Pamela Jenkins

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pamela Jenkins (born 1965) is most notable as a peripheral witness in the 1982 trial and subsequent legal proceedings surrounding the murder of Philadelphia Police Department (PPD) officer Daniel Faulkner. At the time of the Faulkner murder her main occupation was a prostitute, operating in the Philadelphia area; she was also a paid PPD informant. Years later, she would receive notoriety as a key government witness in prosecutions arising from the corruption and brutality scandals in 39th Police District in North Philadelphia, and in the so-called tainted murder case surrounding the conviction of Raymond Carter for a 1986 murder in North Philadelphia.

[edit] Relationship with Officer Ryan

According to Abu-Jamal's defense, Jenkins's relationship with Officer Ryan began sometime in 1981 well before the shooting of Daniel Faulkner. However, according to the prosecution in the Abu-Jamal case her relationship with Officer Ryan began sometime in 1982 clearly after the murder of Daniel Faulkner. In her affidavit in the PCRA hearings, she asserted that she was arrested by Ryan on prostitution charges when she was 16. Shortly after this, Ryan and Jenkins began a sexual relationship, and he pressured her to become a paid police informant for many years.

In 1996, Ryan and five other officers from the same district would be sent to prison after being convicted of charges of planting evidence, stealing money from suspects and making false reports. Their convictions resulted in the release of numerous prisoners implicated by the officers.

[edit] Involvement in the Abu-Jamal case

In the Abu-Jamal's 1982 trial, Jenkins did not testify. In her 1997 statement, Jenkins claimed that Ryan "wanted me to perjure myself and say that I had seen Jamal shoot the police officer." Her most damaging testimony was that she had claimed to have talked with Cynthia White in March of 1997 in a North Philadelphia crack house and she "Looked like she had seen a ghost." Jenkins claimed that Cynthia White had falsely testified during the 1982 trial and Cynthia had seen the real killer, but she was coerced into giving her testimony. This testimony backfired, as Cynthia White died in 1992 and Jenkins could not have seen Cynthia White in 1997.