Attorney Leonard Weinglass to Address Controversial Mumia Death-Penalty Case In Lecture

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Noted civil rights attorney Leonard Weinglass will discuss the death penalty in America, with special focus on the controversial case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, whose judicial cause is tied to the campaign to abolish the death penalty, during a talk set for 6 p.m. Feb. 23 in 109 O'Brian Hall on the North Campus.

The talk will be free of charge and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

Weinglass has been involved in some of the most controversial political cases of the past 40 years. He represented activist Angela Davis, Amy Carter in her anti-apartheid demonstration case, the Chicago Seven and the Pentagon Papers' defendants, among others.

He currently is chief counsel for Mumia Abu-Jamal and is spearheading the fight to save his client from execution by the state of Pennsylvania for the murder of a police officer.

Abu-Jamal's supporters claim that his trial was so replete with errors and prosecutorial and judicial prejudice that it cannot be considered just in any light. They have launched a national campaign demanding a new trial.

Bruce Jackson, SUNY Distinguished Professor and Samuel P. Capen Professor of American Culture, will introduce Weinglass. Charles Carr, clinical associate professor of law, will moderate.

For further information contact Chuck Culhane at 645-2546 or 894-2013.

This event is sponsored by the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy, the Center for Studies in American Culture, the Samuel P. Capen Chair in American Culture, the UB chapter of Amnesty International, the Black Law Students Association, Prison Action Connection of the WNY Peace Center, UB American Studies Action Club, Concerned Citizens Against Police Abuse, the Newman Center and the Buffalo Committee to Free Mumia.