Unconscionable, But Who Cares? at 1115.org

Unconscionable, But Who Cares?

by sarabeth at 8:30 am on July 16th, 2007 in Bush Man Date, General, Plamegate

I have a distinct memory that we used to be a nation with a conscience.

In the country that we used to be, a case like that of Troy Davis would have caused spontaneous, widespread outrage:

A Georgia man is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Tuesday for killing a police officer in 1989, even though the case against him has withered in recent years as most of the key witnesses at his trial have recanted and in some cases said they lied under pressure from police.
[…]
Three of four witnesses who testified at trial that Davis shot the officer have signed statements contradicting their identification of the gunman. Two other witnesses — a fellow inmate and a neighborhood acquaintance who told police that Davis had confessed to the shooting — have said they made it up.
[…]
The circumstances of the case have provoked criticism beyond the usual groups that oppose the death penalty.

“There is no more serious violent crime than the murder of an off-duty police officer who was putting his life on the line to protect innocent bystanders,” William S. Sessions, FBI director under presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, wrote recently in an op-ed piece in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. But “serious questions have been raised about Davis’s guilt. . . . It would be intolerable to execute an innocent man.”

In the country we have become, his case is only now starting to gain national attention. And he’s due to be executed tomorrow.

Executing Davis would be unconscionable. It looks like we’re about to find out how far we have evolved as a nation, from who we used to be. And this has nothing to do with George Bush. This is quite simply a matter of who we are.

We seem to be a nation of laws that do not deliver justice. We seem to be a nation that does not care if our laws do not deliver justice.

We care passionately about using otherwise-to-be-discarded embryos for stem cell research. We do not care about executing people who are are very probably innocent of any crime.

Maybe it’s still not be too late to take action to try to influence the state of Georgia? The only information I’ve found online about registering a protest, and asking for Davis’ death sentence to be commuted, asks you to appeal to the State Board of Pardons and Paroles, rather than the Governor.

Ironic to come face to face with the word commute again, isn’t it? Scooter Libby’s sentence was commuted because it was clear to Bush that it was excessive, even though it fell within the sentencing guidelines for the crime that Bush had no doubt he was guilty of. Troy Davis is about to be executed (not just sodomized but executed) for a crime he probably did not commit, because recent laws dictate that questionable, trumped-up evidence cannot be questioned at this late stage. And Bush is planning to look the other way? He’s planning to say (even if just by omission), what can I do, it’s too late for justice?

Or maybe it’s still not too late to take action to try to pressure Bush to commute Davis’ sentence? Maybe some good can still come out of the Libby commutation?

Trackbacks & Pings

Reconstitution 2.0 » Blog Archive » The Death Penalty In Jesusistan. Evil Unencumbered on 28 Sep 2007 at 9:43 am

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Comments

sarabeth wrote:

In case anyone would like to follow suit, I just sent this email to webmaster@pap.state.ga.us

Dear Board Members,

I write to you today with the utmost urgency, and respectfully request that you commute Troy Anthony Davis’ death sentence immediately.

The laws may not permit the courts to review the evidence that strongly suggests Troy Davis was convicted on the basis of false testimony, testimony that has since been recanted.

But how can you knowingly permit a probably innocent person to be executed?

Please intervene. Executing Troy Davis would be unconscionable. That’s not who we are as a nation. That’s not who you are as a board.

Sincerely,
Sarabeth Guthberg

and this to the President at comments@whitehouse.gov (is there a better email address?):

Dear Mr. President,

I write to you today with the utmost urgency, and respectfully request that you
commute Troy Anthony Davis’ death sentence immediately.

The laws may not permit the courts to review the evidence that strongly suggests Troy Davis was convicted on the basis of false testimony, testimony that has since been recanted.

But how can you knowingly permit a probably innocent person to be executed?

Please intervene. Executing Troy Davis would be unconscionable. That’s not who we are as a nation. That’s not who you are as a person.

Scooter Libby’s sentence was commuted because you felt it was excessive, even though by all accounts you had no doubt he was guilty of the crime he was convicted of.

Troy Davis is about to be executed for a crime he probably did not commit. Please don’t look the other way and say: “What can I do, it’s too late for justice?” Please!

Sincerely,
Sarabeth Guthberg

Posted 16 Jul 2007 at 8:48 am ¶
sarabeth wrote:

Update from AP:

The state Board of Pardons and Paroles met behind closed doors Monday to decide whether a man convicted of killing a police officer who insists he is innocent should be given a reprieve or executed Tuesday as scheduled.

The hearing could be Troy Davis’ best hope of avoiding lethal injection for the Aug. 19, 1989, murder of Savannah police Officer Mark MacPhail.
[…]
Parole board spokeswoman Scheree Lipscomb said Monday that several witnesses to the killing were at the hearing, though they were not on the list of planned speakers.
[…]
Another appeal was expected to be filed before the state Supreme Court on Monday following a Chatham County judge’s refusal last week to halt Davis’ execution.

Posted 16 Jul 2007 at 11:07 am ¶
sarabeth wrote:

Another AP update; sounds somewhat encouraging.

The Board of Pardons and Paroles could allow Davis’ execution to go forward, commute his sentence to life in prison or grant a stay while it considers the case.

It was not clear if a decision would be issued Monday. Davis is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Board members “engaged the facts, and without respect to the media or anything else,” Davis lawyer Jason Ewart said in an interview. Ewart said he was unsure how the five-member panel would rule.

“It’s tough. It’s one of those things where we’re finally engaging the facts, and we have less than 30 hours before the execution date,” he said.
[…]
Davis’ lawyers also appealed to the state Supreme Court to overturn a judge’s earlier decision to deny Davis a stay of execution.

During the parole hearing, Davis’ friends and relatives spoke in support of the clemency petition, along with Rep. John Lewis, an Atlanta Democrat and civil rights icon. Five witnesses who testified at the trial spoke to the board on Davis’ behalf, Ewart said.

AFP:
Amnesty International also is lobbying on Davis’s behalf.

“At times there are cases that are emblematic of the dysfunctional application of justice in this country,” said Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International’s US chapter.

“By refusing to review serious claims of innocence, the Supreme Court has revealed catastrophic flaws in the US death penalty machine,” Cox said.

Said Sue Gunawardena-Vaughn, director of Amnesty International’s Program to Abolish the Death Penalty: “It is appalling that so many judges were able to look away from such a grave breach of justice.

“Evidence of innocence simply hasn’t mattered,” in this and many other disputed death penalty cases, she said.

South African Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu also has spoken out against the planned execution, while the Council of Europe yesterday urged the US not to commit what it said would be a error it would come to regret.

“The execution of Troy Davis … could become famous as an irreversible mistake and a tragic miscarriage of justice,” read a council statement yesterday…

Posted 16 Jul 2007 at 3:54 pm ¶
sarabeth wrote:

AP update:

The state Board of Pardons and Paroles has granted a 90-day stay of execution for Troy Davis, who was to be executed tomorrow in the killing of a Savannah police officer in 1989.

Posted 16 Jul 2007 at 5:00 pm ¶
JimC wrote:

90-day stay of execution

This is good news (short term) but this person needs a new trial and it seems really stupid that new evidence would not be considered in a captial punishment situation.

Posted 16 Jul 2007 at 5:33 pm ¶
sarabeth wrote:

at the risk of unleashing a totally unexpected revelation on you, the whole point of the stay in execution is to consider the new evidence that has been excluded so far.

there’s probably no way he receives a new trial. I don’t believe he’s even asked for one (seriously, through the legal system, as opposed to press conference rhetoric).

but someone is going to look at the new evidence and decide whether his sentence should be commuted.

incidentally, he’s been on death row more than 17 years.

Posted 16 Jul 2007 at 6:07 pm ¶
JollyRoger wrote:

This is good old, righteous Jesusistan “justice” at work.

This is also precisely why the death penalty must be abolished. It’s too attractive a vehicle for abuse by ambitions District Attorneys.

Posted 16 Jul 2007 at 10:18 pm ¶
sarabeth wrote:

Ambitious D.A.s will, of course, still frame innocent people. (And a disproportionate number of them will be black or Hispanic or poor.)

But at least the consequences of such framing won’t be quite as final. (I was going to say irreversible, but of course you don’t reverse the effects of a 17-year imprisonment just by finally setting someone free.)

Posted 16 Jul 2007 at 10:57 pm ¶
JimC wrote:

righteous Jesusistan “justice”

What does that mean?

Posted 17 Jul 2007 at 9:58 am ¶

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