Opinion ID: 3038839
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: 2d 719 (Pa. 2003). On April 29, 2004, we issued a

Text: subsequent stay pending the outcome of Beard v. Banks, 542 U.S. 406 (2004), a relevant case pending before the United States Supreme Court. We lifted the stay on June 29, 2004, after the Court issued its opinion in Banks. The United States Supreme Court denied a third petition for a writ of certiorari on May 17, 2004. See Abu-Jamal v. Pennsylvania, 541 U.S. 1048 (2004). On October 19, 2005, we granted the motion to expand the certificate of appealability with regard to two claims: whether Abu-Jamal was denied his constitutional rights due to the prosecution’s trial summation and whether Abu-Jamal was denied due process during post-conviction proceedings as a result of alleged judicial bias. We had already agreed to hear 13 appeals on whether the use of peremptory challenges at trial violated Batson, and whether the verdict form and jury charge violated Mills.1