Beyond shameful.

Via Fox News:

The Philadelphia district attorney is speaking out against President Obama’s nominee for a top Justice Department post, saying his link to the case of a convicted cop killer “sends a message of contempt” to police — as the widow of the fallen officer is apparently denied the chance to testify.

Maureen Faulkner, whose husband Daniel Faulkner was killed in 1981, was hoping to speak publicly on the case before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which plans to vote Thursday on the nomination of Debo Adegbile to lead the Civil Rights Division.

But she told FoxNews.com she’s “extremely frustrated” after being told by representatives of Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., that she won’t be able to do so.

“I am physically, emotionally and mentally distressed that I’m not able to be in that room,” Faulkner told FoxNews.com by phone. “This is personal to me.”

Faulkner said she received a letter from Leahy’s office this week informing her that it’s “not the practice” of the committee to accept outside testimony. Faulkner, who lives in Los Angeles, later realized she could attend the hearing as a member of the public but was unable to book a flight. […]

Faulkner, in seeking to testify, claimed Adegbile “personally took on” the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal while working with the NAACP to overturn Abu-Jamal’s death penalty. Abu-Jamal was convicted in the 1981 killing of Daniel Faulkner.

The nominee has faced criticism for his role in getting Abu-Jamal’s death sentence overturned during his time as acting director of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.