Post by Master-9 on May 24, 2004 18:26:48 GMT -5
Ga. Supreme Court upholds Al-Amin conviction
By CARLOS CAMPOS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/24/04
The Georgia Supreme Court today unanimously upheld the conviction of Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin for the murder of a Fulton County sheriff's deputy.
Lawyers for Al-Amin, formerly known as the 1960s radical H. Rap Brown, sought a new trial for the Muslim cleric on several grounds, including an allegation that Fulton County prosecutors violated Al-Amin's constitutional right to not testify in his own defense.
A Fulton County jury convicted Al-Amin of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault on a peace officer and other charges in the killing in Atlanta's West End neighborhood. Sheriff's deputies Ricky Kinchen and Aldranon English went to Al-Amin's home on March 16, 2000, to serve him with a Cobb County arrest warrant for skipping a court date on charges of receiving stolen property and impersonating a police officer
Al-Amin opened fire with an assault rifle, killing Kinchen and wounding English. Al-Amin was captured four days later in Alabama.
Prosecutors sought the death penalty, but jurors decided on life in prison without parole.
Al-Amin claimed he was framed as part of a government conspiracy dating back to his days as a political activist. His lawyer, Jack Martin, argued that Al-Amin should have been granted a new trial because a Fulton prosecutor violated his constitutional right not to testify in his defense. During the trial's closing arguments, prosecutor Robert McBurney had posted seven "questions for the defendant" on a screen shown to the jury.
"Why would the FBI care enough to frame you?" asked one question. Another asked Al-Amin why his Mercedes was riddled with bullet holes.
The Supreme Court agreed that prosecutors erred in commenting on the failure of Al-Amin to testify, "but we find that the error, although of a constitutional magnitude, was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt."
In a unanimous decision, Georgia Supreme Court justices found no reversible error in the lower court decisions.
"The evidence was sufficient ... to have found Al-Amin guilty of the crimes for which he was convicted," wrote Justice Hugh P. Thompson.
By CARLOS CAMPOS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/24/04
The Georgia Supreme Court today unanimously upheld the conviction of Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin for the murder of a Fulton County sheriff's deputy.
Lawyers for Al-Amin, formerly known as the 1960s radical H. Rap Brown, sought a new trial for the Muslim cleric on several grounds, including an allegation that Fulton County prosecutors violated Al-Amin's constitutional right to not testify in his own defense.
A Fulton County jury convicted Al-Amin of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault on a peace officer and other charges in the killing in Atlanta's West End neighborhood. Sheriff's deputies Ricky Kinchen and Aldranon English went to Al-Amin's home on March 16, 2000, to serve him with a Cobb County arrest warrant for skipping a court date on charges of receiving stolen property and impersonating a police officer
Al-Amin opened fire with an assault rifle, killing Kinchen and wounding English. Al-Amin was captured four days later in Alabama.
Prosecutors sought the death penalty, but jurors decided on life in prison without parole.
Al-Amin claimed he was framed as part of a government conspiracy dating back to his days as a political activist. His lawyer, Jack Martin, argued that Al-Amin should have been granted a new trial because a Fulton prosecutor violated his constitutional right not to testify in his defense. During the trial's closing arguments, prosecutor Robert McBurney had posted seven "questions for the defendant" on a screen shown to the jury.
"Why would the FBI care enough to frame you?" asked one question. Another asked Al-Amin why his Mercedes was riddled with bullet holes.
The Supreme Court agreed that prosecutors erred in commenting on the failure of Al-Amin to testify, "but we find that the error, although of a constitutional magnitude, was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt."
In a unanimous decision, Georgia Supreme Court justices found no reversible error in the lower court decisions.
"The evidence was sufficient ... to have found Al-Amin guilty of the crimes for which he was convicted," wrote Justice Hugh P. Thompson.
