Unfairly convicted Georgia man to be executed in 9 days

3685 Views 58 Replies 17 Participants Last post by Fox, Aug 5, 2007

GratuitousApplesauce

Discussion Starter · Jul 8, 2007

So I came across a link on reddit ( I curse reddit regularly

) to a story about a guy (Troy Davis) on death row in Georgia, whose execution is set for July 17th and who seems to have exhausted his final appeal. The Georgia governor has said he has no problem with Davis being put to death. The story hasn't really made a lot of waves in the media outside of the internet.

As it turns out, according to quite a few online sites, and groups like Amnesty International, are reporting that he was convicted of murdering a cop without any physical evidence, only eyewitness accounts and there was no murder weapon found. Of the eyewitnesses, all but two of them have recanted, some signing affidavits stating that they were under intense police coercion to testify against the accused. A US federal law prevents those statements from being heard.

There apparently is also evidence that of the remaining 2 eyewitnesses who haven't recanted, one of them is quite possibly the real murderer.

So it looks like in less than 9 days a person who is more than likely innocent will be put to death. If there was some way for the government to re-open the case, or retry Davis, he would probably win, because the prosecution's case is pretty much non-existent now.

So as usual when reading about things like this I was just shaking my head and getting ready to click on the next interesting reddit link, when someone posted in the comments ...

Upvoting (the story, not the parent) is a good start, but it isn't much good to the guy in question if people just read this story and shake their respective heads in dismay. The following link contains a couple of options to take some action in this matter. Admittedly, sending a form letter isn't a substitute for direct involvement, but it is better than nothing. Also on the page is a link to help ensure that your letter is read.

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/ncadp/content.jsp?content_KEY=2782

After I read this I thought, "although my single action might be insignificant, if even a small percentage of those who read this decided to fax a letter to Georgia, maybe this guy would stand a chance of getting at minimum a new trial." So I decided to take five minutes to do this for the desperate guy sitting on death row.

I posted this here in case one of two ( or ten? ) others who hadn't heard about this might want to do the same.

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MACSPECTRUM

· #2 · Jul 8, 2007

another very good reason to not have the death penalty
for a county supposedly full of Christians they really do seem to love their death unless of course someone has been in a vegetative state for 25 years - then it's God's will

GratuitousApplesauce

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jul 8, 2007

MACSPECTRUM said:
another very good reason to not have the death penalty
for a county supposedly full of Christians they really do seem to love their death unless of course someone has been in a vegetative state for 25 years - then it's God's will

I can see you are shaking your head too. I've never agreed with the death penalty and cases like this seem to really highlight the biggest problem with it. But even if I agreed with it, I would have to conclude that in this case the guy deserves a new trial.

Have you faxed a letter MACSPECTRUM? I used a free email to fax service to send mine to both the Georgia Parole Board and Amnesty USA. Took 2 minutes to maybe help save a life — copy, paste, send.

Free Email to Fax

RunTheWorldOnMac

· #4 · Jul 9, 2007

sounds like a movie I saw last week; True Crime...the movie dragged out for 2.5 hours which I figured out 2 minutes in. He was saved by a reporter...lets hope Clint Eastwood is on it...

The evidence they had was crap and the guy was set to die because of it...

GratuitousApplesauce

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jul 9, 2007

RunTheWorldOnMac said:
sounds like a movie I saw last week; True Crime...the movie dragged out for 2.5 hours which I figured out 2 minutes in. He was saved by a reporter...lets hope Clint Eastwood is on it...

The evidence they had was crap and the guy was set to die because of it...

Please check out the link Scott, and send a fax because this is actually a guy's real life who is set to really die in 9 days, not a movie. It'll take 5 minutes. There's no Clint Eastwood to save him, but if enough actual real people get on it ... maybe there's a slim chance.

GratuitousApplesauce

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jul 9, 2007

GratuitousApplesauce said:
I used a free email to fax service to send mine to both the Georgia Parole Board and Amnesty USA. Took 2 minutes to maybe help save a life — copy, paste, send.

Free Email to Fax

That service doesn't work, sorry everyone. My fax emails were bounced back to me. I guess it's been out of commission for years. I thought I had used it at one point, but I guess that was way back in the mists of time. I guess I'll have to do it the old fashioned way — plugging the phone jack into my Mac.

Dr.G.

· #7 · Jul 9, 2007

Thanks for posting this, GA. As one who has been able to vote in the State of Georgia since 2000, I shall add my voice as one who has lived in Georgia for five years, and who is against the death penalty, especially in this case.

Paix, mon ami.

RunTheWorldOnMac

· #8 · Jul 9, 2007

... wasn't really trying to make a joke, although in hindsight it may have come across that way. I was leaning more on the fact that in the movie a realization was made that saved an innocent mans life.

I hope the same happens.

The Georiga legal system is definetly messed up...this is a botch job for sure. It's like they want a killing. Is there a hidden racial issue here as well?

GratuitousApplesauce

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jul 9, 2007

RunTheWorldOnMac said:
... wasn't really trying to make a joke, although in hindsight it may have come across that way. I was leaning more on the fact that in the movie a realization was made that saved an innocent mans life.

I hope the same happens.

The Georiga legal system is definetly messed up...this is a botch job for sure. It's like they want a killing. Is there a hidden racial issue here as well?

Racial issue? I don't know the specifics, but it is Georgia ... so ...

There's certainly a social status issue, though. It's regarded by armies of Republicans that it's cruel and unusual punishment for Scooter Libby to spend a day in jail, yet a man can be put to death on no evidence after 15 years of rotting in jail and none of them are even slightly concerned. Especially not the Georgia Republican political establishment many of whom no doubt cheered on Libby's commutation last week. It's pretty scandalous IMO.

I wonder how the family and friends of the dead police officer feel, knowing that the guy about to die for the murder probably isn't the right guy and that the real murderer may have been one of the "eyewitnesses" who put him there — with full knowledge of the legal and political establishment.

RunTheWorldOnMac

· #10 · Jul 9, 2007

... yes this situation truly sickens me.

miguelsanchez

· #11 · Jul 9, 2007

What they need to do is get the witnesses who recanted to go before the TV cameras. The sad part is it sounds like this "Anti-Terrorism Law" prevents new evidence from being heard after a given amount of time, so even if the state doesn't murder him, he will spend the rest of his life in prison.

It sounds to me more like the state is trying to prevent wrongful prosecution lawsuits by killing the poor guy and shutting up his supporters. Imagine how much the state would have to pay out in damages a la David Milgard, Guy Paul Morin, and Donald Marshall.

MasterBlaster

· #12 · Jul 9, 2007 (Edited)

.

guytoronto

· #13 · Jul 9, 2007

While all the information available to us on the 'Net points to a possible miscarriage of justice, none of us actually know anything.

We didn't sit through the trial. We didn't sit through the appeal. We haven't reviewed the evidence. We don't know the details of the witness testimonies (later recanted - why?).

In cases like this, the death penalty shouldn't even be an option, although I do support the death penalty for other cases.

Fox

· #14 · Jul 9, 2007

There looks to be more than enough doubt of this man's guilt to even think of executing him. I've written a letter and am going to fax it now.

GratuitousApplesauce

Discussion Starter · #15 · Jul 9, 2007

Fox said:
There looks to be more than enough doubt of this man's guilt to even think of executing him. I've written a letter and am going to fax it now.

Good for you, Fox!

guytoronto: I took my cue from the organizations and groups supporting Davis in that I'm careful to not declare him innocent. What I've read though clearly indicates a miscarriage of justice, something that is not all that uncommon for those in the US without the money to get a decent defence. This man didn't get a fair trial and a proper appeal including all the new evidence that has been denied him.

MasterBlaster said:
Action taken

Good for you, MasterBlaster!

miguelsanchez: Good link, I didn't see that article when I was searching Google News to see what the media response was. The one story in a major daily that I saw, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, generally a fair-minded paper, had a brief story, with the details of the case and the new evidence under a headline that read something like: "Cop Killer set to be executed".

I think part of the problem here is that the mainstream media just doesn't seem too concerned about this case, so even if you could get the witnesses on camera, it might be cut for more Paris Hilton coverage. I guess yet another unfairly convicted man going to the execution chamber is just so run-of-the-mill and boring these days.

Dr.G.: Good for you too! And paix, mon ami right back atcha!

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MACSPECTRUM

· #16 · Jul 9, 2007

MasterBlaster said:
North American Justice:

It's not whether you are guilty or innocent, its how much you can afford to spend on legal counsel and how good your lawyer is that counts.

Who you know is more important than the facts.

While I would like to see certain scumbags excecuted, too many cases of wrongful convictions and excecutions should bring about the abolishment of the death penalty.

ONE WRONG CONVITION IS TOO MANY

Action taken.

exactly

Wolfshead

· #17 · Jul 10, 2007

Let's bump this one.

(I've sent my letter and forwarded the link to friends)

GratuitousApplesauce

Discussion Starter · #18 · Jul 11, 2007

Wolfshead said:
Let's bump this one.

(I've sent my letter and forwarded the link to friends)

Good for you, Wolfshead!

( bump )

Wolfshead

· #19 · Jul 11, 2007

I'm bumping again...

Wolfshead

· #20 · Jul 12, 2007

and again

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