Why you need to contribute to Imam Jamil's defense fund
by the volunteer staff of Justice for All

While the United States' justice system is considered far better than that of many countries in the Third World, it is also a fact that African-Americans and other minorities have harder time getting justice unless they can pay for an expensive defense.

In essence, the better lawyer will almost always cost more, but s/he is your ticket to success and fairness in the courtroom. This is why Imam Jamil Al-Amin must have the best lawyers possible if he is to have any semblance of a fair trial. And given the biases already against him as an African-American and a former member of the Black Panther Party, he will not need a good legal defense team, he needs the best possible.
Imam Jamil is a poor man who could be facing the death penalty if he is convicted of killing a police officer last March. Here are two chilling statistics to keep in mind:

• According to the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, approximately 90% of those whom US prosecutors seek to execute are African American or Latino.
• Approximately 90 percent of those on death row could not afford to hire a lawyer when they were tried, according tot he American Civil Liberties Union.

Imam Jamil does not have the money to hire the best legal defense team.

What he does have at the moment are two court-appointed attorneys, neither of whom is paid very well. In most cases, court-appointed attorneys lead to failing results.

One example is in the case of Girvies Davis of Illinois, who was wrongly convicted of murder and executed in 1995 for the crime. "It's a case of poor man's justice. Girvies had a court-appointed lawyer who didn’t adequately represent him at the trial," said David Protess, co-author of A Promise of Justice: The Eighteen-Year Fight to Save Four Innocent Men, which discusses the case. The real criminals in this case were found after this innocent man had been executed.

We don't want Imam Jamil to face what Girvies Davis had to face. We do
not want him to be remembered as the innocent man who died wrongfully.

Even if Imam Jamil's court attorneys do end up doing a better job, they need secretarial assistance, people to do research, field work and to line up independent experts and investigators.

The Imam Jamil Al-Amin legal defense fund has been established by Karima al-Amin and Ed Brown, the wife and brother of Imam Jamil respectively. We urge you to contribute generously to this fund for the sake of justice and for the sake of your brother, Imam Jamil.

Share your thoughts and ideas on this issue with others