Unless there is a last-minute stay, Troy Anthony Davis will die Wednesday by lethal injection, raising the distinct possibility that the state of Georgia will have executed an innocent man. His is perhaps the highest-profile death penalty case in the country, attracting the attention of such public figures as former President Jimmy Carter, Pope Benedict XVI and former FBI Director William Sessions, all of whom have called for clemency, as well as the European Union, which on Monday urged Georgia's pardons board to commute Davis' sentence. The board was not swayed. On Tuesday, after hearing hours of testimony from both sides, it rejected Davis' request for clemency and set the stage for his execution.That a man who may be innocent of the crime for which he will be executed is horrendous. People here in the US and around the world are right to protest the outrage and plead for a stay of execution for Troy Davis. I hope and pray that a stay is ordered. I don't know if Davis is innocent or guilty of the crime, but the justice system has not proved his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. What happened to 'innocent until proven guilty'? As the editorial says:
For a state to justify executing someone, the case against him or her must be ironclad. The case against Davis is anything but. Georgia's governor has no power to stop executions, and Davis' defense attorneys may be out of options. His execution, if it proceeds, should remind all Americans of the potential for injustice lying at the heart of a primitive method of punishment.It's long past the time for us to rid ourselves of the barbarous and primitive method of punishment, if we wish to think of ourselves as a civilized country.
And we should take another look at Rick Perry, governor of Texas and a candidate for president of the US, who did not struggle at all as he presided over 234 executions during his terms in office.
I ask again: what is a state execution if not killing in cold blood?
UPDATE: From the Guardian:
The execution of Troy Davis was delayed temporarily by the US supreme court on Wednesday night, in a dramatic intervention just as he was due to be put to death by lethal injection.Thanks be to God and the Justices of the Supreme Court!
As the first news came in at the Jackson prison that houses death row, a huge cheer erupted from a crowd of more than 500 protesters that had amassed on the other side of the road.
H/T to Jonathan Hagger and Dan Sloan on Facebook.
UPDATE 2: At approximately 9:30, I heard on Democracy Now that the execution is now proceeding.
Lord, have mercy on us all.
Merciful, Liberating Lord Christ, hear our PLEA for Troy's life!
ReplyDeleteWe can have the death penalty, w/ all its FAILINGS, or we can have Justice. We CANNOT have both!
Amen, JCF!
ReplyDeleteAmen.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I feel almost overwhelmed by injustice in the U.S.A. and elsewhere...then I see some act of kindness and fairness that gives me hope and the strength to keep facing reality...prayers for Troy and others who are persecuted, God send help us face truth and true justice.
Lord hear our prayers
Leonardo Ricardo
This is the second time (I think) Troy Davis has been saved at the last minute - the last time was within two hours. Imagine the fear and anguish of coming that close to death twice. Better a stay of execution than not obviously, but the whole process is so cruel.
ReplyDeleteThe death penalty and the death row process is cruel and unjust beyond measure.
ReplyDeleteLord, have mercy!
According to the analysis I'm hearing, he still COULD be executed at any moment.
ReplyDeleteIt's up to Georgia, to DECIDE to wait for SCOTUS (they don't have to wait).
Keep On Praying!!!!!!
"Sometimes I feel almost overwhelmed"
Me, too. Precious Lord, take my (our---Troy's) hand...
Sadly, I don't think the delay means very much.
ReplyDeleteI'm quite sure Troy Davis is going to die by execution, and very soon.
I'm torn about this. Process is process, and whether or not he is innocent is not even the question. As I understand, the best he is asking for is life in prison, not release. Witnesses recant, reconsider, change their minds: it's part of the justice system. People are in jail for life while witnesses decide they aren't now sure that person was the criminal they thought he/she was. The systems problem is: when do you believe them? Now? Or at the time of trial?
The problem, IOW, is the system. The problem is the death sentence. Should Troy Davis die? No, certainly not at the hands of the state. Will he?
Sadly, I'm quite sure he will.
JCF, I did not know that the decision on whether to wait on Scotus was in the hands of the authority in the State of Georgia
ReplyDeleteAh, Rmj, I'm very sorry to read what you say. I fear you are right, but I hope against hope that you are not.
ReplyDeleteIt is the system that is wrong. Whether Davis is innocent or guilty of the crime, he should not be put to death.
RIP, Troy. :-(..
ReplyDeleteThe death penalty is an abomination! End it!
It wasn't execution, it was murder. There was a shadow of a doubt, and we completely set aside our own rule of law to murder a man. This is no longer a civilized country, but a dangerously deranged, heavily-armed savage.
ReplyDeleteFrom yesterday's Guardian. Irrelevant now, but an unanswerable case.
ReplyDeleteThe former warden of the Georgia Diagnostic prison was on MSNBC last night and said, from his experience overseeing executions in that prison, executions are "pre-meditated murder."
ReplyDeleteHis words.
My ire this morning is directed mainly at the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, who could have granted clemency in this case, and refused to do so. The Supreme Court acted as I expected them to. The system acted, as best I can tell, as it has to (after 22 years, what witnesses might not change their minds, what jurors might not decide differently?).
There was an issue of ballistics evidence that even the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said was invalid evidence. I don't know why new evidence in this case never led to a new trial, but new trials based on new evidence are notoriously difficult, and must be, else criminal convictions would never be final.
But the finality of a death sentence changes everything. And the system still doesn't recognize that it changes the situation enough that the system simply cannot sustain the burden of killing another human being in cold blood.
And that is the problem.
Lapin, the execution should never have happened and state executions should never happen again, but they will until enough people are repulsed by the barbarity.
ReplyDeleteRmj, you were right last night, and you are right today that the pardon board bears the responsibility. No legitimate forensic evidence connected Troy Davis to the crime. Why wasn't he given a new trial?
A relative pointed out to me that the State of Texas executed a man yesterday and that an eye for an eye should apply. Whoopee! Two cold-blooded killings by the state in one day! How proud I am to live in the land of the free.
No legitimate forensic evidence connected Troy Davis to the crime. Why wasn't he given a new trial?
ReplyDeleteI don't know, but that's again where the system breaks under the burden of the death penalty. (There are procedures for granting new trials, and why Davis never won one is something I don't know. But the system doesn't look any fairer for denying him that chance.)
We cannot afford the appearance of an injustice in such a critical matter. Yet that is exactly what we have, over and over again.
Aside from the barbarity of the practice. It is nothing more than state-sanctioned murder.
It is nothing more than state-sanctioned murder.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely.
"Georgia Diagnostic prison"
ReplyDeleteI noticed the sign and thought: "They're trying to diagnose: Just how DEBASED as a society can we get? Let's find out!"