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Ronald D. Castille, former city prosecutor, "may harbor bias", the defense motion says.

A Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice who served as a Philadelphia prosecutor should remove himself from death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal's appeal for a new trial, defense lawyers argued yesterday.

Justice Ronald D. Castille, an assistant Philadelphia district attorney during Abu-Jamal's 1982 trial and conviction for the murder of a city police officer, "may harbor bias" against the inmate, attorneys said in a motion filed with the court.

Castille did not prosecute Abu-Jamal's case but later, as Philadelphia district attorney, signed a brief arguing that the conviction and death sentence should be upheld, said lawyers for Abu-Jamal, a former radio reporter whose cause has captured international support.

"We argue . . . that his sitting on this case at this time will be doing a great disservice to justice", lead defense attorney Leonard I. Weinglass said at a City Hall news conference also attended by a handful of Abu-Jamal supporters and several plainclothes police officers.

Castille did not immediately return a call for comment, but a woman answering the phone in his office said he could not comment on matters pending before the court.

Weinglass said Castille's "close political connection" with the Fraternal Order of Police also warranted his recusal.

The FOP in Philadelphia named Castille its "Man of the Year" in 1986 and endorsed his 1993 bid for the Supreme Court. The organization has been extremely vocal in calling for Abu-Jamal's execution.

"The FOP is really a third party to this case", Weinglass said. "They have a longstanding relationship" with Castille.

Abu-Jamal, 42, was convicted and sentenced to death for the Dec. 9, 1981, murder of Philadelphia police Officer Daniel Faulkner. The judge who presided at his original trial refused to overturn the conviction after a lengthy hearing last summer.

Abu-Jamal was scheduled to die by lethal injection Aug. 17, 1995. He won a last-minute stay of execution to allow the state Supreme Court to consider his appeal. The 120-page defense brief alleges 26 violations of constitutional procedure in the trial, including suppressed evidence, ineffective counsel and a biased judge.

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