Mumia Abu-Jamal appeal hearing gets 60-day continuance

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Former death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal was back in court requesting that his failed appeals attempts be vacated, so he can once again appeal his case.

The hearing was continued for another 60 days.

Thursday's hearing on his request was continued from April to give attorneys time to find a document the defense said was necessary to show the bias of state Supreme Court Justice Ronald Castille.

Lawyers for the former Black Panther, who spent 29 years on death row following his conviction in the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police Officer Daniel Faulkner, are petitioning under the Post-Conviction Relief Act to have his previous appeals thrown out to make way for the new appeal.

Abu-Jamal's attorneys say Castille is biased because when he was Philadelphia's district attorney, his office succeeded in getting the state Supreme Court to uphold Abu-Jamal's conviction.