On May 8, 1980, after 67 days of trial, Judge Malmed pronounced Janine, Debbie, Janet, Merle, Delbert, Mike, Edward, Phil and Chuck Africa guilty of third degree murder, conspiracy, and multiple counts of attempted murder and aggravated assault. Each defendant was given a sentence of 30 to 100 years.

Several days after the verdict, Malmed was a guest on a local talk radio show. Journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal called in and asked the judge, "Who shot James Ramp?" Malmed replied, "I haven't the faintest idea," and went on to say that since MOVE members wanted to be tried as a family, he convicted them as a family. Three other adults had also been in the house on August 8th, yet two were never convicted and Consuewella Dotson, who refused to disavow MOVE, was later sentenced in a separate trial to 10-20 years by Judge Levy Anderson who added on another three and a half years for contempt. The nine defendants protested that they were convicted only because of their unwavering allegiance to MOVE rather than for any complicity in the death of a policeman.

The legal grounds for Rizzo's military operation were 21 bench warrants signed the week before August 8th. Judge DiBona issued these warrants because MOVE members had failed to appear in court at the August 2nd hearing where he ruled they had violated a 90-day "deadline" to vacate the house. On January 31, 1980, Judge DiBona died, yet his warrants were not withdrawn. Only 9 MOVE members had been arrested on August 8th.

The other 12 warrants remained outstanding, although :

- MOVE had never agreed to an absolute 90-day deadline,

- Judge DiBona never had jurisdiction on the criminal matter,

- The terms of the agree-ment stated attorney Oscar Gaskins would represent MOVE and no members would be required to attend any hearings,

- By August 8th, any member who wasn't arrested obviously had vacated the house,

- After August 8th the house no longer existed. Such technicalities were no obstacle to the District Attorney's version of due process.

On the basis of a dead judge's bench warrants, Ed Rendell's office fabricated criminal fugitive warrants, and the campaign to hunt down and destroy MOVE continued.