Troy Davies and execution

[Cindy]

 I have no idea if this person was innocent or guilty. The 'justice' was barbaric.

Sorry I do not in any way wish to be rude.

But on how people are treated like this was obscene .


Sad for all concerned

Cindy

[Kayla]

Troy Davis*

And yeah, but that is the plight of the American legal system. We have police and prosecutors who get paid/career advancements based on the convictions they get. We then have a prison industrial complex actively petitioning the government to strengthen laws. Then, as though that isn't enough, politicians are so afraid of a "Willie Horton" moment down the road, they will not even risk showing leniency to a criminal once convicted regardless of the circumstances (and of course, not all police/district attorneys/politicians). And the Supreme Court's 3 hour stay on the execution was just ridiculous.

I don't know all of the facts in this case, so I won't speak on his innocence, but I find it disturbing that he was put to death and maintained his innocence until his final words and may have been telling the truth. I also find it disturbing that if he is guilty, I don't think he'd be put to death for murdering a homeless man or his wife, but would be for killing a police officer (as though police are somehow more important than others in society). Just more reasons for me to be the death penalty.

Sorry for the rant, I just feel strongly about the death penalty.

[V M]

Didn't know anything about this until just now when I looked it up... Anyway, this is what Cindy is talking about...

http://news.yahoo.com/ga-executes-davis-supporters-claim-injustice-031409578.html

Ga. executes Davis; supporters claim injustice
By GREG BLUESTEIN - Associated Press | AP – 37 mins ago

JACKSON, Ga. (AP) — Strapped to a gurney in Georgia's death chamber, Troy Davis lifted his head and declared one last time that he did not kill police officer Mark MacPhail. Just a few feet away behind a glass window, MacPhail's son and brother watched in silence.
Outside the prison, a crowd of more than 500 demonstrators cried, hugged, prayed and held candles. They represented hundreds of thousands of supporters worldwide who took up the anti-death penalty cause as Davis' final days ticked away.
"I am innocent," Davis said moments before he was executed Wednesday night. "All I can ask ... is that you look deeper into this case so that you really can finally see the truth. I ask my family and friends to continue to fight this fight."
Prosecutors and MacPhail's family said justice had finally been served.
"I'm kind of numb. I can't believe that it's really happened," MacPhail's mother, Anneliese MacPhail, said in a telephone interview from her home in Columbus, Ga. "All the feelings of relief and peace I've been waiting for all these years, they will come later. I certainly do want some peace."
She dismissed Davis' claims of innocence.
"He's been telling himself that for 22 years. You know how it is, he can talk himself into anything."

[justmeinoz]

As someone who served as a member of the Police for nearly 30 years, I have great doubts as to whether the USA actually has a Justice system.  The Police should be independent of the Judiciary for a start. The Informant puts together the brief, and then it is out of their hands how the case is handled.

Capital punishment is always open to the chance that there could have been a mistake somewhere, and the conviction could be successfully appealed at some stage. Perfection doesn't exist in this life.

Short of terrorists or pirates shot in the act, I am totally against it.

Karen.

[Amazon D]

I asked my mom to say a quick prayer right before his extension. Her prayers really work. I then finished my apple butter and went to sleep thinking that he wouldn't be put to death over night. I am sorry he was. I know i could never approve anyones death / execution. Myself i would rather be killed than to kill. because, to me, life here on earth is but a dream of the true spiritual world from whence we came and to where we will return.

[kelly_aus]

I don't believe in the death penalty.. And having a look in to the case, I'm going to mention a name that Australians will likely recognise - Ronald Ryan.. He was the last man hung in Australia - and based on the evidence available now, he was almost certainly innocent..

[V M]

http://www.france24.com/en/20110922-troy-davis-executed-amid-international-outcry?ns_campaign=nl_quot_en&ns_mchannel=email_marketing&ns_source=NLQ_20110922&f24_member_id=&ns_linkname=node_5247418&ns_fee=0

REUTERS - The U.S. state of Georgia executed convicted murderer Troy Davis on Wednesday in a case that drew international attention because of claims by his advocates that he may have been innocent.

Davis was put to death by lethal injection at 11:08 p.m.  EDT/0308 GMT on Thursday at a prison in central Georgia for the murder of a police officer in 1989, prisons spokeswoman Kristen Stancil said. The execution was delayed by more than four hours as the U.S. Supreme Court considered whether to issue a stay.

The case provoked protests and an online petition accumulated nearly a million signatures because of doubts expressed in some quarters over whether he killed police officer Mark MacPhail in 1989.

MacPhail was shot and killed outside a Burger King restaurant in Savannah, Georgia, as he went to the aide of a homeless man who was being beaten. MacPhail's family say Davis is guilty and his son witnessed the execution.

Since Davis's conviction, seven of nine witnesses have changed or recanted their testimony, some have said they were coerced by police to testify against him and some say another man committed the crime.

No physical evidence linked Davis to the killing.

Davis went to his death saying he was innocent, according to journalists who witnessed the execution.

[Shana A]

I am deeply saddened by this! A sad day for America and human rights!

[tekla]

Even the FBI thought the evidence was all sketch.  But this is the South, good God-Fearing people down there.  So much easier to be a "Christian Nation" if you don't have to put any "Christian Values" behind it.  But it's not all the states, a bunch don't have it at all (Northern and Western states) and others have it on the books but never apply it (its much harder to get a conviction, among other things).  But yeah, the South sucks.

[JenJen2011]

Moral of the story is: Don't do or be involved in anything stupid and you'll be okay.

RIP Troy Davis.

[Janet_Girl]

Not to mention he was a black man in the South.

Davis is on death row in Georgia for the 1991 murder of police officer Mark MacPhail. However, since his conviction, seven of the nine witnesses who testified against him have recanted and no physical evidence links Davis to the crime.

[tekla]

Not to mention he was a black man in the South.

Almost goes without saying.  Or he was mentally defective, they do that too.

[childofwinter]

Capital punishment is nothing more than state murder, and the fact that some nations, and some US states, still use it in this day and age is something I just can't understand. Not to mention that there was hardly any evidence against Davis, but we can't let a silly little thing like evidence and justice stand in the way of Georgia's right to murder African-Americans, can we?

[V M]

It is very disturbing to say the least... Given the evidence, or rather the lack of evidence there of, most courts in most other states would have reopened the case

It's bad enough to falsely imprison someone when the evidence does not support or justify a guilty verdict, but to kill them besides? 
It is this kind of behavior that really pisses me off

[JessicaH]

Come on now, don't be whipping out the race card so fast since doing so often amounts to crying wolf. 7 of the 12 jururs were BLACK and they convicted him in two hours.  I personally don't believe in the death penalty anymore becasue I do not trust the average person with a vote to execute someone. The sytem is stacked against the accused and there is no separation between the judge, cops and prosecutor.

I'm also against capitol punishment because it's just not logical. It is cheaper to lock someone up for the rest of their life than it is to execute them. I also think prison is worse than death so they may have do this guy a favor. I'd run the rest of my life before I'd let them lock me up for even 2 years.

[Cindy]

I don't think guilt, innocence or race is important. I read that another (white) person was executed for dragging a coloured man to his death behind a truck. A foul and disgusting crime. But his death penalty was just as barbaric. Lock them up for ever.

Cindy

[JessicaH]

I don't think guilt, innocence or race is important. I read that another (white) person was executed for dragging a coloured man to his death behind a truck. A foul and disgusting crime. But his death penalty was just as barbaric. Lock them up for ever.

Cindy

I don't know the answer to such things but I have to ask myself if locking people in cages for decades isn't even more barbaric? How do we ,as civilized society, handle those that wish to act and live barbarically?

[V M]

http://www.france24.com/en/20110921-troy-davis-final-message-death-penalty-opponents-georgia-execution-USA?ns_campaign=nl_bo_en&ns_mchannel=email_marketing&ns_source=NLBO_38_20110923&ns_linkname=partenariat.nlb2b.embed.troy_davis&ns_fee=0&f24_member_id=1004586686845

LATEST UPDATE: 21/09/2011  - JUSTICE - USA
Troy Davis imparts final message from death row

With his execution now imminent, Troy Davis urged death penalty opponents to continue their fight after his death in a letter released by Amnesty USA. Davis' final appeal against his conviction for a 1989 shooting death was rejected Tuesday.
By News Wires (text)

AFP - Troy Davis, an American convicted two decades ago of killing an off-duty policeman, has urged opponents of the death penalty to fight on after he is executed Wednesday following a failed bid for clemency.

The Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles ruled Tuesday against Davis, who is black, and refused to commute his sentence for the shooting in 1989 of Mark MacPhail, a married white father of a two-year-old girl and an infant boy.

The campaign to spare Davis's life drew high-profile support from former US president Jimmy Carter and Pope Benedict XVI, helping him escape three previous dates with death in a racially-charged case.

"The struggle for justice doesn't end with me," Davis said in a letter to supporters released to the public via Amnesty International USA after his legal appeal was refused.

"This struggle is for all the Troy Davises who came before me and all the ones who will come after me," he said in the message.

"I'm in good spirits and I'm prayerful and at peace. But I will not stop fighting until I've taken my last breath."

[tekla]

How do we ,as civilized society, handle those that wish to act and live barbarically?

Well you don't have to look too deeply into the record to say: Really poorly.  As it turns out we act like total Barbarians in order to teach them - and others - that acting like a total Barbarian is wrong.  It's proven to be a particularly ineffective way to stop it.

And is that a choice?  I don't see where it's really offered anywhere.  There is no place on earth I could go to where that is set up that way (technically at least, I'm aware there are bad parts of town all over the world), no place I could go:  "You know I really want to go full Barbarian.  I don't want to work in a call center, I want to go a viking."  It's just not an option.

And...To Be Sure...the only thing acting like Barbarians is the State of Georgia.  I think that before you execute anyone you make damn sure that you got the right person and there is not a single shred of doubt that the person you're killing is the person who did the horrible stuff (and it better be damn horrible, like serial killer time, not a single murder)  To be sure I'm not losing any sleep when they fry Ted Bundy, or clip Osama - but I'm OK with other options other than capital punishment, I don't think it's in society's best interest.  Anyway, so how do you punish the State of Georgia (and Texas, and Arkansas and Florida have some real dubious executions too) for acting like a Barbarian State?

[jesse]

please remember also apeals to the death penalty are virtuallyuseless and only serve to delay the inevitable. heres why once the quilty virdict is handed down the appelate court only reviews the case for procedural errors in short they do not review the facts of the case it has been decided. they will only take a look if in the apeals brief the defendants lawyers can some how make a convincing arguement that some error has been made. good luck very few appeals are successful and if the jury is ignorant or decides they dont like you your toast
jessi

and just for the record as a former cop i wouldnt convict a dog on eyewitness testimony 10 people looking at the same event will witness 10 different things  couldnt even agree on the color of a shirt
jessi