So these past couple of days have been very interesting. I have been following the Troy Davis story for a while now and it came to an end September 21, 2011 when he took his last breath at 11:08. If you don’t know what happened with this story, you must not have been watching the news this month because it was EVERYWHERE.
Troy Davis was accused of murdering police officer Mark MacPhail in Savannah, Georgia on August 19, 1989. During the trail the nine witnesses, (seven who claimed they witnessed the murder first hand, and two who said that Davis admitted to them that he committed the crime among 34 witnesses), recounted stories pinning Davis as the killer of the off duty officer intervening in a altercation between two individuals, while Davis (along with six other witnesses) held strongly to his innocent plea. During the investigation, no murder weapon was ever found but because of other charges that Davis held, they found him guilty and sentenced him to death.
Since the 20 years that Davis has been awaiting his death sentence, he continued to claim his innocence. Since then, according to Amnesty International “...all but two of the state's non-police witnesses from the trial have recanted or contradicted their testimony. Many of these witnesses have stated in sworn affidavits that they were pressured or coerced by police into testifying or signing statements against Troy Davis.” After these findings he tried to receive clemency which is “disposition to be merciful and especially to moderate the severity of punishment due” according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, but was denied it.
On Wednesday night, after eating his last meal, strapped to the execution table, Davis stated that he was not carrying a gun on the night of the murder and urged Mark MacPhail’s brother, who was present at the execution, to “...look deep into this case so you can really find the truth.”
The thing that made me upset was the fact that MacPhail’s family said that Davis’s execution finally gave them peace. First off, who get’s peace from the injustice seen in this case that resulted in the death of an innocent man. Their was NO real evidence that linked Davis to the murder of Mark MacPhail that night in 1989. The whole trial was entirely based off of “eye-witness” accounts that were forced on by police and that were in time recanted. The fact that NONE of our elected representatives intervened sickens me to know that these are the officials that are suppose to be representing the people, but when the people spoke out against what was going on in this case, where was the support from them??? NO REPLY.
This injustice not only triggered the emotions of the people of Georgia and the rest of the United States, but also the people of the world, including France, London, and Italy where hundreds protested and rallied against what was going on in the Savannah, Georgia courtroom. Not only have people come together physically in opposition of the current justice system but the social media outlets have been going crazy about this case from people from all over the world. This is a direct call out for change!!!
Alexis Roe
I agree that this was a gut wrenching and sickening moment in our nation's history. It saddens me to think that in this "civilized" society we still have the death penalty.
ReplyDeleteThis case brings up an interesting point about our justice system that you touched on when you included the fact that all but two of the non-police witnesses recanted or contradicted their testimonies. I can't help but wonder why there is an avenue that allows witnesses to officially recant their testimonies if the court of law doesn't take that into account when somebody pleas for clemency. It is almost as if our justice system is a like a child who closes their eyes and says "if I can't see you, you can't see me!" - i.e. thinks they are being rational and fair when they are doing things that are entirely irrational (not to mention brutal) in both the eyes of our nation and the world.
I sincerely hope that one day our justice system ceases to do things that display our racist, uncivilized and illogical past and instead use logic and reason to look to the future for real solutions to problems.
- Ysabel Yates
You always hear about stories of new evidence or technology proving sombody's innocence long past their execution or life spent in jail.
ReplyDeleteYou would think that in this day and age there would no longer be executions as a result of so much skepticism.
If you can say that there is a bright side to any of this, though, it could be in the way that people of the United States and the rest of the world have gathered to point out the injustice in the system so hopefully we will see the change that Ysabel mentions.
I do still wonder how possible such change is, though, because police officers, lawyers, and all other members of the justice system and the trials are all just human. We make our own judgements, and we make mistakes. I am not saying that this is an excuse for injustice, just that it is hard to overhaul a system in this way when it is made up of individual actors. For example, this is not only a problem in a nation where the death penalty still exists. In my hometown, there are still often discussions of a murder that happened around the same time. Nobody has been convicted of it but there have been many rumours of evidence that ties high-ranking police officers to the murder. All of this has been covered up. The case has not been touched for years and law officials avoid the topic.
Whether somebody is being wrongfully accused or evidence is being covered up, these are examples of problems in all legal systems that I cannot foresee being changed.
- Danielle Foster