Writing skill important for those on Death Row

Here is some career advice for anyone who plans on becoming a murderer: Develop your writing skills.

This could prove to be far more significant than your choice of weapons or lawyers, especially if you land on Death Row.

That's because big names in literary, intellectual and show business circles tend to be far more sympathetic to an articulate killer than some lowbrow fiend who drools and grunts.

We're seeing a classic example of this in the case of a convict named Mumia Abu-Jamal, 41, who awaits execution in Pennsylvania for the murder of a Philadelphia cop.

Abu-Jamal has won the loyalty and affection of prominent authors, actors, academics and other deep thinkers not only in this country but across Europe.

Obviously, he did not win their affection by being some slack-jawed street thug who caves in a skull for a watch and a wallet.

No, Abu-Jamal wears dreadlocks and is a former Black Panther who became a radio reporter and writer. He is also described as an "activist," whatever that means these days.

The crime occurred back in 1981.

According to the evidence presented at Abu-Jamal's trial, at about 4 o'clock one morning, Abu-Jamal's brother was being questioned about a traffic violation by Police Officer Daniel Faulkner.

Abu-Jamal appeared, and there was an argument, a fight, then gunfire. The cop was shot dead. Abu-Jamal was wounded, and a was at his side.

Witnesses said they saw Abu-Jamal shoot the cop. The defense said somebody else did it and ran away.

But Abu-Jamal and his brother didn't testify, so the jury never got a firsthand account of how he happened to get shot by the cop, or how the cop was shot with the gun found at his side.

Since then, Abu-Jamal has written essays from his cell about his life and the injustice he has suffered. His fame has spread across oceans.

To give you an idea how popular Abu-Jamal is, in Rome more than 100,000 people signed free-Mumia petitions that were given to the U.S. Embassy.

It's hard to imagine that there are 100,000 people in Rome who took that keen an interest in the details of a 1981 cop-shooting in Philly. Maybe they confused Abu-Jamal with Rocky Balboa.

More than 1,000 protesters marched in Berlin and chanted "Free Mumia." And a prominent writer who organized a big literary gathering in Paris flatly declared that Abu-Jamal was a political prisoner and had been framed.

In New York, big-name authors got together with members of the Committee to Save Mumia and held a press conference. William Styron, who wrote "Sophie's Choice," said Abu-Jamal's death sentence is considered "an evil and barbaric act not only in the United States but by vast numbers of people throughout the world."

Styron didn't say how these vast numbers of people throughout the world feel about the children and widows of dead cops. But, then, everybody has problems.

All of this just shows how important it is to pay attention to your English teachers and learn how to write a good essay.

Throughout America's prisons, there are hundreds or thousands convicted killers, many of whom could tell true-life stories as interesting as Abu-Jamal's. Why don't we hear about them? Because most of them can't even write a postcard.

You can't expect people like Whoopi Goldberg, E.L. Doctorow, Ed Asner, Jesse Jackson and all those other famous authors and deep thinkers to be inspired by the 3rd-grade scratchings of some ordinary cutthroat. They expect literary style.

Whether the cop that Abu-Jamal was convicted of killing could write anything more than traffic tickets isn't known. It's too late to ask.