Today would have been Troy Davis’ 43rd birthday.
(Source: socialistexan)
Showing posts tagged troy davis
And it’s no coincidence that in the 1980s, Georgia prosecutors sought the death penalty for 70% of black defendants with white victims, but for only 15% of white defendants with black victims. (Source)
Racial prejudice and discrimination is pervasive throughout our justice system, and you cannot pretend otherwise. The systemic oppression inherent in the death penalty needs to be addressed and dealt with.
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(Reblogged from inothernews)
Ballistics evidence used to convict Davis has since been debunked. Another witness has since emerged as a plausible suspect in the murder. Three jurors on the case now say that if they knew then what they know now, they would not have voted to convict. Davis was quite possibly innocent, but that was hardly the point. As expressed by the popular Twitter hash-tag, the problem was quite simply that there was #TooMuchDoubt.
The state of Georgia executed Troy Davis at 11:08 p.m. A few quick thoughts on how it happened, why it matters, and where we go from here. (via motherjones)
It is always amazing that the same people who complain that government is incompetent at everything else somehow remains infallible in the one area where mistakes result in the most egregious, irrevocable injury the state can possibly inflict.
BREAKING: The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to block Troy Davis’ execution
@AriBerman: The left mourns death. The right celebrates it #TroyDavis
Corrections Officials Sign-On for Troy Davis
We write to you as former wardens and corrections officials who have had direct involvement in executions. Like few others in this country, we understand that you have a job to do in carrying out the lawful orders of the judiciary. We also understand, from our own personal experiences, the awful lifelong repercussions that come from participating in the execution of prisoners. While most of the prisoners whose executions we participated in accepted responsibility for the crimes for which they were punished, some of us have also executed prisoners who maintained their innocence until the end. It is those cases that are most haunting to an executioner.
We write to you today with the overwhelming concern that an innocent person could be executed in Georgia tonight. We know the legal process has exhausted itself in the case of Troy Anthony Davis, and yet, doubt about his guilt remains. This very fact will have an irreversible and damaging impact on your staff. Many people of significant standing share these concerns, including, notably, William Sessions, Director of the FBI under President Ronald Reagan.
Living with the nightmares is something that we know from experience. No one has the right to ask a public servant to take on a lifelong sentence of nagging doubt, and for some of us, shame and guilt. Should our justice system be causing so much harm to so many people when there is an alternative?
We urge you to ask the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to reconsider their decision. Should that fail, we urge you to unburden yourselves and your staff from the pain of participating in such a questionable execution to the extent possible by allowing any personnel so inclined to opt-out of activities related to the execution of Troy Anthony Davis. Further, we urge you to provide appropriate counseling to personnel who do choose to perform their job functions related to the execution. If we may be of assistance to you moving forward, please do not hesitate to call upon any of us.
Respectfully and collegially,
Allen Ault – Retired Warden, Georgia Diagnostic & Classifications Prison
Terry Collins – Retired Director, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
Ron McAndrew – Retired Warden, Florida State Prison
Dennis O’Neill - Retired Warden, Florida State Prison
Reginald Wilkinson – Retired Director, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
Jeanne Woodford – Retired Warden, San Quentin State Prison
[Photos: Jennifer Donelan/ABC7, Marvin Joseph/Washington Post]
Click Here To Sign The NAACP's Petition To The D.A.'s Office In Troy Davis's Case To Withdraw The Death Warrant For His Execution.
Highly unlikely. But it’s worth a shot.
Letters To My Country: The Culture of Execution
Darth Vader Sent His Regrets, Saying Other Pressing Work Prevented Him From Serving On The Board
Yesterday the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles refused to commute the death sentence of inmate Troy Davis, who was convicted in the 1989 death of a police officer.
Who serves on such boards? Radley Balko points it out for us, quoting the Associated Press:
“Gale Buckner, a former Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent … . Robert Keller, the ex-chair of a Georgia prosecutors group … James Donald, the former head of the Georgia Department of Corrections, Albert Murray, who led the state’s juvenile justice program, and Terry Barnard, a former Republican state lawmaker.”
The A.P. notes dryly that commutation is seldom granted. I’m shocked!
Troy Davis’ supporters claim that there is substantial proof that he is an innocent man; I haven’t researched that proposition enough to comment on it, but better minds than mine are concerned based on the available evidence.
I hardly see the point of a commutation review if you’re going to pack the board with hardliners, though. The board makeup appears calculated to assure that commutations are not granted — that the possibility that the executive will exercise its pardon powers will remain hypothetical. I’m not saying that such a board ought to be packed with defense lawyers. However, it ought to reflect more diversity of thought and opinion. Optimally, I think, a board ought to include someone with a background in prosecution, someone with a background in criminal defense, someone with a background in law enforcement, and a respected forensic expert who has testified for both the prosecution and the defense. The forensic expert would assist the board in evaluating arguments about forensic evidence. You might assume that the defense lawyer would always vote for clemency, but you would probably be wrong — a principled defense lawyer would help separate the meritorious arguments of ineffective assistance of counsel from the ones that are mere Monday-morning quarterbacking.
But that’s not going to happen. In the forty years that politicians have tried to convince us that “law and order” is a principled legal position rather than a crowd-pleasing political slogan, the subjects of the death penalty, commutation, and the pardon power have become not only political, but cultural. Pardon rates have plummeted since the first half of the century in the face of that culture. When the Republican debate audience roared with approval that Rick Perry’s Texas had executed 234 people, that did not represent a legal position, or a deliberate “we trust the government” sentiment, or a thought-out refutation of the evidence that Texas has relied on junk science to execute an innocent man and Rick Perry has helped cover it up. Rather, it was applause for a culturalteam, and everything that’s bundled together with that team. People tend to support their team through good times and bad, despite its warts and its players’ mistakes and misbeaviors. When people roar with approval forthe death penalty in the abstract, they’re often roaring against people who held candles in a vigil for Ted Bundy and people who think guns are icky and ought to be banned and people who think Texas is awful and backward. (Similarly, when people roar against the death penalty in the abstract, they’re often roaring against Texas and guns and anti-gay sentiments and et cetera.)
But people are not abstractions — including the people on death row, and including the victims that at least some of them murdered. Their fate ought to be governed by the rule of law, by good science, and by at least a good-faith gesture towards dispassionate evaluation, not by the winds of the culture wars.
emphasis added.
Sometimes I find it hurts to be part of a society that thinks a death for a death means anything more than more death.
And killing a man who seems very likely to be innocent and definitely not guilty beyond reasonable doubt brings me to tears.
7 of 9 Witnesses say my Brother is Innocent. Stop Troy Davis’ Execution on September 21st.
WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT
My brother, Troy Davis, has been on Georgia’s death row for 20 years despite strong evidence of his innocence. His execution date is now scheduled for Wed, Sept 21. He has a hearing in front of the GA Board of Pardons & Parole two days beforehand.We need to tell the Board strongly and clearly: There’s too much doubt to execute Troy Davis!
The case against my brother Troy consisted entirely of witness testimony which contained inconsistencies even at the time of the trial. Since then, seven out of nine witnesses from the trial have recanted or contradicted their testimony.
Many of these witnesses have stated in sworn affidavits that they were pressured or coerced by police into testifying or signing statements against Troy Davis. Here is what one had to say:
“I got tired of them harassing me, and they made it clear that the only way they would leave me alone is if I told them what they wanted to hear. I told them that Troy told me he did it, but it wasn’t true.”
We need to tell the Board strongly and clearly: There’s too much doubt to execute Troy Davis!
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http://www.change.org/petitions/7-of-9-witnesses-say-my-brother-is-innocent-stop-troy-davis-execution-on-sep-21
