Innocent(?) man to be executed in 19 hours

[vermicious knid]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/21/op...w.html?_r=1&hp
The Savannah police contaminated the memories of four witnesses by re-enacting the crime with them present so that their individual perceptions were turned into a group one. The police showed some of the witnesses Mr. Davis’s photograph even before the lineup. His lineup picture was set apart by a different background. The lineup was also administered by a police officer involved in the investigation, increasing the potential for influencing the witnesses.
~
Seven of nine witnesses against Mr. Davis recanted after trial. Six said the police threatened them if they did not identify Mr. Davis. The man who first told the police that Mr. Davis was the shooter later confessed to the crime. There are other reasons to doubt Mr. Davis’s guilt: There was no physical evidence linking him to the crime introduced at trial, and new ballistics evidence broke the link between him and a previous shooting that provided the motive for his conviction.



see also
http://www.time.com/time/nation/arti...4103-1,00.html

[mezzoforte]

Isn't it horrific?

The death penalty is racist, classist, and barbaric. Americans should be ashamed that our court system is about to send this (very likely) innocent man to his death. I can't stand it.

[mylittledemon]

I guess the Amnesty International petition was denied then?

[WildHearted]

This is sad.

In any case, there is inconclusive evidence and conflicting witness accounts etc... he shouldn't be getting death penalty.

[iamnotafraid]

Of course none of us know of his innocence or not.
But one must consider the victim's family. I'm sure
they have different feelings on this from us who only
read or hear about this verdict from the internet or TV.

To consider it a racial commentary on the South is
a fallacy. My Uncle who was a Senator for the State
of Alabama was killed by a man who was on a "work
release" type program. The man was arrested for
drunk driving, and then found out to be driving my
Uncle's car. When the Police arrived at my Uncle's
home they found him dead. He'd been hit in the head,
and left to die. The man responsible for this was convicted
and sentenced to death. Due to a change in Alabama's
capital punishment laws the man was retried and set
free. They could not find the man's original hand written
statement. And that was supposedly why the man got
off. The man who was released was black.

You can imagine how my family feels about this lack
of justice. All I ask is to remember the victims too.

[mylittledemon]

But if there's reasonable doubt at all... and it sounds like there's no forensic evidence... then give the guy jail for the rest of his life. What that means is he yet has time to prove his innocence. The death penalty doesn't allow for that.

[mezzoforte]

Originally Posted by iamnotafraid

Of course none of us know of his innocence or not.
But one must consider the victim's family. I'm sure
they have different feelings on this from us who only
read or hear about this verdict from the internet or TV.

First, I'm sorry for your loss.

This is certainly controversial, and I don't mean to sound unsympathetic, but I don't think it's for the family of the victim to determine justice. Clouded by grief, they may want to see the murderer die. But a judge's job is not to make theme feel better--it's to uphold justice.
Personally, I don't think killing a person is ever just.

To consider it a racial commentary on the South is
a fallacy. My Uncle who was a Senator for the State
of Alabama was killed by a man who was on a "work
release" type program. The man was arrested for
drunk driving, and then found out to be driving my
Uncle's car. When the Police arrived at my Uncle's
home they found him dead. He'd been hit in the head,
and left to die. The man responsible for this was convicted
and sentenced to death. Due to a change in Alabama's
capital punishment laws the man was retried and set
free. They could not find the man's original hand written
statement. And that was supposedly why the man got
off. The man who was released was black.

You can imagine how my family feels about this lack
of justice. All I ask is to remember the victims too.

Black people commit murder sometimes. White people commit murder sometimes. Duh.

I say the death penalty is racist because it's more likely to send black murderers to their deaths than white murderers.
I also say it's racist because while half of the victims of murder in the United States are African American, 85 percent of the people on death row are there for killing a Caucasian. Why is it a greater crime to kill a white person?

I can't say with certainty that this man wouldn't have mere hours to live if he were a white lady. But an individual's color, class and gender have a massive impact on the justice he or she will receive, and that seems profoundly wrong.

[KarmaContestant]

Originally Posted by mylittledemon

But if there's reasonable doubt at all... and it sounds like there's no forensic evidence... then give the guy jail for the rest of his life. What that means is he yet has time to prove his innocence. The death penalty doesn't allow for that.

If there is reasonable doubt at all, then the conviction should be thrown out.

[mylittledemon]

Well that too, Karma. I wonder if this guy has "used up" all his appeals?

[vermicious knid]

The exucution is delayed while the Supreme Court reviews. Live coverage here.

[WildHearted]

Execution began at 10:53, Troy Davis was pronounced dead at 11:08.

He declared his innocence until the end, telling the Macphail family that he was not responsible for the death of their father, son, brother, that they should continue to dig deeper into the case and find out the truth. His last words were, "To those about to take my life, may God have mercy on your soul, may God bless your soul."

[markolas]

Originally Posted by iamnotafraid

Of course none of us know of his innocence or not.
But one must consider the victim's family. I'm sure
they have different feelings on this from us who only
read or hear about this verdict from the internet or TV.

So, we should drag an innocent person off the street, proclaim him the murderer, and execute him just to make the family feel better?

[TrueFaith77]

Another perspective:

http://www.anncoulter.com/columns/2011-09-21.html

It's nearly impossible to receive a death sentence these days -- unless you do something completely crazy like shoot a cop in full view of dozens of witnesses in a Burger King parking lot, only a few hours after shooting at a passing car while exiting a party.

That's what Troy Davis did in August 1989. Davis is the media's current baby seal of death row.

After a two-week trial with 34 witnesses for the state and six witnesses for the defense, the jury of seven blacks and five whites took less than two hours to convict Davis of Officer Mark MacPhail's murder, as well as various other crimes. Two days later, the jury sentenced Davis to death.

Now, a brisk 22 years after Davis murdered Officer MacPhail, his sentence will finally be administered this week -- barring any more of the legal shenanigans that have kept taxpayers on the hook for Davis' room and board for the past two decades.

(The average time on death row is 14 years. Then liberals turn around and triumphantly claim the death penalty doesn't have any noticeable deterrent effect. As the kids say: Duh.)

It has been claimed -- in The New York Times and Time magazine, for example -- that there was no "physical evidence" connecting Davis to the crimes that night.

Davis pulled out a gun and shot two strangers in public. What "physical evidence" were they expecting? No houses were broken into, no cars stolen, no rapes or fistfights accompanied the shootings. Where exactly would you look for DNA? And to prove what?

I suppose it would be nice if the shell casings from both shootings that night matched. Oh wait -- they did. That's "physical evidence."

It's true that the bulk of the evidence against Davis was eyewitness testimony. That tends to happen when you shoot someone in a busy Burger King parking lot.

Eyewitness testimony, like all evidence tending to show guilt, has gotten a bad name recently, but the "eyewitness" testimony in this case did not consist simply of strangers trying to distinguish one tall black man from another. For one thing, several of the eyewitnesses knew Davis personally.

The bulk of the eyewitness testimony established the following:

Two tall, young black men were harassing a vagrant in the Burger King parking lot, one in a yellow shirt and the other in a white Batman shirt. The one in the white shirt used a brown revolver to pistol-whip the vagrant. When a cop yelled at them to stop, the man in the white shirt ran, then wheeled around and shot the cop, walked over to his body and shot him again, smiling.

Some eyewitnesses described the shooter as wearing a white shirt, some said it was a white shirt with writing, and some identified it specifically as a white Batman shirt. Not one witness said the man in the yellow shirt pistol-whipped the vagrant or shot the cop.

Several of Davis' friends testified -- without recantation -- that he was the one in a white shirt. Several eyewitnesses, both acquaintances and strangers, specifically identified Davis as the one who shot Officer MacPhail.

Now the media claim that seven of the nine witnesses against Davis at trial have recanted.

First of all, the state presented 34 witnesses against Davis -- not nine -- which should give you some idea of how punctilious the media are about their facts in death penalty cases.

Among the witnesses who did not recant a word of their testimony against Davis were three members of the Air Force, who saw the shooting from their van in the Burger King drive-in lane. The airman who saw events clearly enough to positively identify Davis as the shooter explained on cross-examination, "You don't forget someone that stands over and shoots someone."

Recanted testimony is the least believable evidence since it proves only that defense lawyers managed to pressure some witnesses to alter their testimony, conveniently after the trial has ended. Even criminal lobbyist Justice William Brennan ridiculed post-trial recantations.

Three recantations were from friends of Davis, making minor or completely unbelievable modifications to their trial testimony. For example, one said he was no longer sure he saw Davis shoot the cop, even though he was five feet away at the time. His remaining testimony still implicated Davis.

One alleged recantation, from the vagrant's girlfriend (since deceased), wasn't a recantation at all, but rather reiterated all relevant parts of her trial testimony, which included a direct identification of Davis as the shooter.

Only two of the seven alleged "recantations" (out of 34 witnesses) actually recanted anything of value -- and those two affidavits were discounted by the court because Davis refused to allow the affiants to testify at the post-trial evidentiary hearing, even though one was seated right outside the courtroom, waiting to appear.

The court specifically warned Davis that his refusal to call his only two genuinely recanting witnesses would make their affidavits worthless. But Davis still refused to call them -- suggesting, as the court said, that their lawyer-drafted affidavits would not have held up under cross-examination.

With death penalty opponents so fixated on Davis' race -- he's black -- it ought to be noted that all the above witnesses are themselves African-American. The first man Davis shot in the car that night was African-American.

I notice that the people so anxious to return this sociopathic cop-killer to the street don't live in his neighborhood.

[gldstwmn]

Seven of the nine witnesses recanted, the eight is dead and the ninth is the alleged true perp. One of the witnesses was threatened after recanting and has gone into hiding.
While I think Troy Davis was up to no good that night, I think there are compelling reasons to take another look at his case. It's unfortunate that no one could find a convincing enough legal precedent to get him a new trial. There were rumours that he was strapped to a gurney the entire time the Supreme Court debated last night.
I do hope his legal team continues to dig for answers in this case.

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by iamnotafraid

. My Uncle who was a Senator for the State
of Alabama was killed by a man who was on a "work
release" type program.

Wikipedia fails to list any murder of an Alabama Senator.