Editing Mumia Abu-Jamal (section)

=== Defense case at trial ===
The defense maintained that Abu-Jamal was innocent, and that the prosecution witnesses were unreliable. The defense presented nine [[Character evidence|character witnesses]], including poet [[Sonia Sanchez]], who testified that Abu-Jamal was "viewed by the black community as a creative, articulate, peaceful, genial man". Another defense witness, Dessie Hightower, testified that he saw a man running along the street shortly after the shooting, although he did not see the shooting itself. His testimony contributed to the development of a "running man theory", based on the possibility that a "running man" may have been the shooter. Veronica Jones also testified for the defense, but she did not testify to having seen another man. Other potential defense witnesses refused to appear in court. Abu-Jamal did not testify in his own defense, nor did his brother, William Cook. Cook had repeatedly told investigators at the crime scene: "I ain't got nothing to do with this!"<ref>{{cite news | last=Lopez | first=Steve | title=Wrong Guy, Good Cause | publisher=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | date=July 23, 2000 | url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,50613,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010131063100/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,50613,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=January 31, 2001 | access-date=November 23, 2007}}</ref>