I am responding to Jared Doyle's January 8, letter to the editor Abu-Jamal decision fair; appealing should ceaseletter to the editor entitled Abu-Jamal decision fair; appealing should cease by first stating that civilized societies are societies that respect the rule of law by requiring full fair open judicial criminal proceedings.

Mumia was not afforded a fair trial by these international human rights norms. While I am not arguing guilt or innocence, I should point out that Philadelphia's judicial system is ripe with prosecutorial misconduct in capital cases, and that a year ago William Nieves was released from Pennsylvania's death row after spending six years facing death for a crime he did not commit.

The facts remain — Judge Sabo's overt hostility toward Mumia from the bench denied Mumia a fair trial from the start, Mumia was given an inadequate legal defense and has faced political and racial bias in his trial as well as in his appeals process.

Furthermore, in December, Judge Yohn ruled that judicial misconduct has plagued at least the sentence hearing. While I by no means condone violent crime and express sympathy toward Faulkner's family, we owe it to the victims as well as the accused to ensure that all receive a fair trial in order to maintain confidence of our judicial system.

For this reason Mumia should be granted a new trial that meets basic international fair trial standards.