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TOPICS: troy davis supreme court appeals federal anti-terrorism and effective death penalty act
On Monday, Savannah-Now.com's Vox Populi headline read "Troy Davis has had enough appeals already."
Nestled between a short rant about factories going overseas and a voter rallying cry "Taxpayers, wake up! You are paying over $72,000 for 36 county employees to go on a diet. This is pretty scary," the throwaway line about Troy Davis is a constant reminder that Georgians are sick and tired of hearing about Troy Davis and his damn appeals, his damn innocence and his damn supporters. Two weeks ago I wrote about his case with a sense of hope, that rationality might be restored to an increasingly insane legal process, but now that the Supreme Court has decided not to review Davis' case, Georgia will finally get to execute that guy they pinned a cop-killing on 20 years ago.
Like many people, I'm still scratching my head at the Supreme Court, which issued an emergency stay for Davis hours before his scheduled execution two weeks ago. Davis' attorneys had submitted a petition for writ of certiorari -- basically asking the Supreme Court to review the judgment of the Georgia Supreme Court -- on the grounds that putting someone to death despite significant evidence of innocence is a violation of the Eighth Amendment (cruel and unusual punishment).
Only four of nine justices would have been required to issue a writ, but apparently their intent was to dangle Davis' life in front of him like a cat toy. I have to assume this, because the ruling came with no explanation or dissent.
Chatham County District Attorney Spencer Lawton put it best, releasing a 14-page statement immediately after the ruling. According to the AP, Lawton said, "... the witness recantations failed to meet the legal threshold required to call a new trial. The high rate of recantations also invites a suggestion of manipulation, making it very difficult to believe."
Now, before you dismiss this statement as ridiculous on its face, remember that the original case against Davis was stitched together Frankenstein-style out of witness statements (including an inmate's and one from the man who would have been the only other suspect, had police bothered looking for one), and that to this day they haven't even been able to find the gun that killed Mark MacPhail (or any other physical evidence such as blood or powder burns).
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Who really cares about this?
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Anonymous, hundreds of thousands of people around the world who are concerned about an innocent man losing his life because of this shameful miscarriage of justice REALLY CARE about this.
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Slow down on the presumption of innocence, there, Carolyn. Should the guy receive another trial? Maybe, and maybe not. Often, the public's perception of the application and execution of laws and the court system is quite different than the actual technicalities in which lawyers and judges have to work (consider the OJ Simpson case, for example). The important thing to take away here is that appellate courts determine whether 'the rules were followed,' and an appellate court deciding in favor of a convict is NOT an indication that the convicted was actually not guilty of the crime. The law is more about procedure than anything else. So at the moment, he's proven guilty - his presumption of innocence expired with the verdict. Ethically, he might deserve another trial - but that's nowhere near coming to the conclusion that he's actually innocent of the crime.
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I care a lot!! If we are going to have the death penalty, We are going to have to take the terrible responsibility that guilt was proved Without A Doubt - and not just say OK the rules were followed or who cares and walk away.
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Just an observation - perhaps the real reasons why the courts are unwilling to grant a new trial in this case is because 1) the amount of money needed to re-try the case, 2) a retrial quite possibly will result in a verdict of not guilty due to reasonable doubt, 3) if the police officers involved are shown to be guilty of misconduct due to harassing/coercion of witnesses, they may be faced with criminal charges of some sort, and 4) if the officers are found guilty, then every arrest and/or conviction could be contested, which would cost millions, not to mention Troy Davis' suit for illegal imprisonment. It's all about the money, not guilt or innocence. BTW, I live in Georgia, and even the law-abiding citizens who live here know all about the Georgia "BANG stop or I'll shoot" cops. The witnesses' statements about being coerced into testifying against Troy Davis comes as no surprise to me at all, and if I had to choose between "it's a lie or it's the truth," I would say it's the truth.
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Or it might have to do with the sacrosanct nature of the jury's decision in our legal system. Look, the fact that some impropriety might ostensibly have occurred is reason enough to have an investigation - but not reason enough to overturn the decision of this jury of the man's peers. I mean, if all we're going to do is defer to appellate courts, we might as well do away with trials by jury anyway.
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