In today’s subscriber issue, Eric mentioned how inconceivable it is to him that Texas Gov. Rick Perry never questions whether prisoners executed in Texas might be innocent — due to the state’s “very thoughtful, very clear process.” We can hope the courts work better in Texas than in Georgia, though it doesn’t look to be the case.
Troy Anthony Davis was convicted of the 1989 killing of an off-duty Savannah police officer, Mark MacPhail, but has always maintained his innocence. His case has become a focal point for anti-death penalty activists in the United States and abroad, attracting supporters such as Pope Benedict XVI, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Davis’s execution is scheduled for next Wednesday, Sept. 21. With his legal appeals exhausted, the fate of Troy Davis rests largely in the hands of Georgia’s Board of Pardons and Parole, which could commute his death sentence and spare his life. Yesterday, supporters delivered a petition containing more than half a million signatures to a state parole board in support of clemency for Davis.
In the video segment from Democracy Now! above, NAACP President and CEO Benajmin Jealous makes the following remarks about the impending execution of Davis in Georgia:
This is a case that, whether you support the death penalty or you oppose it, should make you stop dead in your tracks. We hear from death row inmates each year. It’s very rare that we get involved like this. But when you hear that seven of the nine people who put him on death row have since recanted, that several more have come forward and say that one of the two who have not recanted is the actual killer, and when he has been so consistent in his story again and again, it really gives you chills.
You know, I’ve sat down with folks in Georgia, with the warden, asked them why they won’t let Troy speak, why they won’t let one of the witnesses who has come forward after the fact, who’s behind bars but was 15 at the time and whose parents wouldn’t let him testify at the time, who’s since come forward to say that this other man is the killer, speak. And what they said back was simply, “We don’t want to cause any more concern. We don’t even want any more stress about this case.”
I cringe when the President announces the death of bin Laudin with celebratory glee … the whole death penalty thing for me is nothing short of insanity and I pray this moment bridges the polarity between the divides on this issue. Please god(dess) we can do so much better than this.
m.
This represents the radical-end of authority’s inability to admit error … or weakness. And this is what makes it too brittle to survive in a healed social contract. The world understands this and it’s shameful that our nation refuses to mature past its lowest instincts on this matter. As Bill Maher asserted, last night, we’re vengeful MF’s — and we think that serves justice: one of the principal reasons we’re in trouble now.
It’s like saying “We fucked up so somebody’s gotta die!!!”
How is executing an innocent man “a way of avoiding stress?” Seriously how DO these people sleep at night?
So sad! I’ve been signing petitions on Troy’s behalf for years it feels like. Avoiding stress, a reason not to set an innocent man free?????