The picture for Troy Davis looks very bleak. Despite overwhelming evidence of his innocence, he is scheduled to be murdered on September 21, in a state where the government us completely controlled by the Party of Death. Here are the details concerning his case, followed by a ten petitions for you to select and contact information for Republican Governor Nathan Deal.
In the most recent Republican presidential debate in Tampa, Florida, when CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked, hypothetically, if a man who chose to carry no medical insurance, then was stricken with a grave illness, should be left to die, cheers of "Yeah!" filled the hall. When, in the prior debate, Governor Rick Perry was asked about his enthusiastic use of the death penalty in Texas, the crowd erupted into sustained applause and cheers. The reaction from the audience prompted debate moderator Brian Williams of NBC News to follow up with the question, "What do you make of that dynamic that just happened here, the mention of the execution of 234 people drew applause?"
That "dynamic" is why challenging the death sentence to be carried out against Troy Davis by the state of Georgia on 21 September is so important. Davis has been on Georgia’s death row for close to 20 years, after being convicted of killing off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail in Savannah. Since his conviction, seven of the nine non-police witnesses have recanted their testimony, alleging police coercion and intimidation in obtaining the testimony. There is no physical evidence linking Davis to the murder.
Last March, the US supreme court ruled that Davis should receive an evidentiary hearing, to make his case for innocence. Several witnesses have identified one of the remaining witnesses who has not recanted, Sylvester "Redd" Coles, as the shooter. US District Judge William T Moore Jr refused, on a technicality, to allow the testimony of witnesses who claimed that, after Davis had been convicted, Coles admitted to shooting MacPhail. In his August court order, Moore summarised, "Mr Davis is not innocent."
One of the jurors, Brenda Forrest, disagrees. She told CNN in 2009, recalling the trial of Davis, "All of the witnesses – they were able to ID him as the person who actually did it." Since the seven witnesses recanted, she says: "If I knew then what I know now, Troy Davis would not be on death row. The verdict would be not guilty."
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…
Inserted from <Alternet>i
This is just the beginning of a highly informative article. I encourage you to click through to read it all.
Here are ten different petitions you can use to express your protest against this execution: ACLU, Amnesty International, Change.org, Color of Change, International Action Center, Ipetitions, NAACP, Petition Online, The Petition Site, and Your Black World. I found several more nut they link back to one of these.
In addition, I encourage contact the governor’s office yourself:
Contact
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal
Office of the Governor
203 State Capitol
Atlanta, GA 30334
Fax:(404)657-7332
Tel:(404)656-1776
email: georgia.governor@gov.state.ga.us
web: http://gov.state.ga.us/contact.shtml
If these Republicans execute Troy, it will be a 21st century lynching.
14 Responses to “Action Alert: Stop a State Sponsored Murder”
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The truly sad commentary about this is that despite [1] Ten witnesses having recanted their testimony; [2]There is no physical or scientific evidence linking him to the death; [3] former Pres. Jimmy Carter, Pope Benedict XVI and Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu have pleaded to halt the execution; [4] Amnesty International and the NAACP has presented four petitions with more than 660,000 signatures to the state parole board; [5] And another online petition sponsored by Davis’ sister and Change.org has collected more than 233,000 signatures …
Despite all that, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Repubican governor chose to ignore those pleas. After all, as a fellow Repubican said of Rick Perry executing an innocent man, “I like that. Takes a lot of balls to execute an innocent man.”
These people are sick fothermuckers!
ARGH!! 🙁 How Republican!
I’ve already signed all of these.
Thanks Patty.
DO NOT CONTACT THE GOVERNOR…in Georgia the governor does NOT have the ability to pardon or parole Mr. Davis. Only the 5 member panel of The State Board of Pardons and Paroles has that ability. so far as of three days ago over 600,000 signatures asking for clemency have been delivered to that board. Part of the problem which could go either way is that three f the members are new to the board and have never heard any of the testimony or recantations or admittance of Redd to having killed the cop.
All one can do at this point is continue to hope for ANOTHER SCOTUS stay as the board reflects on their decision. Every court from the intial appeals court to the Supreme court has issued legal opinions that says this particular case does not smell right and should at least be retried, unfortunately none of them have ordered that retrial.
Mark, when I called this morning, that’s what the lady told me. I asked her if the governor appoints that board. She said yes. I told her that he should use that power to influence them
We have become a Hypochristian Nation alright. AND they wonder why I’m an atheist! Religion eats it’s own!
But Zada, here I am a Christian in the forefront of opposing this. Please don’t paint us all with the same brush.
Already signed and posted on FB. The law needs to do a serious makeover. I had a friend his wife and three more people spend 13 years in prison for child abuse. The daughter of my friend LIED. I knew when I heard the story he was innocent. The cops kept telling the boys of the other parents arrested just tell us they did this and you can go home to your parents. After 14 hours of grilling these young 6 & 87 year old kids that just wanted to go home they finally said yes that’s what happened. It took 14 years for the truth top come out. All were exonerated BUT it destroyed their lives. The law doesn’t care about innocence all they want is a conviction. You can read for yourself “Bakersfield/Kern County CA” ritual abuse case. It was Alvin I knew and believed in. Another case in Manhattan Beach CA. Same thing happened to the McMartins. I knew they were innocent also. A good friend had gone to that school and no such abuse ever took place. The police wonder why so many people HATE THEM. Gee, I don’t know why. 🙁
Welcome Diana. 🙂
Thank you for sharing this. As a prison volunteer, I am well aware that, unless someone has unlimited funds to spend on their defense, the deck is stacked in favor of the prosecution. That makes capital punishment even more barbaric. Many innocents have been killed.
Thanks so much for posting this very comprehensive summary and listing of actions to take, Tom!
You’re welcome C. Thank you for all the hard work you have put in trying to save Troy.
I have already signed about 5 petitions in this case.
Once a person has been executed, if new evidence comes to light, it is too late to say “Sorry, we made a mistake.” Nothing can be restored. In this case, if the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles does not withdraw the death warrant, review the situation and investigate the new claims, they and the Governor are guilty of murder and should likewise stand trial.
From the Alternet “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…” One would hope that race would not have a hand in this, but plainly it does. What do you expect from the South and Wallace country?
Recanting witnesses, new charges about a non recanting witness, no evidence . . . this whole affair is a travesty of justice. I agreed with you TC, this will be a lynching if it is carried out.
The Republican motto: “Death means never having to say you’re sorry.”