Two days ago, a federal district court in Savannah, Georgia denied Troy Davis’ petition – ruling that Troy didn’t reach the extraordinarily high legal bar to prove his innocence.
But I was in that courtroom in June, along with other Amnesty representatives. We saw the witnesses and heard the facts first-hand, and as Executive Director Larry Cox put it “nobody walking out of that hearing could view this as an open-and-shut case”.
So how is it that Troy has been put back on track for execution?
The courts have been far too comfortable leaving room for doubt, error and bias. There is no physical or scientific evidence linking Troy to the crime. In fact, Troy had to rely on witnesses who the judge didn’t find credible, even though these are the same witnesses on which his conviction hangs!
Because the courts have failed to resolve the doubts in this case, we’re taking Troy’s story back to the court of public opinion. We want every news outlet talking about the disastrous system that would allow a man to be put to death even when doubts persist about his guilt.
Please help by writing a letter in support of Troy Davis and ask key newspapers to publish it.
Troy’s case is so powerful because it has inspired:
- A majority of witnesses to admit that they lied 19 years ago
- Four witnesses to finally testify against the person who they suspect to be the real killer of police officer Mark MacPhail
- Pope Benedict XVI, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter to all call for clemency
- A movement of human rights supporters to unite and pass Troy’s story along from one person to the next to the next…
There are no do-overs when it comes to death. As long as there’s doubt, there should be no execution. But as long as there’s hope, we’ll continue to fight for Troy Davis.
I find it incredible that the court can continue to ignore the mounting evidence that casts significant doubt on the safety of the original verdict. In the face of this it is totally indefensible that the death penalty is still a possible outcome.
I used to think he was innocent until I looked at the case a lot more closely and now I think you guys are misrepresenting it. They were able to match the bullet to the same one that was shot earlier in the night at a party that witnesses said was shot by Davis. He's not such an innocent guy when you know he shot someone in the face earlier in the night. Also, the timeliness of those witnesses coming forward now that he's on death row is pretty suspicious and the judge didn't buy their recantations. There's also the bloody shorts they found at his mom's place and he allegedly told people that he did the shooting. Normally I agree with Amnesty International but not on this one. You guys try to make him sound so innocent which is why I looked into the case but, when you look more closely, he looks very guilty.
As a country whose culture and compassion is world reknowned, stands out as the standard by which most others are judged, how is It we continue to be governed and or affected by those whose mentality and position continue to impose a narrowness of judgement inconsistent with the American ethos.
1. Speaking of the court of public opinion, I wonder whether the local public or any of the local city or county executive, legislative, or judicial branches can be moved to request a permanent stay of execution.
2. I'd like to see a cogent answer to Brian's charges of misrepresentation above, however much or little they may be worth.
I find it incredible that the court can continue to ignore the mounting evidence that casts significant doubt on the safety of the original verdict. In the face of this it is totally indefensible that the death penalty is still a possible outcome.
I used to think he was innocent until I looked at the case a lot more closely and now I think you guys are misrepresenting it. They were able to match the bullet to the same one that was shot earlier in the night at a party that witnesses said was shot by Davis. He’s not such an innocent guy when you know he shot someone in the face earlier in the night. Also, the timeliness of those witnesses coming forward now that he’s on death row is pretty suspicious and the judge didn’t buy their recantations. There’s also the bloody shorts they found at his mom’s place and he allegedly told people that he did the shooting. Normally I agree with Amnesty International but not on this one. You guys try to make him sound so innocent which is why I looked into the case but, when you look more closely, he looks very guilty.
As a country whose culture and compassion is world reknowned, stands out as the standard by which most others are judged, how is It we continue to be governed and or affected by those whose mentality and position continue to impose a narrowness of judgement inconsistent with the American ethos.
1. Speaking of the court of public opinion, I wonder whether the local public or any of the local city or county executive, legislative, or judicial branches can be moved to request a permanent stay of execution.
2. I’d like to see a cogent answer to Brian’s charges of misrepresentation above, however much or little they may be worth.
You are quite right Michael, a permanent stay of execution would leave the matter open for further evidence to come to light, either for or against Troy Davis's case. To continue with execution rules out any possibility of that happening. This of course is a major factor in the wider debate on capital punishment as well as being pertinent to Troy Davis's case.
Guilty…
Though his sentence has yet to be carried out, AT LEAST he is incarcerated and unable to kill anyone else or shoot anyone else in the face.
I think what Brian says is true, …I've read all that before. But I think we need to trust in Amnesty, which I'm sure knows more of the details. He may have been guilty of shooting someone earlier, but in the face of all the recantations and mounting evidence it was another person, this execution needs to be overturned, …so that at some point we will be able to learn the truth.
When will we ever learn, that if we wish to teach our children not to kill, we must stop doing it and set the example. In the states that carry out the most executions, the death penalty has clearly been no deterrant, and revenge is the beast that has killed thousands of our troops and 100,000 innocent Iraqi children.
You are quite right Michael, a permanent stay of execution would leave the matter open for further evidence to come to light, either for or against Troy Davis’s case. To continue with execution rules out any possibility of that happening. This of course is a major factor in the wider debate on capital punishment as well as being pertinent to Troy Davis’s case.
Grateful, you state that executions clearly have not been a deterrent. That is irrelevant. Putting people in jail for robbing banks has not deterred other individuals from robbing banks, so should we stop putting people in jail for that crime?
It is called the death penalty, not the death deterent.
I don't know about this case to state if the penalty is warranted or not, but in my opinion, your argument is a weak one.
My great uncle was executed in 1929, at the age of ninteen. He was convicted of felony murder, the victim was a police officer.
My uncle and his partner were committing a robbery in a drug store when his partner fired the fatal shots. My uncle was in a back room at the time and had was not involved in the shooting,had no way to prevent the shots from being fired.
I have read every newspaper article and the trial transcripts, it appears everyone was in agreement that my uncle was not involved.
I understand that legally he was guilty but was he morally guilty?
He was suppose to be a great guy, which those of you reading this might have a hard time understanding. He grew up poor and had stayed out of trouble his entire life until six weeks prior to the shooting.
He had no job, had been thrown out on the streets by his step-father and I believe saw no way out. He had lost hope, which can destroy anyone.
My great-uncle was the first person executed in the electric chair in Chicago. He was executed in the old Cook County Jail, which was located near downtown Chicago.
His death has always haunted me, there are many nights when I imagine his last five minutes of life, I can't imagine the panic he was feeling, the terror that was chasing him as he walked toward the chair that would burn him from the inside out.
I believe the crime he was executed for was not felony murder but poverty. It seems that those living in poverty are the ones who suffer the most serious consequences for their actions, it is as if money is the deciding factor in who has the right to live.
My heart goes out to the policeman that was murdered in that drug store over eighty years ago, and I realize the loss his family suffered can never be replaced. However, executing my great-uncle only caused more suffering.
At the time of his execution my great-grandmother lost any semblance of reality. She was never the same, vacant and empty for the rest of her life.
There is nothing I can do to change the past but I can try to change the future. The death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment, it does not resolve anything, it simply leaves more suffering in its wake.
How can Troy Davis' family live with the thought the he was innocent and still had to die? Where is the justice in that? His family will feel the ramifications for generations to come, the pain will remain raw.
I think if there is even a remote possibility that Troy is innocent we should all be fighting for his life. Ultimately, it is not Georgia that is executing him, but all of us who do not try to prevent this barbaric event from taking place.
Guilty…
Though his sentence has yet to be carried out, AT LEAST he is incarcerated and unable to kill anyone else or shoot anyone else in the face.
I am with you Grateful Child. The law says that killing is wrong; that's why people are arrested and jailed for it. How then can the law carry out a killing and make out that it's ok.
What is the point of laws and sanctions for breaking them? Is it not society's way of controlling behaviour, attempting to make it's members conform to an agreed code of behaviour? So the object of enforcing law is to create a more harmonious society, to make life pleasant and safe. Our society could have agreed that killing is ok, that taking what belongs to another is fine, that destroying the property of another is acceptable. But it hasn't. It has chosen to set up a system for making clear its disapproval of these ways of behaving. The death penalty does not achieve this end; it merely permanently removes the perpetrator of a particular crime. It does nothing to reform that person and give him or her the chance of being a responsible citizen again. The death penalty exacts revenge and saves society the problem of doing anything constructive with the killer. The deterrent factor is one that is often presented as an argument in favour of the penalty but Grateful Child is quite right to point out that statistics show this not to be so.
Thank you Laura for that account. I think there are lessons to be learned there, if only we could get past the 'eye for an eye' mentality that drives the states and nations that still practice legalised murder.
I think what Brian says is true, …I’ve read all that before. But I think we need to trust in Amnesty, which I’m sure knows more of the details. He may have been guilty of shooting someone earlier, but in the face of all the recantations and mounting evidence it was another person, this execution needs to be overturned, …so that at some point we will be able to learn the truth.
When will we ever learn, that if we wish to teach our children not to kill, we must stop doing it and set the example. In the states that carry out the most executions, the death penalty has clearly been no deterrant, and revenge is the beast that has killed thousands of our troops and 100,000 innocent Iraqi children.
Grateful, you state that executions clearly have not been a deterrent. That is irrelevant. Putting people in jail for robbing banks has not deterred other individuals from robbing banks, so should we stop putting people in jail for that crime?
It is called the death penalty, not the death deterent.
I don’t know about this case to state if the penalty is warranted or not, but in my opinion, your argument is a weak one.
My great uncle was executed in 1929, at the age of ninteen. He was convicted of felony murder, the victim was a police officer.
My uncle and his partner were committing a robbery in a drug store when his partner fired the fatal shots. My uncle was in a back room at the time and had was not involved in the shooting,had no way to prevent the shots from being fired.
I have read every newspaper article and the trial transcripts, it appears everyone was in agreement that my uncle was not involved.
I understand that legally he was guilty but was he morally guilty?
He was suppose to be a great guy, which those of you reading this might have a hard time understanding. He grew up poor and had stayed out of trouble his entire life until six weeks prior to the shooting.
He had no job, had been thrown out on the streets by his step-father and I believe saw no way out. He had lost hope, which can destroy anyone.
My great-uncle was the first person executed in the electric chair in Chicago. He was executed in the old Cook County Jail, which was located near downtown Chicago.
His death has always haunted me, there are many nights when I imagine his last five minutes of life, I can’t imagine the panic he was feeling, the terror that was chasing him as he walked toward the chair that would burn him from the inside out.
I believe the crime he was executed for was not felony murder but poverty. It seems that those living in poverty are the ones who suffer the most serious consequences for their actions, it is as if money is the deciding factor in who has the right to live.
My heart goes out to the policeman that was murdered in that drug store over eighty years ago, and I realize the loss his family suffered can never be replaced. However, executing my great-uncle only caused more suffering.
At the time of his execution my great-grandmother lost any semblance of reality. She was never the same, vacant and empty for the rest of her life.
There is nothing I can do to change the past but I can try to change the future. The death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment, it does not resolve anything, it simply leaves more suffering in its wake.
How can Troy Davis’ family live with the thought the he was innocent and still had to die? Where is the justice in that? His family will feel the ramifications for generations to come, the pain will remain raw.
I think if there is even a remote possibility that Troy is innocent we should all be fighting for his life. Ultimately, it is not Georgia that is executing him, but all of us who do not try to prevent this barbaric event from taking place.
I am with you Grateful Child. The law says that killing is wrong; that’s why people are arrested and jailed for it. How then can the law carry out a killing and make out that it’s ok.
What is the point of laws and sanctions for breaking them? Is it not society’s way of controlling behaviour, attempting to make it’s members conform to an agreed code of behaviour? So the object of enforcing law is to create a more harmonious society, to make life pleasant and safe. Our society could have agreed that killing is ok, that taking what belongs to another is fine, that destroying the property of another is acceptable. But it hasn’t. It has chosen to set up a system for making clear its disapproval of these ways of behaving. The death penalty does not achieve this end; it merely permanently removes the perpetrator of a particular crime. It does nothing to reform that person and give him or her the chance of being a responsible citizen again. The death penalty exacts revenge and saves society the problem of doing anything constructive with the killer. The deterrent factor is one that is often presented as an argument in favour of the penalty but Grateful Child is quite right to point out that statistics show this not to be so.
Thank you Laura for that account. I think there are lessons to be learned there, if only we could get past the ‘eye for an eye’ mentality that drives the states and nations that still practice legalised murder.
The death penalty is non other than legalised murder. It is none other than the modern day application of Hamurabi's " Eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth" principle established some 3000 years ago !!! Does this principle provide justice or vengence ? It is my belief that a judicial system should strive to uncover the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth ! Even then how is the death penalty justified? The United States is the World's foremost Economy, but where does it stand with respect to justice especially when compared to the Judicial systems in Europe?
The death penalty is non other than legalised murder. It is none other than the modern day application of Hamurabi’s ” Eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth” principle established some 3000 years ago !!! Does this principle provide justice or vengence ? It is my belief that a judicial system should strive to uncover the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth ! Even then how is the death penalty justified? The United States is the World’s foremost Economy, but where does it stand with respect to justice especially when compared to the Judicial systems in Europe?
@Brian – It's great that you've done your own research on the case and I think it is always important to know the facts about an issue for which you are involved/ active. I've been helping build awareness, educate and get support for a new trial for some years now. I've been there for several teach-in events, demonstrations and I was there for the entire hearing in Savannah.
Even though I'd been well informed about the case prior to the hearing I have to say that I learned more than ever at the hearing. I wish that it could have been recorded for others so that they would know and hear it for themselves. Larry Cox was exactly right in saying, “nobody walking out of that hearing could view this as an open-and-shut case.”
There was not conclusive evidence connecting the bullet shot earlier in the evening to Troy Davis and the guys in the car were not able to identify him as being the shooter. And the supposedly "bloody shorts" that were found at his mother's house (without search warrant, I believe) were tested and not found to have blood on them. The witnesses who have recanted began to do so from the very beginning- one guy repeatedly said that he didn't see anything and went along with the instructions to repeat what had been put in his statement. The young guys (young, poor, black men in Savannah- a very southern and connected town as far as those in power with the "good ol boy" system still thriving) were questioned for hours- more than 10 hours- and they were scared. We heard a recording of part of an interrogation in which the officer explained what could happen if someone were found to be an accomplice, how they would be housed at the jail, what inmates did to those in special types of custody and viewed as snitches. The tone of the officer and the context made most of us in the courtroom hear it, just as the guy being questioned years ago had- it didn't feel as much as a hypothetical and instead felt more like a threat.
Another woman who initially agreed that Troy Davis was the shooter returned to the station for what was to be a re-enactment at the scene. Upon arriving at the station she saw the man who she had seen shoot the officer. She told the officers this- that Coles, also there to participate in the re-enactment, was the man who actually shot the officer. Coles was still permitted to participate in the re-enactment. It was while at the re-enactment at the scene that Coles let the officers know that yes, he had indeed had a gun on the night of the shooting and that no, he couldn't say where it was then. Coles had an attorney. Coles was never viewed as a suspect according to the officers who testified at the hearing.
Witnesses have been speaking up since before the trial and they had little to no voice. They've not only spoken up since his sentencing. They have NOTHING to gain by doing so. And another point that I would like to make regarding your statements- I don't work for Amnesty International but have worked along side AI folks as we push for justice for Troy Davis. Amnesty's message has been rather clear- innocence matters and Troy Davis may be an innocent man, a new trial with the testimony of witnesses, etc. is needed and he as well as all of us deserve justice. Amnesty is not saying that Troy Davis IS innocent- at least that has been my understanding of their position.
@Brian – It’s great that you’ve done your own research on the case and I think it is always important to know the facts about an issue for which you are involved/ active. I’ve been helping build awareness, educate and get support for a new trial for some years now. I’ve been there for several teach-in events, demonstrations and I was there for the entire hearing in Savannah.
Even though I’d been well informed about the case prior to the hearing I have to say that I learned more than ever at the hearing. I wish that it could have been recorded for others so that they would know and hear it for themselves. Larry Cox was exactly right in saying, “nobody walking out of that hearing could view this as an open-and-shut case.”
There was not conclusive evidence connecting the bullet shot earlier in the evening to Troy Davis and the guys in the car were not able to identify him as being the shooter. And the supposedly “bloody shorts” that were found at his mother’s house (without search warrant, I believe) were tested and not found to have blood on them. The witnesses who have recanted began to do so from the very beginning- one guy repeatedly said that he didn’t see anything and went along with the instructions to repeat what had been put in his statement. The young guys (young, poor, black men in Savannah- a very southern and connected town as far as those in power with the “good ol boy” system still thriving) were questioned for hours- more than 10 hours- and they were scared. We heard a recording of part of an interrogation in which the officer explained what could happen if someone were found to be an accomplice, how they would be housed at the jail, what inmates did to those in special types of custody and viewed as snitches. The tone of the officer and the context made most of us in the courtroom hear it, just as the guy being questioned years ago had- it didn’t feel as much as a hypothetical and instead felt more like a threat.
Another woman who initially agreed that Troy Davis was the shooter returned to the station for what was to be a re-enactment at the scene. Upon arriving at the station she saw the man who she had seen shoot the officer. She told the officers this- that Coles, also there to participate in the re-enactment, was the man who actually shot the officer. Coles was still permitted to participate in the re-enactment. It was while at the re-enactment at the scene that Coles let the officers know that yes, he had indeed had a gun on the night of the shooting and that no, he couldn’t say where it was then. Coles had an attorney. Coles was never viewed as a suspect according to the officers who testified at the hearing.
Witnesses have been speaking up since before the trial and they had little to no voice. They’ve not only spoken up since his sentencing. They have NOTHING to gain by doing so. And another point that I would like to make regarding your statements- I don’t work for Amnesty International but have worked along side AI folks as we push for justice for Troy Davis. Amnesty’s message has been rather clear- innocence matters and Troy Davis may be an innocent man, a new trial with the testimony of witnesses, etc. is needed and he as well as all of us deserve justice. Amnesty is not saying that Troy Davis IS innocent- at least that has been my understanding of their position.
Thanks Leigh…,
That was very much needed.
Thanks Leigh…,
That was very much needed.
Mr. Troy Davis should be released because the witnesses' accounts are not reliable. What the State of Georgia is doing is similar to what the Islamic Republic of Iran is doing. Hardly an edifying comparison.
Mr. Troy Davis should be released because the witnesses’ accounts are not reliable. What the State of Georgia is doing is similar to what the Islamic Republic of Iran is doing. Hardly an edifying comparison.
Executions are the darkest side of humanity and only manifest the remanant traits of human cruelty, sadism, hautiness, prejudice, pride in humanity's long and tortuous endeavour to evolve into a benevolent and kind society that favours the appreciation of life over death.
I think that we are all making the important point that the original verdict against Troy Davis was unsafe and no court should ever uphold an unsafe verdict.
The question of the death penalty, whilst being very important to Troy, is also an important general principle. John has summed it up, the death penalty has no place in a civilised society.
Executions are the darkest side of humanity and only manifest the remanant traits of human cruelty, sadism, hautiness, prejudice, pride in humanity’s long and tortuous endeavour to evolve into a benevolent and kind society that favours the appreciation of life over death.
I think that we are all making the important point that the original verdict against Troy Davis was unsafe and no court should ever uphold an unsafe verdict.
The question of the death penalty, whilst being very important to Troy, is also an important general principle. John has summed it up, the death penalty has no place in a civilised society.