Several witnesses saw other people running from the scene. Mumia was beaten and then arrested and convicted of murder. Once again there was a witness who testified against him that later revealed that she was coerced under threat of her own arrest for some prior situation. He has been on Death Row for 17 years. Journalists are prohibited from filming or recording interviews with him.
Similar stories surround the incarceration of dozens of men and women held in U.S. prisons.
Despite inconclusive evidence, coerced and threatened witnesses, and proof of government cover-ups, these people remain in jail. Invariably they are vocal proponents for various groups that are not favored by the U.S. government and thus they stay in prison. The government is, however, somewhat responsive to public outcry. If the pressure on the government to review these cases objectively is strong enough these political prisoners may go free. Several are released each year due to this kind of public response.