Supporters of death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal, the former Black Panther and journalist convicted of killing a Philadelphia police officer nearly three decades ago, are hoping President Obama will intervene to overturn a sentence they say is unjust. “It’s clear Mumia did not have a fair trial,” said MOVE member Pam Africa, one of the organizers of a Free Mumia petition now being circulated. “Evidence was most definitely withheld. This is a test for this new administration right here.” Read the rest.

High Court denies famous inmate a new trial.

Mumia Abu-Jamal, the journalist and former Black Panther convicted in the 1981 killing of a Philadelphia Police officer, will not get a new trial, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday. In issuing their ruling, the justices were silent, leaving intact an earlier appeals court decision that upheld Abu-Jamal’s murder conviction but granted him a new sentencing hearing. Abu-Jamal’s plight has gained international attention. Many foreign dignitaries have called for the death-row inmate either to be released or granted a new trial. Prosecutors claim that Abu-Jamal ruthlessly gunned down Daniel Faulkner, a 25-year-old cop, after the officer pulled over the defendant’s brother late one night. For many years, Abu-Jamal has argued that a thoroughly racist judicial system undermined his chance for a fair trial.Obama is outpacing McCain in the polls. Democratic Sen. Barack Obama appears to be stretching his lead against his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain, in the race for the White House. After shadowing each other over the past several weeks, Obama appears be gaining some traction, as his flimsy 2- to 3-point lead in national polls is now a full 6 to 7 points in the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. On Monday, the poll showed Obama ahead 49-43. “Over the past couple of weeks, McCain has absorbed a very tough, one-two punch,” says Republican pollster Neil Newhouse, who conducted this survey with Democrat Peter D. Hart. “First, the financial crisis… Second, the debates. These two things have clearly led to a momentum shift in this campaign, where Obama has slowly started to [increase] his lead.” There is now less than one month before Election Day – a bad time to be trailing in the polls. “I think John McCain finds himself in a hole no candidate wants to be in,” Hart added.