3:52 a.m. -- the cop is down. Shot three times. Several feet away on the sidewalk, two black men (brothers) are also down -- one's shot in the torso. He was carrying his own (registered) handgun. As a graveyard shift cabbie, he carried it for safety.

Witnesses stand around, aghast. A couple of hookers, a cabbie, a resident...

Cops screech in. Statements are taken. Four witnesses say they saw the shooter running away in the same direction. The cab driver says the shooter was over 6-foot-2 and 225 pounds.

An hour later, the officer, Daniel Faulkner, 25, dies from bullets in the back, chest and face.

The city: Philadelphia. The date: Dec. 9, 1981.

Despite the witnesses to that "third man," Philly authorities never investigate that lead. Instead, they target the man they love to hate, who is down with a gunshot wound of his own. It turns out one of the black men on the ground is a local activist/radio journalist well-known to the police. In conjunction with the FBI, Philly cops have been spying on him for a dozen years. He's a political writer, a revolutionary, a radio personality ("the voice of the voiceless") and one relentless cop critic -- Mumia Abu-Jamal.

6-foot-1 and 175 pounds Jamal is charged with murder. Cop killer.

And, on July 2, 1982, in a trial criticized by numerous lawyers, Jamal is found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to death.

And, on June 2, 1995, newly-elected Republican Governor Thomas Ridge signs Jamal's death warrant -- execution slated for Aug. 17. But those who think Jamal was set up by the cops are drumming up international support to stop the killing. And they're using the net.

THE $150 DEFENCE

The American Civil Liberties Union says Jamal's death sentence should be reversed because the three-week trial contains many improper prosecutorial procedures, leaving "great doubts" about Jamal's conviction and his sentence.

The trial presented two very different pictures of Jamal: the prosecution's wild-eyed black cop killer screaming while dragged into the cop shop: "I shot the motherfucker! And I hope he dies!" (which Jamal denies ever doing); contrasted with the articulate and award-winning radio journalist voted one of 1981's "People to Watch" by Philadelphia Magazine.

The judge, Albert Sabo, who put more people on death row than any other judge in the U.S., allocated Jamal a total of $150 pretrial for use preparing his defence. The prosecution, on the other hand, interviewed 125 witnesses.

In mid-June, 1982, the judge ordered Jamal removed as his own counsel for being "too disruptive" and appointed a lawyer -- who repeatedly asked to be relieved of the case because he was not prepared and he simply didn't want it. The judge refused. (The lawyer was later disbarred for unrelated actions.)

The prosecution used 11 of 15 "preemptive challenges" in jury selection to exclude blacks. Meanwhile, Jamal's bumbling, court-appointed lawyer actually allowed a juror whose best friend was a former Philly cop on disability after being shot while on duty.

A witness (a prostitute) later claimed she'd been offered "immunity" by the authorities if she could identify Jamal as the shooter.

No test was ever conducted to see if Jamal's gun had been fired -- not even picking it up to smell for gunpowder. Nor were Jamal's hands tested for signs of firing a gun.

In demanding the death penalty, prosecutor Joseph McGill told the jury (11 whites, one black) there'd be "appeal after appeal and perhaps there could be a reversal of the case, or whatever, so that may not be final" -- implying they shouldn't worry too much if they gave Jamal death. The U.S. Supreme Court has since specifically condemned such a statement. (When McGill used it in another case since, a Pennsylvania court overturned the death sentence because of it. Why not in Jamal's case?)

McGill also told the jury Jamal's Panther past proved he'd longed to kill a cop "all the way back then." His politics and speech were used as evidence he should be executed.

The mainstream U.S. media are toeing the party line: cop killer. Case closed. Recently, the Washington Post, CBS news and Entertainment Tonight ran a story about a "violent criminal" making money from his book -- Jamal's recently released Live From Death Row. They didn't mention the L.A.P.D.'s Stacey Koon, of Rodney King-beating infamy, is a convicted criminal with his own book -- not to mention an estimated $4.6 million U.S. in donations to the Koon Defense Fund.

And the police are determined to see Jamal executed before his trial can be re- examined. On May 14, the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) invited President Bill Clinton to appear at a national gathering alongside Maureen Faulkner, the slain officer's widow. Last year, FOP pressured the U.S. National Public Radio to kill Jamal's radio commentaries. When talking to the media, the FOP continually assert Jamal turned to the officer's widow and smiled when the dead officer's bloody T-shirt was displayed. Court transcripts indicate Jamal was not in the courtroom during that testimony.