Police Widow Wants Philly DA Off Mumia Abu-Jamal Appeal

Philadelphia police widow Maureen Faulkner is trying again to "disqualify" Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner's office from overseeing any appeals from her husband's convicted killer, Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Maureen Faulkner filed a petition Tuesday with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court after previously losing a similar fight in a lower court.

Her husband, Officer Daniel Faulkner was killed in 1981 during a traffic stop at 13th and Locusts streets in Philadelphia's Center City neighborhood.  

Abu-Jamal, a longtime death-row activist and Black Panther member, was convicted of first-degree murder in 1982. But he has a chance at another appeal based on a related U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year.

Krasner said he found potentially damaging evidence about the prosecution's trial witnesses in newly discovered files. He believes that evidence should be aired in court — but hasn't said if Abu-Jamal deserves a new trial.

Faulkner wants Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro to take over the appeal. Krasner's office has no comment.

"It's not fair that I have to do this, just to be slapped in the face constantly with this case, over and over and over again," Maureen Faulkner, 62, told The Associated Press. "I'm in a mental prison."

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