{"id":45601,"date":"2011-09-16T15:08:18","date_gmt":"2011-09-16T19:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/?p=45601"},"modified":"2011-09-25T16:30:57","modified_gmt":"2011-09-25T20:30:57","slug":"over-500000-sign-petition-to-stop-georgia-execution-of-troy-davis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/breaking-news\/over-500000-sign-petition-to-stop-georgia-execution-of-troy-davis\/","title":{"rendered":"Over 500,000 Sign Petition to Stop Execution of Troy Davis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/www.democracynow.org\/embed_show_v2\/300\/2011\/9\/16\/story\/over_500_000_sign_petition_to\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/planet-waves-promo\/new-edition-on-its-way-6\/\">In today&#8217;s subscriber issue<\/a>, Eric mentioned how inconceivable it is to him that Texas Gov. Rick Perry never questions whether prisoners executed in Texas might be innocent &#8212; due to the state&#8217;s &#8220;very thoughtful, very clear process.&#8221; We can hope the courts work better in Texas than in Georgia, though it doesn&#8217;t look to be the case.<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019s 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p>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:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p>You know, I\u2019ve sat down with folks in Georgia, with the warden, asked them why they won\u2019t let Troy speak, why they won\u2019t let one of the witnesses who has come forward after the fact, who\u2019s behind bars but was 15 at the time and whose parents wouldn\u2019t let him testify at the time, who\u2019s since come forward to say that this other man is the killer, speak. And what they said back was simply, &#8220;We don\u2019t want to cause any more concern. We don\u2019t even want any more stress about this case.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In today&#8217;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 &#8212; due to the state&#8217;s &#8220;very thoughtful, very clear process.&#8221; We can hope the courts work better in Texas than in Georgia, though it doesn&#8217;t look to be &#8230; <a title=\"Over 500,000 Sign Petition to Stop Execution of Troy Davis\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/breaking-news\/over-500000-sign-petition-to-stop-georgia-execution-of-troy-davis\/\" aria-label=\"More on Over 500,000 Sign Petition to Stop Execution of Troy Davis\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":191,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":""},"categories":[1743],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45601"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/191"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45601\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}