exonerate Jamal. One defense "witness" came forward a decade after the original trial to declare that a mysterious man shot Faulkner and fled just before Jamal arrived to help and was accidentally shot when Faulkner's gun inexplicably discharged. Another defense asset, Veronica Jones, remained silent for 14 years until declaring that she saw two men fleeing from the murder. She recalls that at the time...
...Weinglass's appeals on these and similarly flimsy grounds (he's also claimed that the presiding judge was racist and that the trial procedure was improper) have been rejected by two separate appeals courts in the last three years. So, why are there benefit concerts and international student walkouts being sponsored on Jamal's behalf? In the case of the Hollywood celebrities who have lined up behind Jamal, the best explanation seems to be outright ignorance. Most have not critically examined the facts of the case, and when pushed to explain their association with Jamal, most resort to explaining their...
...defense team, headed by Leonard Weinglass, disputes virtually every aspect of that account. The team notes that one of the three eyewitnesses who identified Abu-Jamal as the gunman was a prostitute with three pending felony charges--and thus had cause to cooperate with the police. Another witness, cabdriver Robert Chobert, told police on the night of the shooting that a man much larger than Abu-Jamal had stood over Faulkner and fired shots, then "ran away." Abu-Jamal's lawyers say other witnesses who did not testify also reported seeing a heavyset man shoot Faulkner and flee...
...failed to point out in court that the medical examiner's report identified the fatal bullet as .44 caliber, while the registered gun owned by Abu-Jamal and found at the scene was .38 caliber. Moreover, Abu-Jamal was allotted just $800 for investigators and expert witnesses. Says Weinglass: "You cannot put on a death case...
...invoke a centuries-old, common-law "necessity defense." An offense may be considered justifiable if it is directed against a "clear and imminent danger" that is of greater harm to the community, in this case alleged CIA lawbreaking in Central America. To bolster the cause, Defense Attorney Leonard Weinglass, one of Hoffman's lawyers in the 1969 Chicago Seven trial, got testimony from former Attorney General Ramsey Clark and onetime Contra Leader Edgar Chamorro. "These young people are doing perhaps what most of us should be doing," Juror Anne Gaffney, 64, said afterward...