Though the outcome for Troy Davis was a tragic one, death penalty detractors saw a victory this week when the United States Supreme Court denied the Philadelphia District Attorney’s petition to reinstate the death penalty for Mumia Abu-Jamal.

The Associated Press reports that Philadelphia prosecutors will have to pursue a second death penalty sentence for Mumia, who was convicted of killing police officer Daniel Faulkner in 1982.

The Court found that the death penalty instructions were potentially misleading.

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“At long last, the profoundly troubling prospect of Mr. Abu-Jamal facing an execution that was produced by an unfair and unreliable penalty phase has been eliminated,” said John Payton, president of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund. “Our system should never condone an execution that stems from a trial in which the jury was improperly instructed on the law.”

The decision upholds a 2001 ruling by U.S. District Judge William H. Yohn Jr., first ruled that Abu-Jamal deserved a new sentencing hearing due to of flawed jury instructions regarding aggravating and mitigating factors.

Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther, has spent almost 30 years on Death Row.

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