 On December 7 , 2011 , District Attorney of Philadelphia R. Seth Williams announced that prosecutors , with the support of the victim 's family , would no longer seek the death penalty for Abu @-@ Jamal . Faulkner had indicated she did not wish to relive the trauma of another trial , and that it would be extremely difficult to present the case against Abu @-@ Jamal again , after the passage of 30 years and the deaths of several key witnesses . Williams , the prosecutor , said that Abu @-@ Jamal will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole , a sentence that was reaffirmed by the Superior Court of Pennsylvania on July 9 , 2013 . After the press conference , Maureen Faulkner made an emotional statement harshly condemning Abu @-@ Jamal : 
