"What they came up with was wrong," Pam Africa, a member of MOVE, said of Thursday's ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Africa and other supporters said they wanted a new trial for Abu-Jamal or at least a hearing on his legal claim that black people had been intentionally excluded from the jury in his trial for the 1981 killing of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner.

"If you objectively examine the evidence, there are major flaws, at least flaws enough to justify a new hearing or a new trial," said Linn Washington, a Temple University journalism professor who has followed the case and attended the protest yesterday.

Abu-Jamal, 53, a former Black Panther and radio reporter, has been appealing his conviction since a Philadelphia jury sentenced him to death in 1982 for murdering Faulkner near 13th and Locust Streets.

The Third Circuit panel upheld the 2001 decision of Judge William H. Yohn Jr., who ruled that Abu-Jamal must be sentenced to life in prison or given a chance to persuade a new jury that he deserves a life sentence instead of death.

The judges agreed with Yohn that the jury might have mistakenly believed it had to be unanimous in considering any mitigating circumstances, factors that might have caused jurors to opt for a life sentence.

Oom Harrison, 59, a truck driver from Germantown, started following the case in 1995 after watching a documentary about Abu-Jamal's trial. "Too many questions" remained, he said, for the conviction to stand.

"He already spent his life in prison," said Harrison, pausing to respond to a passing motorist's angry shout at the protesters.

The brief exchange illustrated the strong emotions the case has triggered in those who believe Abu-Jamal should be put to death and those who believe he did not receive a fair trial and may be innocent.

"Read the facts about the case!" Harrison called back to the driver.