He's been on death row since. Coming up on 18 years. In Pennsylvania, where there are 241 death-row inmates, the average stay is 8.7 years, according to state officials. Abu-Jamal, clearly, is not average. But numbers don't tell the full story.
Averages are low because the system constantly feeds new fish to death row, here and nationally.
And in Pennsylvania, the death penalty's been carried out just three times since 1962. There is none. The smooth, articulate author and college graduation speaker is like no other inmate. He's a cause with an international following, an image of racial injustice. Trial evidence says he's a murderer.