U.S. court: Abu-Jamal may get death penalty review

By Jon Hurdle

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A U.S. federal appeals court on Thursday upheld the murder conviction of black journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal for killing a white policeman in 1981, but said his death sentence may be reviewed by a lower court.

Abu-Jamal, on death row for 26 years, has become a prominent cause for the international anti-death penalty movement.

His supporters, including Amnesty International and South African Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, say his trial was tainted by racism on the part of the judge and prosecutors.

Some backers expressed outrage that his conviction was upheld in Thursday's ruling, handed down by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, while prosecutors asserted he deserved no sympathy.

"He is no victim. He is just a stone cold murderer, remorseless, unrepentant," Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham said.

The panel ruled 2-1 that Pennsylvania can either commute Abu-Jamal's sentence to life imprisonment or hold a new sentencing hearing within 180 days that could either affirm the death sentence or change it to life in prison.

Abu-Jamal's attorneys, led by Robert Bryan of San Francisco, had sought a new trial, but Bryan said he was encouraged that Judge Thomas Ambro dissented and raised concerns about the racial composition of the jury.

Bryan said he would ask the full appeals court to rehear the matter of whether to overturn the conviction or grant a new trial. If that fails, he vowed to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.