Jackson, GA – Davis made his final statement as he was strapped to a gurney. He was executed at 11:08 p.m. Wednesday. Davis told the family of officer Mark MacPhail that he did not kill their son, father and brother.
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He said the incident that happened that night was not his fault and he didn’t have a gun. Davis’ claims of innocence drew worldwide support from hundreds of thousands of people. Courts, however, consistently ruled against him.
MacPhail’s family believes Davis was guilty.
There was a story on the news tonight that as Governor of Texas, Perry had executed a least one prisoner where there was new evidence that he was innocent of the crime and then fired the forensic scientists who uncovered that evidence to prevent them from pursuing the matter. During the Republican debate 2 weeks ago, his supporters started cheering when the question was posed about his having presided over more executions than any other governor in U.S. history.
Funny that they don’t discuss the testimony of the 2 who did NOT recant their testimony. Perhaps they saw it better too?
After twenty two years, and despite a well orchestrated campaign by death penalty opponents, justice was finally accomplished last evening. In fact, there was physical evidence, as the shell casings found at the two different crime scenes (the earlier shooting that evening perpetrated by Davis), and the fatal shooting of the police officer, were a match. Even though the news media, and the demonstrators tried to make a racial incident out of this matter, the facts speak for themselves. Of the 12 jurors who originally convicted Davis in 1991, 7 were Black. The homeless man who was being beaten by Davis in 1989 was Black. Isn’t it extremely odd that a number of witnesses would suddenly change their testimony after 16 years? Who pressured them to change their story? Unlike New York State, New Jersey and other states, there are Southern states, which will not tolerate with impunity heinous, and vicious crimes.
If there was a reasonable doubt they should not have carried out the execution.
I believe this man was innocent and it’s very sad that an innocent man lost his life. However, I am in favor of capital punishment, and now all these death penalty opponents are using this to push their agenda. The NY Times had an editorial yesterday saying that the Troy Davis case “proves” that the death penalty is wrong. Um, no it doesn’t. It proves that if we are going to use it, we need to be very careful and make sure innocent people don’t die at the hands of the state. Better a few guilty ones rot in prison forever than one innocent getting the needle.
When I was in law school, we had an assignment with the breakdown of death penalty offenders. Pretty depressing. Black on white crime was punished with death by a way higher rate than any other demographic. Them came black on black crime. The jury system is the best system the U.S. has available to it but as long as a person is alive, mistakes could be rectified. There are lots of crimes that deserve the death penalty on moral grounds but our system is too flawed to implement it properly.
As one of the last liberals on this site it is hard to believe I am writing. I have always opposed the death penalty, and no little about this case. What I do know I learned as an Assistant District Attorney in Bronx county. In almost every case witnesses want to recant their story. They do this for many reasons, not least of which is pressure from the defendant’s family or community. The fact that the prosecutor made a deal with a witness is not a surprise. Who else would, or could, testify. I have often wrestled with which is worse life without parole or death. To me I think it would be life. However, since defendants fight so hard to avoid the death penalty I just don’t know.
Was there a reasonable doubt? The jury said no. We are a systen based on law so it is the members of the jury’s decision on reasonable doubt that counts.
I live in the South and the racism is beyond belief. It is much worse in the past 2 years. We did a anonymous survey in our shul and found out that 87% claimed to be victims of racial profiling by the local police in the past year.