BY GLOVA SCOTT
PHILADELPHIA - "I feel like I'm on trial," protested Veronica Jones at a supplementary hearing to determine if her testimony should be included in a post-conviction relief appeal by Mumia Abu-Jamal. Abu-Jamal, present at the hearing, is a Black activist framed up in 1982 and sentenced to death for the murder of officer Daniel Faulkner. The prosecutor had Jones arrested while she was still on the stand, saying she was a fugitive witness on an open bench warrant concerning passing bad checks.

Jones was a key witness at the original trial. She was not available to testify at last year's post-conviction hearings. She was located by investigators and contacted by Abu-Jamal's defense lawyers this past April. She agreed to come forward and explain how she was pressured by Philadelphia cops to testify against Abu-Jamal. This hearing was presided by Judge Albert Sabo, the same judge in Mumia's first trial and in the post conviction hearings as well.

Jones, a former prostitute, detailed how on three separate occasions police offered to drop various robbery and weapons charges if she agreed to help them. Originally, she told investigators that she had seen two men flee the scene after the shooting of Faulkner. But on the stand, she denied her earlier account.

The district attorney grilled Jones, trying to trip her up over details in her testimony. Jones steadfastly stated that she had lied in the first trial. The district attorney questioned Jones about personal relationships. Providing no proof, the prosecutor accused Abu-Jamal's lawyers of paying back rent for Jones. And finally, she questioned Jones about being arrested for passing bad checks in Woodbury, New Jersey, four years ago.

Jones, remembering the incident, said that she while she was bought in by police and pictures taken, no bail was ever set. She was released and never charged. She was never told of any court date. Nevertheless, Judge Sabo allowed police to take Jones into custody to be extradited to New Jersey.

"Why are they executing this now?" asked Leonard Weinglass, Abu-Jamal's lead attorney. "They should not be allowed to take a witness from the stand. Nobody had been shown a warrant."

The court room was cleared. Angry defenders of Abu-Jamal gathered at an impromptu press conference on the west side of City Hall. Weinglass said that arresting Jones is part of an ongoing pattern of intimidating any witness who speaks in defense of Mumia Abu-Jamal. A collection was taken to raise bail money for Jones.  
 
 
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