The world’s most famous convicted cop-killer will be spared the death sentence, as reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer.A federal appeals court refused to reinstate his death sentence, but didn’t reverse his murder conviction in the 1981 shooting of Philadelphia cop Daniel Faulkner.The convicted killer, who has earned world-renown for his activist past, having been a member of the controversial MOVE organization, and tested intellect, having written books and taped speeches from prison.He was convicted of the murder in 1982 by a Philadelphia jury for the killing of Faulkner, who was shot to death near 13th and Locust Streets early the morning of Dec. 9, 1981.He has found friends and supporters around the world, among them black nationalists and intellectuals, as well as social activists and death penalty abolitionists of all races. (For his part, Officer Daniel Faulkner has a Web site in his own name. His wife wrote a book with Michael Smerconish called “Murdered by Mumia“)That number may include Marc Lamont Hill, a self-described “public intellectual” and professor of hip hop and education at Temple. His well-trafficked blog published yesterday a surprisingly timed column by Abu-Jamal on the controversy Barack Obama has faced regarding Obama’s former pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright. The column was dated March 15.According to the Inquirer article, the decision, which gained widespread attention as all Mumia news does, may be just another in a long line of court appearances.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that Abu-Jamal must be sentenced to life in prison or get a chance with a new Philadelphia jury, which would decide only whether he should get life in prison or be sentenced – again – to death.

*Photo courtesy of Lou Jones for the Internationalist Amended (3/28/08 @ 11:18 a.m. EST)