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| For 14 years police,
prosecutors and Abdullah's court appointed trial/appellate lawyer
concealed favorable evidence while he proclaimed his innocence. The
prosecutor knowingly used police testimony he knew to be false and
himself misrepresented facts and outright lied on record to keep the
evidence of someone's else's fingerprints at the scene from the court
and jury as found by the F.B.I.. This included the complicity of city
and county officials and his trial lawyer. Acts causing his wrongful
conviction include:
1. The falsification of the charging documents by Allegheny County coroner personnel, by a Pittsburgh City magistrate and an assistant district attorney making the arrest seem "legal". 2. The perjury of police witnesses and the deliberate misrepresentation to the court by the prosecutors concerning aspects of the initial investigation to conceal both the perjury and the favorable evidence for which the perjury was given by police to conceal facts favorable to Abdullah's defense.. 3. The trial prosecutor's retraction and denial of the existence of previously discovered "impeachment evidence" favorable to Abdullah, which both the prosecutor and trial lawyer possessed but concealed and which remained concealed until revealed by the FBI on April 22, 1999. These items may have established Abdullah's innocence at trial; he has no criminal history of the crimes of murder, robbery, drugs or alcohol.
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4. The deliberate
concealment by the Commonwealth of a separate 56-pages of Pittsburgh
police and FBI generated investigative reports favorable to Abdullah
consisting of other impeachment evidences and exculpatory fingerprint
evidence which the FBI states are not Abdullah's (released via the
Freedom of Information Act in April 1999) which confirms the perjury of
police, the misconduct alleged against the prosecutors, and the complicity
of Abdullah's trial lawyer in using the jail inmate to make the
accusations, while they concealed all evidence to the contrary.
5. The complicity of the trial judge, who knowingly approved all the charging documents alleging homicide and robbery, despite said charging papers being unlawful on their face. 6. The use at trial of non-evidentiary items of Abdullah's personal clothing etc. which the trial court had ordered to be returned to Abdullah 5 months prior to trial, but which order the prosecutor ignored; he surreptitiously placed Abdullah's non-evidentiary clothing before the jury and argued his guilt thereon. 7. Double-jeopardy violations by the prosecutor bringing up and alleging untrue criminal conduct by Abdullah in an earlier, unrelated case at which Abdullah was duly found not guilty by an all white jury following 37 minutes of deliberation.
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8. Placement on Abdullah's jury of one of
the county commissioner's sons, Brian Flagherty, who urged other jury
members to find Abdullah guilty and who voted that he be put to death
during the "penalty phase" of trial.
Abdullah was denied a direct appeal in 1987 when his trial/appellate lawyer filed his appeal late and at an improper docket number under which the trial judge improperly addressed and denied same. The Superior Court therefore deemed all claims raised waived due to counsel's actions and relinquished jurisdiction, thereby leaving Abdullah convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment and without a direct appeal. For 14 years crucial portions of the trial record were denied him. Realizing he could not trust an attorney, Abdullah, who was a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, then obtained his legal degree via correspondence and instructors coming into the prison.
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