Georgia killed Troy Davis

After a torturous delay of more than 4 hours, the State of Georgia killed Troy Anthony Davis on the 21st September 2011. Davis was pronounced dead at 23:08 (03:08 GMT Thursday), 15 minutes after the lethal injection began.

"I am innocent," Davis said moments before he was executed. "I did not have a gun. For those about to take my life, may God have mercy on your souls. May God bless your souls. All I can ask... is that you look deeper into this case so that you really can finally see the truth. I ask my family and friends to continue to fight this fight."



Like many across the world my heart is heavy. I am sad and angry. The state of Georgia has proven what we already know. Governments cannot be trusted with the awful power over life and death. Today, Georgia didn't just kill Troy Davis; they killed the faith and confidence that many Georgians, Americans and Troy Davis supporters worldwide used to have in the criminal justice system.

The state of Georgia has proven that the death penalty is too great a power to give to the government. Human institutions are prone to bias and error and cannot be entrusted with this God-like power. The death penalty is a human rights violation whether given to the guilty or the innocent, and it must be abolished. While many courts examined this case, the march to the death chamber only slowed, but never stopped. Justice may be blind; but in this case, the justice system was blind to the facts.



The case against him consisted entirely of witness testimony which contained inconsistencies even at the time of the trial. Since then, 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. One of the two witnesses who has not recanted his testimony is Sylvester "Red" Coles — the principle alternative suspect, according to the defence, against whom there is new evidence implicating him as the gunman. Nine individuals have signed affidavits implicating Sylvester Coles.

Troy said the day before he was executed;

"The struggle for justice doesn't end with me. This struggle is for all the Troy Davises who came before me and all the ones who will come after me. I'm in good spirits and I'm prayerful and at peace."

It is only perhaps in America with its addiction to violence, to guns and to retribution that killing a person who did not commit a crime makes sense and gives false closure to the family of the victim. It is only in American with its obsession with retribution and vengeance that the huge diversion of resources to maintaining a fallible and brutal death penalty and imprisoning 1 in 10 young black men that this makes sense. It is only in America does it make sense to station troops in 143 countries of the world, not ask what the motive was for the vicious attack on 9/11 and launch a murderous war on Iraq which had nothing to do with the events of 9/11 to keep America “safe.”



The vicious death penalty does nothing to keep Americans safe nor does the sad addiction to guns. Only in the Deep South does it make sense to keep a black man in prison for 22 years and then take him out and execute him when the case against him has fallen apart. This "Freedom Loving Democracy" which refuses to sign up to the International Criminal Court and kills innocents with "precision" drones well away from media coverage is in no position to lecture other brutal execution luvin' regimes in China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and Saudi Arabia (the place the 9/11 guys came from) on Human Rights.

Let's take a moment to honour the life of Troy Davis and Mark MacPhail. Then, let's take all of our difficult feelings and re-double our commitment to abolition of the death penalty.

I am Troy Davis. You are Troy Davis. We will not stop fighting for justice.




See also;

Don’t execute Troy Davis

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/09/dont-execute-troy-davis.html

The Troy Davis Campaign Website

http://www.troyanthonydavis.org

Georgia killed Troy Davis

After a torturous delay of more than 4 hours, the State of Georgia killed Troy Anthony Davis on the 21st September 2011. Davis was pronounced dead at 23:08 (03:08 GMT Thursday), 15 minutes after the lethal injection began.

"I am innocent," Davis said moments before he was executed. "I did not have a gun. For those about to take my life, may God have mercy on your souls. May God bless your souls. All I can ask... is that you look deeper into this case so that you really can finally see the truth. I ask my family and friends to continue to fight this fight."



Like many across the world my heart is heavy. I am sad and angry. The state of Georgia has proven what we already know. Governments cannot be trusted with the awful power over life and death. Today, Georgia didn't just kill Troy Davis; they killed the faith and confidence that many Georgians, Americans and Troy Davis supporters worldwide used to have in the criminal justice system.

The state of Georgia has proven that the death penalty is too great a power to give to the government. Human institutions are prone to bias and error and cannot be entrusted with this God-like power. The death penalty is a human rights violation whether given to the guilty or the innocent, and it must be abolished. While many courts examined this case, the march to the death chamber only slowed, but never stopped. Justice may be blind; but in this case, the justice system was blind to the facts.



The case against him consisted entirely of witness testimony which contained inconsistencies even at the time of the trial. Since then, 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. One of the two witnesses who has not recanted his testimony is Sylvester "Red" Coles — the principle alternative suspect, according to the defence, against whom there is new evidence implicating him as the gunman. Nine individuals have signed affidavits implicating Sylvester Coles.

Troy said the day before he was executed;

"The struggle for justice doesn't end with me. This struggle is for all the Troy Davises who came before me and all the ones who will come after me. I'm in good spirits and I'm prayerful and at peace."

It is only perhaps in America with its addiction to violence, to guns and to retribution that killing a person who did not commit a crime makes sense and gives false closure to the family of the victim. It is only in American with its obsession with retribution and vengeance that the huge diversion of resources to maintaining a fallible and brutal death penalty and imprisoning 1 in 10 young black men that this makes sense. It is only in America does it make sense to station troops in 143 countries of the world, not ask what the motive was for the vicious attack on 9/11 and launch a murderous war on Iraq which had nothing to do with the events of 9/11 to keep America “safe.”



The vicious death penalty does nothing to keep Americans safe nor does the sad addiction to guns. Only in the Deep South does it make sense to keep a black man in prison for 22 years and then take him out and execute him when the case against him has fallen apart. This "Freedom Loving Democracy" which refuses to sign up to the International Criminal Court and kills innocents with "precision" drones well away from media coverage is in no position to lecture other brutal execution luvin' regimes in China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and Saudi Arabia (the place the 9/11 guys came from) on Human Rights.

Let's take a moment to honour the life of Troy Davis and Mark MacPhail. Then, let's take all of our difficult feelings and re-double our commitment to abolition of the death penalty.

I am Troy Davis. You are Troy Davis. We will not stop fighting for justice.




See also;

Don’t execute Troy Davis

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/09/dont-execute-troy-davis.html

The Troy Davis Campaign Website

http://www.troyanthonydavis.org

State of Georgia set to execute an innocent man

Southern trees still bear bitter fruit, nowhere it seems more so than in the State of Georgia, USA. It is with a very heavy heart and a deep sense of outrage that I let you know that the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles voted to deny clemency to Troy Davis. This means that very little is now standing in the way of the state of Georgia executing a potentially innocent man this Wednesday, September 21 st at 7pm.

The actions of the Board are astounding in the face of so much doubt in the case against Troy Davis. However, we should not be prepared to accept the decision and let anyone with the power to stop the execution off the hook. Join Amnesty in calling on the Board to reconsider its decision, and on the Chatham County (Savannah) District Attorney Larry Chisolm to do the right thing. They have until the final moments before Troy's scheduled execution to put the brakes on this runaway justice system.



“I am writing to urge you to seek a withdrawal of the death warrant against Troy Davis. He has been denied clemency by the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles despite the fact that significant doubts continue to plague his conviction. Executions when there are still substantial doubts about guilt should never be permitted to proceed, and the responsibility rests with you to ensure that does not happen in this case.

It would significantly undermine the credibility of the Georgia system of justice if an execution were carried out under such a persistent cloud of doubts about guilt. It would show a callous disregard for the very real possibility of putting an innocent person to death, and public faith in Georgia’s commitment to a fair justice system would be shattered.



You have it in your power to prevent this affront to justice from happening. I urge you to call for a withdrawal of Troy Davis’ death warrant without delay.”

Send on this link;

http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=6oJCLQPAJiJUG&b=6645049&aid=516533&msource=W1109EADP04D&tr=y&auid=9522344

Troy Davis was convicted on the basis of witness testimony – seven of the nine original witnesses have since recanted or changed their testimony. He has survived three previous execution dates, because people like you kept the justice system in check! Let Georgia authorities know you oppose the death penalty for Troy Davis!

NOTE: Due to high volume of supporters, please keep trying to sign this petition if your initial attempt does not succeed.

Or try contacting the Chatham County's District Attorney's office by phone/fax: Telephone: 912-652-7308 Fax: 912-652-7328.



Davis was given the death sentence for the August 1989 murder of Mark MacPhail, a police officer from Savannah who was shot and killed while trying to help a homeless man who was being beaten up in a restaurant car park. Davis was present at the scene, but has always insisted that another man, Sylvester Coles, attacked the homeless man and shot MacPhail when he intervened.

Davis was convicted at a 1991 trial almost exclusively on the basis of nine witnesses – including Coles himself – who all said they had seen him carry out the shooting. The murder weapon was never found, and there was no DNA or other forensic evidence. In the years since the trial, seven of the nine witnesses have come forward and recanted their evidence, saying they were put under pressure to implicate Davis by the investigating police. Other witnesses have come forward to say that they had heard Coles confess to killing the police officer.



The parole board heard from one of the jurors who originally recommended the death penalty for Davis. Brenda Forrest told the panel that she no longer trusted the verdict or sentence: "I feel, emphatically, that Mr Davis cannot be executed under these circumstances," she said, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The execution of Troy Davis, a Georgia death row inmate scheduled to die in less than a week, should be halted because of "pervasive, persistent doubts" about his guilt, said William S. Sessions, a former federal district judge in Texas and FBI director under Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, in a sharply-worded editorial on Thursday.

"Serious questions about Mr. Davis' guilt, highlighted by witness recantations, allegations of police coercion, and a lack of relevant physical evidence, continue to plague his conviction," Sessions wrote. He urged a state pardons board to commute the sentence to life in prison.

Bob Barr, a former federal prosecutor and four-term Republican congressman from Georgia, urged the board to grant clemency for Davis in an editorial published in the Savannah Morning News on Wednesday. In 2007, the five-member board pledged that "it will not allow an execution to proceed in this state unless and until its members are convinced there is no doubt as to the guilt of the accused," Barr noted in the editorial.



"I am a longtime supporter of the death penalty. I make no judgment as to whether Davis is guilty or innocent. And surely the citizens of Savannah and the state of Georgia want justice served on behalf of Officer MacPhail," Barr wrote. "But imposing an irreversible sentence of death on the skimpiest of evidence will not serve the interest of justice."

Troy Davis has three major strikes against him. First, he is an African American man. Second, he was charged with killing a white police officer. And third, he is in Georgia.

More than a century ago, the legendary muckraking journalist Ida B Wells risked her life when she began reporting on the epidemic of lynching in the Deep South. She published Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All its Phases in 1892 and followed up with The Red Record in 1895, detailing hundreds of lynchings. She wrote:

"In Brooks County, Georgia, 23 December, while this Christian country was preparing for Christmas celebration, seven Negroes were lynched in 24 hours because they refused, or were unable to tell the whereabouts of a coloured man named Pike, who killed a white man … Georgia heads the list of lynching states."



The planned execution of Davis will not be at the hands of an unruly mob, but in the sterile, fluorescently lit confines of Georgia diagnostic and classification prison in Butts County, near the town of Jackson. The state doesn't intend to hang Troy Davis from a tree with a rope or a chain – to hang, as Billie Holiday sang, like a strange fruit:

>"Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black body swinging in the Southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees."

See also;

Don’t execute Troy Davis

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/09/dont-execute-troy-davis.html

The Troy Davis Campaign Website

http://www.troyanthonydavis.org

State of Georgia set to execute an innocent man

Southern trees still bear bitter fruit, nowhere it seems more so than in the State of Georgia, USA. It is with a very heavy heart and a deep sense of outrage that I let you know that the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles voted to deny clemency to Troy Davis. This means that very little is now standing in the way of the state of Georgia executing a potentially innocent man this Wednesday, September 21 st at 7pm.

The actions of the Board are astounding in the face of so much doubt in the case against Troy Davis. However, we should not be prepared to accept the decision and let anyone with the power to stop the execution off the hook. Join Amnesty in calling on the Board to reconsider its decision, and on the Chatham County (Savannah) District Attorney Larry Chisolm to do the right thing. They have until the final moments before Troy's scheduled execution to put the brakes on this runaway justice system.



“I am writing to urge you to seek a withdrawal of the death warrant against Troy Davis. He has been denied clemency by the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles despite the fact that significant doubts continue to plague his conviction. Executions when there are still substantial doubts about guilt should never be permitted to proceed, and the responsibility rests with you to ensure that does not happen in this case.

It would significantly undermine the credibility of the Georgia system of justice if an execution were carried out under such a persistent cloud of doubts about guilt. It would show a callous disregard for the very real possibility of putting an innocent person to death, and public faith in Georgia’s commitment to a fair justice system would be shattered.



You have it in your power to prevent this affront to justice from happening. I urge you to call for a withdrawal of Troy Davis’ death warrant without delay.”

Send on this link;

http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=6oJCLQPAJiJUG&b=6645049&aid=516533&msource=W1109EADP04D&tr=y&auid=9522344

Troy Davis was convicted on the basis of witness testimony – seven of the nine original witnesses have since recanted or changed their testimony. He has survived three previous execution dates, because people like you kept the justice system in check! Let Georgia authorities know you oppose the death penalty for Troy Davis!

NOTE: Due to high volume of supporters, please keep trying to sign this petition if your initial attempt does not succeed.

Or try contacting the Chatham County's District Attorney's office by phone/fax: Telephone: 912-652-7308 Fax: 912-652-7328.



Davis was given the death sentence for the August 1989 murder of Mark MacPhail, a police officer from Savannah who was shot and killed while trying to help a homeless man who was being beaten up in a restaurant car park. Davis was present at the scene, but has always insisted that another man, Sylvester Coles, attacked the homeless man and shot MacPhail when he intervened.

Davis was convicted at a 1991 trial almost exclusively on the basis of nine witnesses – including Coles himself – who all said they had seen him carry out the shooting. The murder weapon was never found, and there was no DNA or other forensic evidence. In the years since the trial, seven of the nine witnesses have come forward and recanted their evidence, saying they were put under pressure to implicate Davis by the investigating police. Other witnesses have come forward to say that they had heard Coles confess to killing the police officer.



The parole board heard from one of the jurors who originally recommended the death penalty for Davis. Brenda Forrest told the panel that she no longer trusted the verdict or sentence: "I feel, emphatically, that Mr Davis cannot be executed under these circumstances," she said, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The execution of Troy Davis, a Georgia death row inmate scheduled to die in less than a week, should be halted because of "pervasive, persistent doubts" about his guilt, said William S. Sessions, a former federal district judge in Texas and FBI director under Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, in a sharply-worded editorial on Thursday.

"Serious questions about Mr. Davis' guilt, highlighted by witness recantations, allegations of police coercion, and a lack of relevant physical evidence, continue to plague his conviction," Sessions wrote. He urged a state pardons board to commute the sentence to life in prison.

Bob Barr, a former federal prosecutor and four-term Republican congressman from Georgia, urged the board to grant clemency for Davis in an editorial published in the Savannah Morning News on Wednesday. In 2007, the five-member board pledged that "it will not allow an execution to proceed in this state unless and until its members are convinced there is no doubt as to the guilt of the accused," Barr noted in the editorial.



"I am a longtime supporter of the death penalty. I make no judgment as to whether Davis is guilty or innocent. And surely the citizens of Savannah and the state of Georgia want justice served on behalf of Officer MacPhail," Barr wrote. "But imposing an irreversible sentence of death on the skimpiest of evidence will not serve the interest of justice."

Troy Davis has three major strikes against him. First, he is an African American man. Second, he was charged with killing a white police officer. And third, he is in Georgia.

More than a century ago, the legendary muckraking journalist Ida B Wells risked her life when she began reporting on the epidemic of lynching in the Deep South. She published Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All its Phases in 1892 and followed up with The Red Record in 1895, detailing hundreds of lynchings. She wrote:

"In Brooks County, Georgia, 23 December, while this Christian country was preparing for Christmas celebration, seven Negroes were lynched in 24 hours because they refused, or were unable to tell the whereabouts of a coloured man named Pike, who killed a white man … Georgia heads the list of lynching states."



The planned execution of Davis will not be at the hands of an unruly mob, but in the sterile, fluorescently lit confines of Georgia diagnostic and classification prison in Butts County, near the town of Jackson. The state doesn't intend to hang Troy Davis from a tree with a rope or a chain – to hang, as Billie Holiday sang, like a strange fruit:

>"Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black body swinging in the Southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees."

See also;

Don’t execute Troy Davis

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/09/dont-execute-troy-davis.html

The Troy Davis Campaign Website

http://www.troyanthonydavis.org

Save Troy Davis

I stand with Amnesty and their Death Penalty Abolition Campaign to fight for the life of Troy Davis, who within weeks could be executed for a crime he may not have committed. There remain serious doubts of his guilt. His death sentence defies all logic and morality.

The day is now here - the state of Georgia has set Troy Davis' execution date for September 21st, just 10 days from today. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear his final appeal earlier this year. But the story remains the same - Troy Davis could very well be innocent.

Troy Davis and his mother

However, in the state of Georgia, the Board of Pardons & Paroles holds the keys to Troy's fate. In the days before Davis' execution, this Board will hold a final clemency hearing - a final chance to prevent Troy Davis from being executed. Davis was convicted on the basis of witness testimony - seven of the nine original witnesses have since recanted or changed their testimony.


Martina Correia, sister of Troy Anthony Davis, in front of the O'Connell Monument in Dublin, Ireland with supporters. She received The Sean McBride Award for Outstanding Contribution to Human Rights 2010.

One witness said in a CNN news interview "If I knew then, what I know now, Troy Davis would not be on death row." I know it's difficult to believe that a system of justice could be so terribly flawed, but keep in mind that Troy has survived three previous execution dates, because people like you kept the justice system in check!
We've been bracing for this moment and the time for action is now! Here's what you can do to join the fight:

Sign Amnesty’s petition to the Board of Pardons & Paroles urging them to grant clemency! They'll deliver your signatures next week.
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=6oJCLQPAJiJUG&b=6645049&aid=12970&msource=W1109EADP01&tr=y&auid=9445274

Organise locally for Troy: Take to the streets with us. Soon we'll be announcing the date for the official Troy Davis Day of Action. Sign up now to rally in the coming days to stop the execution of Troy Davis.

Tell everyone you know! Spread the word about this injustice on Twitter by using the hashtag #TooMuchDoubt. Be sure to tell your Facebook friends Troy's story too!
https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2Fo93bAE



The death penalty is costly, arbitrary, and ineffective. Yet one of the great disappointments for those of us who supported Barack Obama is that the US Justice system is still heavily focused towards revenge not rehabilitation, criminalises a huge proportion of young black men and in a number of states despite the evidence of legal shabbiness, miscarriages and innocents being killed by the state a huge amount of penal resources are devoted to putting people to death. In this the United States is right up with those other Great Democracies, China, Iran, Russia and Saudi Arabia. Who says you can’t judge a country by the friends it keeps?

Whilst the situation is complicated by the separation of powers in the United States between the Federal and State Governments for many the bell weather case of whether Obama’s American is any different is the case of Troy Davis. Troy Anthony Davis, who is African American, was convicted in 1991 of murdering Mark McPhail, a white police officer. Davis' conviction was not based on any physical evidence, and the murder weapon was never found.

The prosecution based its case on the testimony of purported "witnesses," many of whom allege police coercion. Seven of the nine non-police witnesses for the prosecution have recanted their testimony in sworn affidavits. One witness signed a police statement declaring that Davis was the assailant, and then later said, "I did not read it because I cannot read." In another case a witness stated that the police "were telling me that I was an accessory to murder and that I would ... go to jail for a long time and I would be lucky if I ever got out, especially because a police officer got killed ... I was only 16 and was so scared of going to jail."



There are also several witnesses who have implicated another man in the murder. According to one woman, "People on the streets were talking about Sylvester Coles being involved with killing the police officer, so one day I asked him ... Sylvester told me that he did shoot the officer."

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 whom 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...

Nearly two decades later, Davis remains on death row with an execution date in 10 days time– even though the case against him has completely fallen apart. Don’t let the state of Georgia put finality before Justice.

See also;

Don’t execute Troy Davis

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/09/dont-execute-troy-davis.html

The Troy Davis Campaign Website

http://www.troyanthonydavis.org/



Audio recording from Troy Davis, who faces execution despite the fact that there was no physical evidence and 7 out of 9 non-police witnesses have recanted or contradicted their testimony.

Save Troy Davis

I stand with Amnesty and their Death Penalty Abolition Campaign to fight for the life of Troy Davis, who within weeks could be executed for a crime he may not have committed. There remain serious doubts of his guilt. His death sentence defies all logic and morality.

The day is now here - the state of Georgia has set Troy Davis' execution date for September 21st, just 10 days from today. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear his final appeal earlier this year. But the story remains the same - Troy Davis could very well be innocent.

Troy Davis and his mother

However, in the state of Georgia, the Board of Pardons & Paroles holds the keys to Troy's fate. In the days before Davis' execution, this Board will hold a final clemency hearing - a final chance to prevent Troy Davis from being executed. Davis was convicted on the basis of witness testimony - seven of the nine original witnesses have since recanted or changed their testimony.


Martina Correia, sister of Troy Anthony Davis, in front of the O'Connell Monument in Dublin, Ireland with supporters. She received The Sean McBride Award for Outstanding Contribution to Human Rights 2010.

One witness said in a CNN news interview "If I knew then, what I know now, Troy Davis would not be on death row." I know it's difficult to believe that a system of justice could be so terribly flawed, but keep in mind that Troy has survived three previous execution dates, because people like you kept the justice system in check!
We've been bracing for this moment and the time for action is now! Here's what you can do to join the fight:

Sign Amnesty’s petition to the Board of Pardons & Paroles urging them to grant clemency! They'll deliver your signatures next week.
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=6oJCLQPAJiJUG&b=6645049&aid=12970&msource=W1109EADP01&tr=y&auid=9445274

Organise locally for Troy: Take to the streets with us. Soon we'll be announcing the date for the official Troy Davis Day of Action. Sign up now to rally in the coming days to stop the execution of Troy Davis.

Tell everyone you know! Spread the word about this injustice on Twitter by using the hashtag #TooMuchDoubt. Be sure to tell your Facebook friends Troy's story too!
https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2Fo93bAE



The death penalty is costly, arbitrary, and ineffective. Yet one of the great disappointments for those of us who supported Barack Obama is that the US Justice system is still heavily focused towards revenge not rehabilitation, criminalises a huge proportion of young black men and in a number of states despite the evidence of legal shabbiness, miscarriages and innocents being killed by the state a huge amount of penal resources are devoted to putting people to death. In this the United States is right up with those other Great Democracies, China, Iran, Russia and Saudi Arabia. Who says you can’t judge a country by the friends it keeps?

Whilst the situation is complicated by the separation of powers in the United States between the Federal and State Governments for many the bell weather case of whether Obama’s American is any different is the case of Troy Davis. Troy Anthony Davis, who is African American, was convicted in 1991 of murdering Mark McPhail, a white police officer. Davis' conviction was not based on any physical evidence, and the murder weapon was never found.

The prosecution based its case on the testimony of purported "witnesses," many of whom allege police coercion. Seven of the nine non-police witnesses for the prosecution have recanted their testimony in sworn affidavits. One witness signed a police statement declaring that Davis was the assailant, and then later said, "I did not read it because I cannot read." In another case a witness stated that the police "were telling me that I was an accessory to murder and that I would ... go to jail for a long time and I would be lucky if I ever got out, especially because a police officer got killed ... I was only 16 and was so scared of going to jail."



There are also several witnesses who have implicated another man in the murder. According to one woman, "People on the streets were talking about Sylvester Coles being involved with killing the police officer, so one day I asked him ... Sylvester told me that he did shoot the officer."

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 whom 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...

Nearly two decades later, Davis remains on death row with an execution date in 10 days time– even though the case against him has completely fallen apart. Don’t let the state of Georgia put finality before Justice.

See also;

Don’t execute Troy Davis

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/09/dont-execute-troy-davis.html

The Troy Davis Campaign Website

http://www.troyanthonydavis.org/



Audio recording from Troy Davis, who faces execution despite the fact that there was no physical evidence and 7 out of 9 non-police witnesses have recanted or contradicted their testimony.

ACTION ALERT! -- PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL TO SAVE TROY DAVIS' LIFE

There is international support for Troy Davis

Troy Davis could be dead soon.

I've blogged about Troy before. He's on death row in Georgia for a murder he almost certainly didn't commit -- this is way beyond "reasonable doubt." And time is fast running out for Troy.

Sept. 20 Update: The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles has denied Troy Davis clemency and he is now due to be executed tomorrow evening. There is still hope! Please call or email the board and ask them to reverse their decision: 404-656-5651 and webmaster@pap.state.ga.us

Here, as background information of the current state of Troy's situation, is the text of a mass email I received from Ben Jealous, the President and CEO of the NAACP.

Innocent until proven guilty.

These four words helped establish our criminal justice system. But in a nation that prides itself on our belief in liberty and justice for all, why is Troy Davis -- with an overwhelming body of evidence pointing to his innocence -- facing execution?

Twenty years ago, Troy Davis was convicted of murdering a white police officer. Since then, seven of the nine witnesses recanted their statements, new witnesses have come forward identifying another man as the murderer, and the alleged murder weapon has still not been found.

Despite these new developments, the state of Georgia is putting Davis on track to be executed -- perhaps as early as next month.

You can help save Troy Davis' life today by standing up, adding your voice to our "name wall" and asking the Georgia Parole Board to commute his sentence:

http://action.naacp.org/Save-Troy-Davis

When the Supreme Court heard the evidence, they understood that there were many more questions to be answered. But instead of granting Troy Davis a trial where his peers could decide his fate, he was forced to face a single federal judge where the burden was on Troy to prove his innocence -- the exact opposite presumption of a jury trial.

In hopes of exonerating Troy after 10 years of imprisonment, his lawyer submitted each piece of evidence at the hearing. And each piece of evidence was rejected by the judge. Despite noting that the case against Troy was not "ironclad," he nevertheless refused to grant a new trial.

A jury trial would have made this issue moot. Reasonable doubt would have freed Troy Davis.

Now it's up to you to put a stop to Troy Davis' execution. You are his last hope, and time is running out. Tell the Georgia Parole Board not to execute a man with such an overwhelming body of evidence pointing to his innocence:

http://action.naacp.org/Save-Troy-Davis

As an American, I have faith in our justice system. But as President of the NAACP, I have seen how our justice system can fail. Sometimes even when it comes to life and death. It is up to us to right this wrong.

This is his last chance. Stand by Troy and stand up for liberty and justice for all.

Thanks,

Ben

Benjamin Todd Jealous
President and CEO
NAACP

You can also sign this very important petition to the District Attorney in Troy's case. And please pass it on.

Onward,
Adrian

Troy Davis

IF YOU FOUND THIS BLOG POST INTERESTING you might like to take a look at THE DEATH PENALTY -- PART 2: I AM TROY DAVIS.

The dethroning of George the Second

George II

Today, Monday 25th October the nation remembers that it is 250 years since King George II was dethroned by dying on the throne in his WC. It is not what he would have wished to be remembered for a quarter of a millennium after his death, for he also spoke six languages, and was the last British monarch to lead his troops into battle. That was during the War of the Austrian Succession, at Dettingen in Bavaria in 1743, an eventful year for the king. A few months earlier he had been present at the inaugural London performance of Handel's Messiah.

The first London performance of Messiah from G.F. Handel took place on 23 March 1743, in the presence of King George II. When the first notes of the now famous Hallelujah chorus resounded, the King rose to his feet and remained standing for the duration of the piece. This may have been a gesture of recognition, demonstrating that his earthly kingship was subservient to the King of Kings. As no one could remain sitting whilst the King stood, the entire audience stood and stayed standing for the duration of the piece. It has since become tradition for audiences to stand for the Hallelujah Chorus. This is frequently observed even if there are no royalty present.

Handel's Messiah (HWV 56) was first performed in the "Antient Musik Hall" in Fishamble Street, Dublin in a gala in aid of the Foundling Hospital. This is an oratorio by George Frideric Handel based on a libretto by Charles Jennens. Composed in the summer of 1741 and premiered in Dublin on the 13 April 1742, Messiah is Handel's most famous creation and is among the most popular works in Western choral literature.


The "Antient Musik Hall" in Fishamble Street, Dublin where Messiah was premiered on the 13 April 1742

On the recent visit of Pope Benedict XVI to London I noticed as he entered Westminster Abbey that the inscription above the doorway commemorates the rebuilding of the west towers in 1745 in the reign of “Georg II.” The good King of Hanover cannot have been overly religious for Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk, was one of his many mistresses whom he established in some splendour at Marble Hill House in Twickenham. George II lost his Queen, Caroline, who died on 20 November 1737. Reputedly, when she asked her husband to remarry when she passed on, he replied, "Non, j'aurai des maîtresses!" (French for "No, I shall have mistresses!"). Reputedly, she replied "Ah, mon Dieu, cela n'empeche pas." ("My God, that doesn't prevent it.")

This is the King who famously quarrelled with his own father and banished his son, Frederick Prince of Wales from court and was succeeded by his grandson, George III. He left a long footprint and Handel composed his Coronation Anthem for him including Zadok the Priest which makes the understated claim that he is in a line of divinely anointed kingship from King Solomon. The opera Alfred was written to promote the claim of his son Frederick to the throne to combat the “great danger.” The opera is long forgotten but the overture “Rule Britannia” endures as a patriotic song and historians are united in not having a clue as to what the “great danger” was! Under his reign British rule was established in North America at the Battle of Quebec, in India with the victories of Robert Clive at the Battle of Arcot and the Battle of Plassey and in the Caribbean with the capture of Guadeloupe. French ambitions in Europe were crushed in 1759 at the Battle of Minden and British naval supremacy was established by the naval battles at Lagos and Quiberon Bay. It was also under his reign that his son The Duke of Cumberland, the “Butcher of Culloden”, in 1746 brought to an end “The 45” the Jacobite rising of Bonnie Prince Charlie which extinguished with considerable brutality the Stuart claim to the thrones of England and Scotland.


George II by Thomas Hudson

Georgia in America is named after him where he is also remembered in Academe for in 1754, King George issued the charter for King's College in New York City, which would later become Columbia University after the American Revolution.

On the morning of 25 October 1760, the King entered his royal necessarium at Kensington Palace, London, and, after a few minutes, his valet heard a loud crash. He found the King on the floor, but in the curiously old-fashioned phrasing of one of his biographers, Peter Guralnick, "It was certainly possible that he had been taken while straining at stool". So when Elvis Aaron Presley on August 16, 1977 expired during his “last movement” in the bathroom of his Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tennessee, it seems he was merely impersonating the real King, George II.


Kensington Palace, London, seat of the Dethronement

The dethroning of George the Second

George II

Today, Monday 25th October the nation remembers that it is 250 years since King George II was dethroned by dying on the throne in his WC. It is not what he would have wished to be remembered for a quarter of a millennium after his death, for he also spoke six languages, and was the last British monarch to lead his troops into battle. That was during the War of the Austrian Succession, at Dettingen in Bavaria in 1743, an eventful year for the king. A few months earlier he had been present at the inaugural London performance of Handel's Messiah.

The first London performance of Messiah from G.F. Handel took place on 23 March 1743, in the presence of King George II. When the first notes of the now famous Hallelujah chorus resounded, the King rose to his feet and remained standing for the duration of the piece. This may have been a gesture of recognition, demonstrating that his earthly kingship was subservient to the King of Kings. As no one could remain sitting whilst the King stood, the entire audience stood and stayed standing for the duration of the piece. It has since become tradition for audiences to stand for the Hallelujah Chorus. This is frequently observed even if there are no royalty present.

Handel's Messiah (HWV 56) was first performed in the "Antient Musik Hall" in Fishamble Street, Dublin in a gala in aid of the Foundling Hospital. This is an oratorio by George Frideric Handel based on a libretto by Charles Jennens. Composed in the summer of 1741 and premiered in Dublin on the 13 April 1742, Messiah is Handel's most famous creation and is among the most popular works in Western choral literature.


The "Antient Musik Hall" in Fishamble Street, Dublin where Messiah was premiered on the 13 April 1742

On the recent visit of Pope Benedict XVI to London I noticed as he entered Westminster Abbey that the inscription above the doorway commemorates the rebuilding of the west towers in 1745 in the reign of “Georg II.” The good King of Hanover cannot have been overly religious for Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk, was one of his many mistresses whom he established in some splendour at Marble Hill House in Twickenham. George II lost his Queen, Caroline, who died on 20 November 1737. Reputedly, when she asked her husband to remarry when she passed on, he replied, "Non, j'aurai des maîtresses!" (French for "No, I shall have mistresses!"). Reputedly, she replied "Ah, mon Dieu, cela n'empeche pas." ("My God, that doesn't prevent it.")

This is the King who famously quarrelled with his own father and banished his son, Frederick Prince of Wales from court and was succeeded by his grandson, George III. He left a long footprint and Handel composed his Coronation Anthem for him including Zadok the Priest which makes the understated claim that he is in a line of divinely anointed kingship from King Solomon. The opera Alfred was written to promote the claim of his son Frederick to the throne to combat the “great danger.” The opera is long forgotten but the overture “Rule Britannia” endures as a patriotic song and historians are united in not having a clue as to what the “great danger” was! Under his reign British rule was established in North America at the Battle of Quebec, in India with the victories of Robert Clive at the Battle of Arcot and the Battle of Plassey and in the Caribbean with the capture of Guadeloupe. French ambitions in Europe were crushed in 1759 at the Battle of Minden and British naval supremacy was established by the naval battles at Lagos and Quiberon Bay. It was also under his reign that his son The Duke of Cumberland, the “Butcher of Culloden”, in 1746 brought to an end “The 45” the Jacobite rising of Bonnie Prince Charlie which extinguished with considerable brutality the Stuart claim to the thrones of England and Scotland.


George II by Thomas Hudson

Georgia in America is named after him where he is also remembered in Academe for in 1754, King George issued the charter for King's College in New York City, which would later become Columbia University after the American Revolution.

On the morning of 25 October 1760, the King entered his royal necessarium at Kensington Palace, London, and, after a few minutes, his valet heard a loud crash. He found the King on the floor, but in the curiously old-fashioned phrasing of one of his biographers, Peter Guralnick, "It was certainly possible that he had been taken while straining at stool". So when Elvis Aaron Presley on August 16, 1977 expired during his “last movement” in the bathroom of his Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tennessee, it seems he was merely impersonating the real King, George II.


Kensington Palace, London, seat of the Dethronement

THE DEATH PENALTY -- PART 2: I AM TROY DAVIS

The state of Georgia is hell bent on murdering Troy Davis.

In the execution world, Davis' case is the current cause celebre. But really, his is simply one more example of an unjust system and a sick penalty.

BACKGROUND: Davis, who has been on death row since 1991 (that alone has to do something to you!), was convicted of the 1989 slaying of police officer Mark MacPhail. A horrendous crime, as is any murder. Unfortunately, there are many reasons to believe that the wrong man has been convicted and the system doesn't give a damn. Unreliable witnesses (most of whom have now recanted), a lack of physical evidence, claims of police coercion in gaining testimonies (gee, there's a shock), the usual poor public defense system, and ongoing appeals -- a two-decade saga of, literally, tragic proportions. There is a huge international campaign on Davis' behalf and its motto is "I Am Troy Davis." Think about that.

If you want to learn more about Troy Davis, check out these websites (you can even find links to send an email to the responsible/irresponsible authorities on Davis' behalf):

http://www.amnestyusa.org/death-penalty/troy-davis-finality-over-fairness/page.do?id=1011343

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/09/10/fed-judge-william-moore-and-georgia-want-innocent-man-killed/

http://www.troyanthonydavis.org/

A closing thought: If you want your day in court, and you really want to have a chance, it'll cost you. Law is a business, first and foremost.

Believe what you will but what is happening to Troy Davis -- and many others -- could actually happen to you or me. And your odds go up if you're a young, black male. Injustice, false incarceration, execution/state-sponsored murder. It's just a twist of fate away for any of us.

I am Troy Davis.

Take care,
Adrian Zupp

IF YOU FOUND THIS POST INTERESTING you might like to read "THE DEATH PENALTY -- PT. 1: SOME BACKGROUND" and "THE DEATH PENALTY -- PT. 3: WHAT NOW?"