According to a report by Reuters, a Philadelphia judge has allowed convicted police-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal to launch a new appeal, ruling that a former chief justice should have recused himself from the inmate's previous appeals. Abu-Jamal, a former black nationalist and public radio reporter, was sentenced to death for the 1981 killing of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. In 2011, his sentence was commuted to life without parole.