Obama Nominee To Civil Rights Post Sparks Controversy Over Connection To Mumia Abu-Jamal [View all]

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PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – President Obama’s decision to nominate a former NAACP Legal Defense Fund attorney to the top civil rights job at the Department of Justice is sparking outrage among the police unions for his connection to Mumia Abu-Jamal. Jamal was convicted of killing Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner in 1982.

Debo Adegbile led the NAACP Legal Defense Fund when it successfully represented Mumia Abu-Jamal in a 2011 appeal that resulted in the reduction of his death sentence to life without parole.

“It’s an absolute slap in the face to every police officer, especially those who gave their lives in the line of duty,” says John McNesby, president of the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police.

“There’s outrage, there’s resentment there’s disapproval- you name it and our cops are feeling it,” he says.

full: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2014/01/10/obama-nominee-to-civil-rights-post-sparks-controversy-over-connection-to-mumia-abu-jamal/

See also:

Philly Mag

Reuters

The Hill

Philadelphia Inquirer, which begins the article: "Longtime Sesame Street viewers may remember him as Debo, the little boy who chatted with Grover about the letter S in the 1970s. But to the National Fraternal Order of Police, Debo Adegbile is a civil rights lawyer who "turned the justice system on its head" by providing legal assistance for Mumia Abu-Jamal."