Albert F. Sabo was an American lawyer and judge

Judge

A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...

 of the Philadelphia County

Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania

-History:Tribes of Lenape were the first known occupants in the area which became Philadelphia County. The first European settlers were Swedes and Finns who arrived in 1638. The Netherlands seized the area in 1655, but permanently lost control to England in 1674...

 Court of Common Pleas

Pennsylvania Courts of Common Pleas

The Pennsylvania Courts of Common Pleas are the trial courts of the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania .The Courts of Common Pleas are the trial courts of general jurisdiction in the state....

. He is best known for presiding over the 1982 murder trial

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Mumia Abu-Jamal

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Mumia Abu-Jamal was a 1982 murder trial in which Mumia Abu-Jamal was tried and convicted for the first-degree murder of police officer Daniel Faulkner....

 of Mumia Abu-Jamal

Mumia Abu-Jamal

Mumia Abu-Jamal was convicted of the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner and sentenced to death. He has been described as "perhaps the world's best known death-row inmate", and his sentence is one of the most debated today...

. Sabo served as a judge from 1974 until his retirement in 1998.

Born in Philadelphia, Sabo grew up in the Northern Liberties

Northern Liberties, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

-Boundaries:Northern Liberties is located north of Center City and is bordered by Girard Avenue to the north; Callowhill Street to the south; North 6th Street to the west; and the Delaware River to the east...

 neighborhood and graduated from Roman Catholic High School in 1938. He earned two degrees from the University of Pennsylvania

University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...

: a bachelor's degree in economics from the Wharton School in 1942 and a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School

University of Pennsylvania Law School

The University of Pennsylvania Law School, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the law school of the University of Pennsylvania. A member of the Ivy League, it is among the oldest and most selective law schools in the nation. It is currently ranked 7th overall by U.S. News & World Report,...

 in 1948. Sabo was a World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 veteran and part of the United States Army Air Corps

United States Army Air Corps

The United States Army Air Corps was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. Renamed from the Air Service on 2 July 1926, it was part of the United States Army and the predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces , established in 1941...

.

For 15 years while on the bench, Sabo exclusively heard homicide

Homicide

Homicide refers to the act of a human killing another human. Murder, for example, is a type of homicide. It can also describe a person who has committed such an act, though this use is rare in modern English...

 cases. Sabo presided over 31 cases that resulted in the imposition of the death penalty

Capital punishment in the United States

Capital punishment in the United States, in practice, applies only for aggravated murder and more rarely for felony murder. Capital punishment was a penalty at common law, for many felonies, and was enforced in all of the American colonies prior to the Declaration of Independence...

, which was reported in 1992 by The Philadelphia Inquirer

The Philadelphia Inquirer

The Philadelphia Inquirer is a morning daily newspaper that serves the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, metropolitan area of the United States. The newspaper was founded by John R. Walker and John Norvell in June 1829 as The Pennsylvania Inquirer and is the third-oldest surviving daily newspaper in the...

to be the most in the state. In 1995, in the time before Abu-Jamal was scheduled to be executed, Sabo had 24-hour security due to angry, offensive faxes and calls directed to him. On September 15, 1995, Sabo denied Abu-Jamal a retrial.

Sabo died in 2002 of heart failure. At the time of his death, he was living in the Mount Airy

Mount Airy, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Mount Airy is a neighborhood of Northwest Philadelphia in the state of Pennsylvania.-Boundaries:Mount Airy is bounded on the northwest by the Cresheim Valley, which is part of Fairmount Park. Beyond this lies Chestnut Hill. On the west side is the Wissahickon Gorge, which is also part of Fairmount...

neighborhood of Philadelphia.