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Georgia executes Troy Davis in high-profile case

earthlyme

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JACKSON, Georgia (Reuters) - The 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, convicted of the 1989 killing of a police officer, was put to death by lethal injection at 11.08 local time Thursday at a prison in central Georgia after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a final appeal, a prison official said.
The case has attracted international attention and an online protest that has 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 called for his execution.
Outside Georgia Diagnostic and Classification prison earlier, hundreds of protesters chanted "I am Troy Davis" and other slogans and a cheer briefly went up when it was reported that the execution had been delayed.
But the crowd dwindled as the evening wore on and those who remained greeted news from the Supreme Court with silence, prayers and tears.
"This is a tragic moment. We were hoping for a different result but we are determined to fight," said Raphael Warnock, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.
"People are watching this particular execution in a way that's unprecedented and I think it's causing people to take a hard look at our criminal justice system," said Warnock, whose church was once led by slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King.
A majority of Americans support the death penalty and most executions attract little national attention but the Davis case prompted a rash of protests as well as expressions of concern from Europe.
France and the Council of Europe this week urged U.S. authorities to stay the execution.
ONE SENTENCE ORDER

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.
"Our hearts go out to them (MacPhail's family). We have nothing but sympathy and prayers for them but they are not getting justice if the wrong person is paying for what happened to their son, their brother," civil rights leader Al Sharpton told reporters at the prison.
The Supreme Court took the rare step in 2009 of allowing the defense to present its case to an evidentiary hearing but a federal judge in Savannah said it cast "minimal doubt" on the conviction.
Once a death warrant was signed, Davis's best hope of avoiding execution had rested with the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles but on Tuesday it denied him clemency following a one-day hearing.
On Wednesday, his lawyers went through a series of maneuvers in an attempt to stay the execution finally reaching the Supreme Court.
It took the court more than four hours to issue its one-sentence order, an unusually long time in such cases.
Brian Kammer, a lawyer for Davis, said in seeking a stay from the Supreme Court that newly available evidence revealed false, misleading and inaccurate information was presented at the trial, "rendering the convictions and death sentence fundamentally unreliable."
A handful of supporters of capital punishment in the case also protested separately from Davis' supporters.
(Editing by Eric Walsh and Christopher Wilson)

http://news.yahoo.com/execution-looms-georgia-inmate-denied-polygraph-003837619.html


Racism, ppl., it still exists... :no: We just dont see it out in the open...


L.o.v.e.
Romi
 
earthlyme said:
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.
...
Click to expand...

Horrible day. That this kind of barbarism still exists makes me shake my head. Horrifying that someone can be executed with this kind of gargantuan doubt, not just reasonable doubt. And what's worse that parts of mankind still feel authorized to take ANY human's life, no matter what the reason.
 
Well, I'm from Georgia and I am outraged by this act of injustice. This has been going on before all of us were alive. I ask all of you to please pray for the Davis and MacPhail families.

I've been to the Capitol in Downtown Atlanta to protest. I'm glad I did that now. I will not stop fighting.

Like Michael said, "They Don't Really Care About Us."
 
Carmour260 said:
Well, I'm from Georgia and I am outraged by this act of injustice. This has been going on before all of us were alive. I ask all of you to please pray for the Davis and MacPhail families.

I've been to the Capitol in Downtown Atlanta to protest. I'm glad I did that now. I will not stop fighting.

Like Michael said, "They Don't Really Care About Us."
Click to expand...

Good for YOU! Many were protesting with you, in spirit. Over a million people, myself included, signed petitions for mercy for Troy Davis. There is a disconnect that I perceive, between our government and the people of this country. Our government is supposed to "represent" us. But in this, and so many other situations, it DOESN'T. This execution did not happen in MY name, and no justice was done.

I am simply not comprehending how a FAMILY would want to witness the death of a human-being? But, I pray for them, too. What ELSE can we do?

This is a dark, dark day for Georgia, and for this country. This was a massive miscarriage of justice. To the very end, Troy Davis proclaimed innocence. There was SO much doubt about his conviction, I'm really not understanding the Supreme Court decision, and am wondering how they get to sleep at night?

The United States is one of the few "developed" countries to still have capital punishment. I think it's shameful.. . .just shameful.
 
I do not understand how the death penalty can still exist in what is meant to be a civilised country? Just because the majority of people want it does not mean you should have it. The majority of people in Britain want the death penalty back-it does not mean it is right. We do not have the right to put people to death, especially when they could be innocent. It's legalised murder.
 
I heard of this case a few weeks ago and I signed a couple petitions, but they executed him anyway. Now, I don't know Troy Davis. I don't know whether he's guilty or innocent, but judging by his last words he seemed to have a good heart. I cried for this man last night in what is the biggest mistake from the American justice system. I'll always be against the death penalty. It's costly and serves no purpose other than to say it's ok to kill. And it's ok to kill possibly innocent people. RIP Troy Davis :(
 
CaptainEoLove85 said:
I heard of this case a few weeks ago and I signed a couple petitions, but they executed him anyway. Now, I don't know Troy Davis. I don't know whether he's guilty or innocent, but judging by his last words he seemed to have a good heart. I cried for this man last night in what is the biggest mistake from the American justice system. I'll always be against the death penalty. It's costly and serves no purpose other than to say it's ok to kill. And it's ok to kill possibly innocent people. RIP Troy Davis :(
Click to expand...

His final words were to assert his innocence. I, for one, believe him. Out of nine people who testified against him, SEVEN recanted their testimonies! But even that wasn't enough for him to get a stay-of-execution, or a new trial. I'm simply not understanding this, at all. I do hope this brings the cop's family some closure, but I don't understand THEM, either. I just saw his mother interviewed on tv. She seemed . . . hard, and cold, and obviously wasn't even entertaining the possibility that the wrong man had been executed! THIS, I don't understand. The FACTS of the case changed -- those witnesses recanted. But still, an innocent man was executed.

I will be searching for another planet and a Star Trek device to beam myself UP there? Maybe there will be a species of beings that will be kinder, and gentler?
 
Personally I have several issues with death penalty's. It's a travesty that they executed this man inspite of the protests and new found 'evidence'. This shows you once again that racisim is alive and real.
 
lm sickened to say the least. Cases like Troy Daviss' makes me realize day to day of the kind of racism rampant. "Innocent until PROVEN guilty" applies accordingly.

There are many other facets of the system that leaves me with absolutely little to no faith.
 
Last edited:
mia_farrow mia farrow
Reportedly Troy Davis is on gurney w IV inserted in his arm, in execution chamber awaiting Supreme Court decision. #MentalTorture
Thanks to Milka for this info.

So they made him wait for the decision in execution chamber with IV inserted in his arm?
They treated him like a dog :no:
 
A Wee Star In A Big Galaxy…

…struggling to find it's place
RSS
A letter from Troy Davis
Posted by magicpoetry on September 22, 2011 To All:

“I want to thank all of you for your efforts and dedication to Human Rights and Human Kindness, in the past year I have experienced such emotion, joy, sadness and never ending faith. It is because of all of you that I am alive today, as I look at my sister Martina I am marveled by the love she has for me and of course I worry about her and her health, but as she tells me she is the eldest and she will not back down from this fight to save my life and prove to the world that I am innocent of this terrible crime.

As I look at my mail from across the globe, from places I have never ever dreamed I would know about and people speaking languages and expressing cultures and religions I could only hope to one day see first hand. I am humbled by the emotion that fills my heart with overwhelming, overflowing Joy. I can’t even explain the insurgence of emotion I feel when I try to express the strength I draw from you all, it compounds my faith and it shows me yet again that this is not a case about the death penalty, this is not a case about Troy Davis, this is a case about Justice and the Human Spirit to see Justice prevail.

I cannot answer all of your letters but I do read them all, I cannot see you all but I can imagine your faces, I cannot hear you speak but your letters take me to the far reaches of the world, I cannot touch you physically but I feel your warmth everyday I exist.

So Thank you and remember I am in a place where execution can only destroy your physical form but because of my faith in God, my family and all of you I have been spiritually free for some time and no matter what happens in the days, weeks to come, this Movement to end the death penalty, to seek true justice, to expose a system that fails to protect the innocent must be accelerated. There are so many more Troy Davis’. This fight to end the death penalty is not won or lost through me but through our strength to move forward and save every innocent person in captivity around the globe. We need to dismantle this Unjust system city by city, state by state and country by country.”




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This is sad. I really don't understand how 7 out of 9 witnesses recant their testimony, but the guy still doesn't get a retrial. How is that justice?
 
This is why I'm against death penalty.
I don't know a lot about the case, but I do know that he didn't get a fair trial.
And imagine, there must have been so many other cases that are not as famous as this.
Also, so many cases of those wrongfully accused, convicted, and even executed....
Racial profiling, as well.
 
lucilla said:
mia_farrow mia farrow
Reportedly Troy Davis is on gurney w IV inserted in his arm, in execution chamber awaiting Supreme Court decision. #MentalTorture
Thanks to Milka for this info.

So they made him wait for the decision in execution chamber with IV inserted in his arm?
They treated him like a dog :no:
Click to expand...

I stayed up all night that night, watching the "democracy now" live stream and reading a thread on a true crime forum where they also posted updates. I knew he had gotten 3 stays between 2007 and 2010 (if I remember correctly), some of them, maybe all, I don't remember right now, happened mere hours before the execution. That alone can be considered cruel and unusual punishment ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruel_and_unusual_punishment ). Just like what they did on September 21.

He always refused the "last meal", because he said every single time that it won't be his last. 3 times he was right.

I don't know if he was innocent or not, but there was just too much doubt. Apart from the fact that the death penalty is wrong. The death certificate of an executed person lists the cause of death as homicide. That says it all. It should be murder actually, because it always is long pre-planned. You can't answer violence with violence. An eye for an eye makes the world blind.

I stayed up all night that night, and at 5:08 am my time he was dead. 11:08 pm Georgia time.

There was another execution that same day in Texas, Lawrence Brewer, a white supremacist, who commited a horrifying hate crime with 2 other people, killing James Byrd. There was no doubt about his guilt, but the son of James Byrd objected to the execution:

"You can't fight murder with murder," Ross Byrd, 32, told Reuters late Tuesday, the night before Wednesday's scheduled execution of Lawrence Russell Brewer for one of the most notorious hate crimes in modern times.

"Life in prison would have been fine. I know he can't hurt my daddy anymore. I wish the state would take in mind that this isn't what we want."
Click to expand...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/21/us-texas-execution-son-idUSTRE78K35B20110921

I also think a lot of people don't realize that there is a very high risk of innocent people being executed, not just occasionally (which would be bad enough, one is one too many), but on a regular basis:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_exonerated_death_row_inmates#United_States

This is a long list of people who were just lucky. They could all be dead.

Innocence Cases: 2004 - Present:
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/innocence-cases-2004-present

And then there is the Cameron Todd Willingham case, he was executed in 2004, in 2009 an investigative journalist found out that he was likely innocent:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameron_Todd_Willingham

You can't fix "dead", but you can fix "life in prison".
 
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