Troy Davis

[Noir]

Modreatly surprised i have seen no topics about him on here, what be DPs thoughts on the Troy Davis case?

[SassyLady]

Who?!?

Did I miss something?

[Noir]

Who?!?

Did I miss something?

I only heard about him a few days ago when a friend of mine was wearing an 'I am Troy Davis' tshirt. Long story short he was convicted 20 odd years ago of shoting an off duty policeman dead, and sentenced to death row. Despite no gun being found, no physical evidence and him claiming his innocence. Since that conviction 7 of the 9 witnesses changed their story/ said they were not sure if he did do it. And up until his last breath he plead innocent, as the state of Georgia killed him this week.

Obviously there will be allot to the story that (for nothing other than the length of time i've known of it) i won't know, but i assume at least the Georgia members will have more of an idea of the whole story and if indeed and injustice has been done. Executing someone on no physical evidence and very shaky witness evidence doesn't sit right with me at all.

[DragonStryk72]

I only heard about him a few days ago when a friend of mine was wearing an 'I am Troy Davis' tshirt. Long story short he was convicted 20 odd years ago of shoting an off duty policeman dead, and sentenced to death row. Despite no gun being found, no physical evidence and him claiming his innocence. Since that conviction 7 of the 9 witnesses changed their story/ said they were not sure if he did do it. And up until his last breath he plead innocent, as the state of Georgia killed him this week.

Obviously there will be allot to the story that (for nothing other than the length of time i've known of it) i won't know, but i assume at least the Georgia members will have more of an idea of the whole story and if indeed and injustice has been done. Executing someone on no physical evidence and very shaky witness evidence doesn't sit right with me at all.

Okay, this is actually a really good point against the death penalty, which in general, I support. Even if less than 1% of the people who are put on death row are actually innocent, how many innocent people does it take before it's wrong? There are ironclad cases out there, where they have the murder weapons, prints/dna, and other corroborating evidence, but this appears to be one of those cases where the evidence was lacking.

[Noir]

The more I read about this the more rediculous it gets...

19 August 1989 – Mark MacPhail, a police officer in Savannah working at night as a private security guard, intervenes to help a homeless man who is being beaten by a man in a car park. MacPhail is shot twice and killed by the attacker of the homeless man.

23 August 1989 – Troy Davis is arrested and charged with the murder of MacPhail, based largely on the word of another man present at the shooting, Sylvester ‘Redd’ Coles.

August 1991 – Davis goes on trial. The jury is shown no physical evidence and the murder weapon is never found. But nine witnesses, including Coles, say they saw Davis shoot MacPhail. Davis pleads not guilty, saying he had seen Coles hit the homeless man, but had then left the scene before the shooting took place. The jury sides with the prosecution and Davis is found guilty.

30 August 1991 – Jury recommends death penalty, and Davis is put on death row.

September 2003 – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper begins to publish stories in which key witnesses at Davis’s trial recant their testimony. In all, seven of the nine witnesses who said they saw Davis shoot MacPhail later changed their stories, several saying they had implicated Davis having been pressured by police. Other witnesses come forward to point the finger at Coles, saying that he had boasted that he was the real killer.

16 July 2007 – The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles grants 90-day stay of execution, just one day before Davis is scheduled to be executed.

23 September 2008 – At his second execution date, the Georgia supreme court and Board of Pardons and Parole both decline to get involved. The US supreme court in Washington steps in, delaying the execution pending its decision on whether or not to hear the case. Davis is spared just two hours before he is scheduled to die.

27 October 2008 – Davis’s third execution date. The date is set after the US supreme court decides not to hear the case. Three days earlier, the Georgia court of appeals puts a hold on the execution to allow a new petition to be made.

7 September 2011 – After several more appeals fail, Georgia sets a fourth execution date for 21 September.

15 September – A petition with 663,000 signatures is delivered to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles calling for clemency.

16 September – Jimmy Carter joins other public figures and celebrities in calling for a stay on the execution. “When there’s doubtful evidence about whether someone’s guilty, they certainly shouldn’t be executed,” he says.

17 September – Crowds march through the streets of Atlanta calling for a stay of execution.

19 September – The five-member Board of Pardons and Paroles hear pleas for clemency.

21 September – Davis is set to die on his fourth execution date.

21 September, 11.08pm ET: Troy Davis is executed four hours after the appointed time when the US supreme court refuses to grant a stay, dashing his hopes of a reprieve.

(timeline from the guardian newspaper)

[Noir]

I'm not sure who this Judge is or his political stance etc. But he makes some bold remarks, and i can't see how he can be wrong. 7 of 9 witnesses recanted, get again and again Davis was denied a re-trail.

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[LuvRPgrl]

talk about falling for entertainment, that guy is a TV judge, and he added NOTHING NEW to the topic. Same ol, same ol, boring....

I'm not sure who this Judge is or his political stance etc. But he makes some bold remarks, and i can't see how he can be wrong. 7 of 9 witnesses recanted, get again and again Davis was denied a re-trail.

<IFRAME src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ogBdP6INHlE" frameBorder=0 width=420 height=315 allowfullscreen></IFRAME>

[logroller]

Noir, that's Judge Greg Mathis. He was a miscreant youth and righted himself; eventually becoming a lawyer, then a judge in Michigan and is an active proponent of minority rights and responsibilities, both from the bench and in the community. He is currently the star of a syndicated legal reality show.

As to the OP, certainly no one wishes to see an innocent person convicted, let alone executed. There are documented cases of overzealous prosecutions who make a case where evidence is lacking, but cases such as this are truly the exception.

I often ask people a question when they are disenfranchised with the justice system (either extreme)-- What is worse, to have one innocent person convicted, or 99 who are guilty walk free? Would 1 vs 999 be more acceptable; or 1 innocent vs a million guilty?

No system is perfect; despite our best attempts, there will be failures. All of which will be seen by the public as tantamount to a failing system of justice. His pleas for appeal were heard by appellate courts and the pardon and parole board, requiring several stays of his execution over a period of many years. I think people just like to think the system is broken, that public scrutiny will expunge injustice--ignoring the fact a diligent system of checks are place, were fulfilled in this case, and deemed his conviction merited the sentence be carried out.

[Noir]

talk about falling for entertainment, that guy is a TV judge, and he added NOTHING NEW to the topic. Same ol, same ol, boring....

Whoops, my bad, i was just looking up videos and i saw that with the Judge title, i didn't realise he was a personality as such.

[DragonStryk72]

Noir, that's Judge Greg Mathis. He was a miscreant youth and righted himself; eventually becoming a lawyer, then a judge in Michigan and is an active proponent of minority rights and responsibilities, both from the bench and in the community. He is currently the star of a syndicated legal reality show.

As to the OP, certainly no one wishes to see an innocent person convicted, let alone executed. There are documented cases of overzealous prosecutions who make a case where evidence is lacking, but cases such as this are truly the exception.

I often ask people a question when they are disenfranchised with the justice system (either extreme)-- What is worse, to have one innocent person convicted, or 99 who are guilty walk free? Would 1 vs 999 be more acceptable; or 1 innocent vs a million guilty?

No system is perfect; despite our best attempts, there will be failures. All of which will be seen by the public as tantamount to a failing system of justice. His pleas for appeal were heard by appellate courts and the pardon and parole board, requiring several stays of his execution over a period of many years. I think people just like to think the system is broken, that public scrutiny will expunge injustice--ignoring the fact a diligent system of checks are place, were fulfilled in this case, and deemed his conviction merited the sentence be carried out.

In retort I say: "How many innocent people die before it's wrong? What's the ratio? When does the value of innocent lives get exceeded by the lives of the guilty?"

The problem here is that the evidence was so shoddy. I mean, no physical evidence, no murder weapon. just eyewitnesses, most of whom recanted their testimonies later. I'm sorry, but that's pretty clear grounds for not using the death penalty, and setting up a re-trial. I mean, i know what happened, the jury and judge saw "dead cop", and saw blood in their eyes, but that's not an excuse for fucking up a case this bad.

[fj1200]

I mean, i know what happened, the jury and judge saw "dead cop", and saw blood in their eyes, but that's not an excuse for fucking up a case this bad.

Even a majority black jury? 7-5.

[LuvRPgrl]

Whoops, my bad, i was just looking up videos and i saw that with the Judge title, i didn't realise he was a personality as such.

Is cool, he may be smarter than some of our real judges. In fact, I think he was a real judge at one time.

[LuvRPgrl]

In retort I say: "How many innocent people die before it's wrong? What's the ratio? When does the value of innocent lives get exceeded by the lives of the guilty?"

The problem here is that the evidence was so shoddy. I mean, no physical evidence, no murder weapon. just eyewitnesses, most of whom recanted their testimonies later. I'm sorry, but that's pretty clear grounds for not using the death penalty, and setting up a re-trial. I mean, i know what happened, the jury and judge saw "dead cop", and saw blood in their eyes, but that's not an excuse for fucking up a case this bad.

so what, who cares? Its only one dude, and its a black guy who murdered a white cop, even if he didnt pull the trigger, he was there and thats good enough. Law and Order prevails, screw justice, the law is supreme, Con hog and I agree on this one at least.
Besides, even if 7 say they didnt really see him do it, that still leaves 2 eyewitnesses, enough to convict anybody.

[DragonStryk72]

Even a majority black jury? 7-5.

Yes, even black people like cops in general, fj. Even if you don't feel bad for the cop, a "cop killer" is frightening to people, because if you're willing to kill cops, where would you stop?

[Noir]

Being convicted the first time is questionable, but there where 9 witnesses all saying they saw him do it. when you have that many people saying the same thing i don;t think its unreasonable that he was found guilty, even with a lack of physical evidence.

However, the fact that he was not allowed a retrial when 7 of the 9 recanted their stories is a disgrace, and i simply don't understand why he would be denied it.