FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday, May 31, 2001



For Information Contact:

Marlene Kamish, 412-264-6686

OR Eliot Grossman, 626-943-1945

LIE DETECTOR TEST CORROBORATES ARNOLD BEVERLY'S CONFESSION

TO KILLING DANIEL FAULKNER . . .

MUMIA ABU-JAMAL IS INNOCENT.

Results of a lie detector test given to Arnold Beverly corroborate his confession that he shot Police Officer Daniel Faulkner, and Mumia Abu-Jamal is innocent. This week on Tuesday, May 29, 2001, Mr. Jamal's new legal team filed the affidavits of eminent polygraph expert Charles Honts, Ph. D., who took a polygraph examination of Arnold Beverly. (Dr. Honts is Department Head of the Department of Psychology at Boise State University. He is the noted authority in the field of polygraph examination. With twenty years experience as an expert witness, he has been published extensively in numerous scientific journals. Included with Dr. Honts' affidavits is a 37-page curriculum vitae.)

At the time that Mr. Beverly's declaration was filed earlier this month, the new defense team requested authorization from the district court to depose Arnold Beverly, their own witness. The District Attorney filed objections to the deposition. On Tuesday of this week, the defense filed a response to the District Attorney's opposition to the deposition of Arnold Beverly. The defense response states, "If the District Attorney's Office believed its own representation to the District Court and the media that Beverly's confession is a ‘patently outrageous story' and a ‘lie,' they would welcome, rather than oppose, being given the opportunity to cross-examine the witness under oath." (A deposition is a sworn statement with a court reporter present that offers both sides the opportunity to question the witness.)

Although Arnold Beverly has admitted to the killing, Mumia Abu-Jamal, an innocent man, remains incarcerated at S.C.I. Greene on death row. The case of Mumia Abu-Jamal is currently pending in a Habeas Corpus action before Judge William H. Yohn in the United States District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The defense team has urged Judge Yohn to grant the deposition of Arnold Beverly in their response.

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