Mumia Abu-Jamal

A history of radical activism doesn't look good when you're on trial for murder. Mumia Abu-Jamal was a member of the Black Panthers and the president of a black journalists group in the 1970s. In 1981, he was found guilty of the murder of a Philadelphia police officer. Abu-Jamal elected to represent himself at trial, which may have been why certain aspects of the investigation weren't brought to the notice of the jury, according to his lawyers: the caliber of bullet that killed the officer was not the caliber of bullet in Abu-Jamal's gun. Veronica Jones, a witness, claims that police officers said they would put her in jail if she testified.