Troy Davis is Executed

LucyDuke

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Spoiler :
Death row inmate Troy Davis has had his final appeal rejected by the US Supreme Court as he awaits execution for the murder of a policeman.

The state of Georgia's top court earlier also rejected an appeal by the 42-year-old, whose lethal injection was scheduled for 19:00 EST (23:00 GMT).

Seven out of nine witnesses recanted their testimony in the case. Protests and vigils have been held all week.

Davis' request for a polygraph test was denied by prison officials.

He was convicted in 1991 of killing Mark MacPhail, an off-duty police officer, but maintains he is innocent.

The US Supreme Court judges took more than four hours to issue their rejection of the final appeal, an unusually long time for such a ruling.

"The application for stay of execution of sentence of death presented to Justice [Clarence] Thomas and by him referred to the Court is denied," it read.

Ballistic 'flawed'
MacPhail was shot dead in July 1989 as he tried to help a homeless man who was being attacked in a Burger King car park.


Mark MacPhail was shot dead in 1989 as he tried to defend a homeless man
Prosecutors say Davis was beating the man with a gun after demanding a beer from him.

But no gun was ever found and no DNA evidence conclusively linked Davis to the murder.

On Wednesday morning, Davis' lawyers appealed to the county court responsible for Georgia's death row, but that was also rejected.

The legal team had argued that ballistic testing from the case was flawed.

The pardons board also dismissed an appeal to reconsider their decision on Monday to deny Davis clemency.

During what could be his last hours, Davis had not asked for a final meal and was spending time with family, friends and supporters.

'It has got to end'
Prosecutors say they have no doubts as to his guilt.

"He had all the chances in the world," Anneliese MacPhail, the mother of the murdered policeman, said in a phone interview with the Associated Press news agency.

"It has got to come to an end."

But Davis counts among his supporters Pope Benedict XVI and former US President Jimmy Carter, as well as US conservative figures like representative Bob Barr and former FBI director William Sessions.


Bianca Jagger says the evidence against Mr Davis is virtually non-existent
Spencer Lawton, the district attorney who secured the conviction, told the Associated Press news agency he was embarrassed that the execution had taken so long.

"What we have had is a manufactured appearance of doubt which has taken on the quality of legitimate doubt itself. And all of it is exquisitely unfair," he said.

Outside the prison in Jackson, Georgia - where Davis is to be executed - a crowd of about 200 people have gathered, chanting "They say death row; we say, hell no!"

Around 10 counter-demonstrators were also present, voicing support for the death penalty and for the family of MacPhail.

His sister Martina Correia told reporters: "Troy Davis has impacted the world. They say, 'I am Troy Davis,' in languages he can't speak."

There is a heavy police presence outside the prison, including large numbers of riot police, but no disturbances have been reported.

Protests in Paris
Davis' conviction has been upheld by several federal and appeal courts.

He was previously denied a hearing at the US Supreme Court after a federal judge refused a new trial for his case.


Protests in Georgia have been organized by the Amnesty International and NAACP
Davis' execution date has been stopped three times.

While vigils have been scheduled at both the Georgia state capitol and the jail, protests have taken on an international dimension since Monday's decision to deny clemency.

The Council of Europe has called for Davis' sentence to be commuted.

Amnesty International and other groups organised protests at the US embassy in Paris, where 150 people gathered in Place de la Concorde, holding signs bearing Davis' image.

In Washington DC dozens gathered outside the White House, in the hope that President Barack Obama might intervene at the last-minute.

Reports suggest around a dozen people have been arrested for refusing to co-operate with police.

But White House press secretary Jay Carney said it would not be appropriate for the president to interfere in specific cases of state prosecution, such as this one.

The president does not have the authority to pardon Davis, but he could order an investigation into the case and delay the execution.

Meanwhile in the US state of Texas another death row inmate, Lawrence Russell Brewer, was executed on Wednesday evening - in a very different case.

In 1998, white supremacist gang member Brewer, 44, dragged a black man chained to the back of a pick-up truck along a road until he died.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15008387


According to CNN, he was declared dead at 11:08 pm, executed by lethal injection.

Folks that oppose capital punishment will point to this as an example of why it must be abolished, because it can go wrong. I don't think this is a good example, as even folks that support or accept capital punishment can see that it went wrong here.

This is embarrassing though.
 
Recanted testimony is generally considered unreliable. While I honestly don't see enough here to say Davis was innocent, I do think it's pretty clear there was enough doubt in the case that he should have had the execution stayed.

In addition to a pretty clear cut wrongful execution in Texas, high profile doubtful executions like this are going to be the death knell of the death penalty. If you're a supporter of capital punishment, you don't want it used in this lax a manner.
 
All executions are wrong. This one more than most.
 
Recanted testimony is generally considered unreliable. While I honestly don't see enough here to say Davis was innocent, I do think it's pretty clear there was enough doubt in the case that he should have had the execution stayed.
There wasn't much chance of that occurring given that it is Georgia, and the current governor is a conservative Republican who used to be a DA.

It will probably take one or two cases like what occurred in Great Britain before capital punishment is finally abolished.

Timothy Evans in the United Kingdom, was tried and executed in 1950 for the murder of his baby daughter Geraldine. An official inquiry conducted 16 years later determined that it was Evans's fellow tenant, serial killer John Reginald Halliday Christie, who was responsible for the murder. Christie also admitted to the murder of Evans's wife as well as five other women and his own wife. Christie may have murderded other women, judging by evidence found in his possession at the time of his arrest, but it was never pursued by the police. Evans was pardoned posthumously following this, in 1966. The case prompted the abolition of capital punishment in the UK in 1965.

It could be argued that we should learn that lesson based on what occurred in other countries. But that doesn't seem to work too often in this country.
 
Recanted testimony is generally considered unreliable. While I honestly don't see enough here to say Davis was innocent, I do think it's pretty clear there was enough doubt in the case that he should have had the execution stayed.

Yeah, I don't know if he was innocent. But it doesn't seem nearly certain enough that he was guilty to kill him.
 
I support the death penalty, but this was a poor use of it.
 
Pretty f-ed up. Just an example of the state/law being boneheaded & refused to bend lest it look weak. One of the reasons why our civilization is so screwed. We're in a fast changing world & our law system cannot keep pace. Very sad for the man & his family and even sad for the family of the victim as they probably suspect justice has not been done.
 
Folks that oppose capital punishment will point to this as an example of why it must be abolished, because it can go wrong. I don't think this is a good example, as even folks that support or accept capital punishment can see that it went wrong here.

If your issue with the death penalty is you may wind up executing innocent or maybe not-as-clearly-guilty-as-that-misled-jury-thought people, then this is an excellent example!

Now there are a lot of issues I have with the death penalty. Its questionable deterrence, the unbalanced nature of retributive justice vs. maintenance of societal order, the simple economics that it costs more to execute someone than to imprison them for life, etc. etc. But if you think the death penalty is too permanent a punishment for a hugely imperfect and in many cases unfair justice system such as ours, this is an excellent example of the death penalty's folly in that regard, I think.
 
Shame on Georgia. Perhaps he wasguilty, but refusing to properly review the case at all in the circumstances and with the penalty at stake is a inhumane approach unworthy of a modern western society, and more in line with barbarir or dictatorian practices.
 
Pretty f-ed up. Just an example of the state/law being boneheaded & refused to bend lest it look weak. One of the reasons why our civilization is so screwed. We're in a fast changing world & our law system cannot keep pace. Very sad for the man & his family and even sad for the family of the victim as they probably suspect justice has not been done.

In addition. this has a direct link to justify an act of terrorism. If a nation-state fails to provide a fair law and order system, or intentionally misuse one, to sting one group and helps others (usually Nobility). then a folk turned towards violence.

In a game. If one player bends the rule. so why should others still play by it instead of breaking it??

EDIT1: Is this case has anything to do with gangsterism?
 
Yeah, I don't know if he was innocent. But it doesn't seem nearly certain enough that he was guilty to kill him.

I dont see how you could be more certain. The facts of this case were heard over and over again, appeal after appeal. There was no new dna evidence to confirm his innocense.

This case was heard properly, even all the way up and to the supreme court. He was found guilty of murder, and his myriad appeals found no error in the process.

Pretty f-ed up. Just an example of the state/law being boneheaded & refused to bend lest it look weak. One of the reasons why our civilization is so screwed. We're in a fast changing world & our law system cannot keep pace. Very sad for the man & his family and even sad for the family of the victim as they probably suspect justice has not been done.

Actually the family of the victim was present at the execution and fwiw consider the execution as the final closure to what happened to their family member. As far as I can read they do indeed seem unified that justice was indeed done in this.
 
^ Where do you get the proof that justify this 'barbarism' as others view it?
how accountible the prosecution processes are?
if the process is accountible as you claim it is. then why I still see 'Free Troy Davis' protesters in streets?
 
I dont see how you could be more certain.
if this case is the most certain we can get of someone's guilt, I think it makes a very compelling argument against Capital Punishment
 
if this case is the most certain we can get of someone's guilt, I think it makes a very compelling argument against Capital Punishment

I never said or indicated a 'most certain' argument; just that the system went through its myriad appeals process, all the way up to the Supreme court, and no such error was found to prevent this execution.

Simply because a man never admits his guilt in a crime doesnt prove he wasnt guilty of said crime. But obviously there will be people that will believe him regardless of the evidence presented.

^ Where do you get the proof that justify this 'barbarism' as others view it?
how accountible the prosecution processes are?
if the process is accountible as you claim it is. then why I still see 'Free Troy Davis' protesters in streets?

Because people will believe what they want to believe, often despite actual facts otherwise. No more, no less.
 
^ Where do you get the proof that justify this 'barbarism' as others view it?
how accountible the prosecution processes are?
if the process is accountible as you claim it is. then why I still see 'Free Troy Davis' protesters in streets?

A legal case was heard, in front of a jury of his peers, with a responsible defense. Evidence was presented and arguments heard from both sides. He was found guilty and sentenced to death. Layers of appeal failed to overturn. Seems pretty straight forward.

"Barbarism" is certainly a point of view or opinion that citizens have a right to make - while others, including myself, think it's a punishment that fits the crime. I'm certain I find things disgusting that others approve of. But murder is more serious than opinion.

America also has a phenomenon that I think of as, "The Defense Never Rests". Numerous cases over the years continue to be debated long after the sentence is carried out. Sacco and Vanzetti, Sam Sheppard, the Rosenberg's and many others, are still debated by family members, colleagues and admirers for years and decades after.
 
if this case is the most certain we can get of someone's guilt, I think it makes a very compelling argument against Capital Punishment

Neither the article nor any argument yet presented on the forum contains all the evidence originally presented in court. 12 citizens and a judge heard that evidence and found him guilty. Appeals authorities reheard that evidence and more and refused to overturn. You don't know the evidence do you? How can you assert this?
 
A legal case was heard, in front of a jury of his peers, with a responsible defense. Evidence was presented and arguments heard from both sides. He was found guilty and sentenced to death. Layers of appeal failed to overturn. Seems pretty straight forward.

"Barbarism" is certainly a point of view or opinion that citizens have a right to make - while others, including myself, think it's a punishment that fits the crime. I'm certain I find things disgusting that others approve of. But murder is more serious than opinion.

America also has a phenomenon that I think of as, "The Defense Never Rests". Numerous cases over the years continue to be debated long after the sentence is carried out. Sacco and Vanzetti, Sam Sheppard, the Rosenberg's and many others, are still debated by family members, colleagues and admirers for years and decades after.

And is there any fenominon of 'vendetta' like a gang member or kins of the convicts commit an acts that one might see as 'terrorism' but they believe that it is 'justified'?

like murdering more policemen. instigating prison riots and kills guards

Also. Is there any law that protects law enforcer in case of murder? that anyone kills a law enforcer will not grant any lenience on ANY ground.
 
There wasn't much chance of that occurring given that it is Georgia, and the current governor is a conservative Republican who used to be a DA.

It will probably take one or two cases like what occurred in Great Britain before capital punishment is finally abolished.



It could be argued that we should learn that lesson based on what occurred in other countries. But that doesn't seem to work too often in this country.
Good luck with that, in America you have governors like Perry who deepsix inquiries like that.

As far as this case is concerned what was the actual evidence? Was his conviction purely based on the eyewitnesses and a chunk of them recanted, or was there further evidence beyond the eyewitnesses?
 
well. Perry will now have more enemies. for sure.
I'm sure that Free Davis protesters will push this on to the next governor election campaign. but to which extend that the protester will attack him. it's another question.

I.E. those mobs will vote for any candicate who oppose him... for sure :p
 
Death Penalty.JPG

Americans have long supported the death penalty.
 
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