Troy Davis is executed in Georgia for shooting policeman

Source BBC

 

Death row inmate Troy Davis has been executed in the US state of Georgia for the fatal shooting of policeman Mark MacPhail in 1989.

 

Davis' death was delayed for hours while the US Supreme Court considered an 11th-hour appeal for clemency.

 

The 42-year-old's case was heavily disputed after most of the witnesses recanted or changed their testimony.

 

Outside the jail in Jackson, Georgia, there was a heavy police presence earlier as his supporters demonstrated.

 

Davis was convicted in 1991 of killing MacPhail, an off-duty police officer, but maintained he was innocent.

 

The US Supreme Court judges took more than four hours to issue their rejection of the final appeal, an unusually long time for such a ruling.

 

"The application for stay of execution of sentence of death presented to Justice [Clarence] Thomas and by him referred to the Court is denied," it read.

 

Davis continued to protest his innocence in the death chamber.

Troy Davis Davis's execution date had already been moved several times

 

"I did not have a gun," he said, "For those about to take my life, may God have mercy on your souls. May God bless your souls."

 

Davis was pronounced dead at 23:08 (03:08 GMT Thursday), 15 minutes after the lethal injection began.

Ballistic 'flawed'

 

MacPhail was shot dead in July 1989 as he tried to help a homeless man who was being attacked in a Burger King car park.

 

Prosecutors said Davis was beating the man with a gun after demanding a beer from him.

 

No gun was found and no DNA evidence conclusively linked Davis to the murder.

 

On Wednesday morning, Davis' lawyers appealed to the county court responsible for Georgia's death row, but that was also rejected.

 

The legal team had argued that ballistic testing from the case was flawed.

 

The pardons board also dismissed an appeal to reconsider their decision on Monday to deny Davis clemency.

 

Prosecutors said they had no doubts as to his guilt.

 

Savannah Police Officer Mark Allen MacPhail Mark MacPhail was shot dead in 1989 as he tried to defend a homeless man

 

"He had all the chances in the world," Anneliese MacPhail, the mother of the murdered policeman, said earlier in a phone interview with the Associated Press news agency.

 

"It has got to come to an end."

 

Davis counted among his supporters Pope Benedict XVI and former US President Jimmy Carter, as well as US conservative figures like representative Bob Barr and former FBI director William Sessions.

 

Outside the prison, hundreds of people gathered chanting: "They say, death row; we say, hell no".

 

Around 10 counter-demonstrators were also present, voicing support for the death penalty and for the family of MacPhail.

 

There was a heavy police presence, including large numbers of riot police, but no disturbances were reported.

International protests

 

Davis' execution date had already been halted three times.

 

Protests had taken on an international dimension since Monday's decision to deny clemency by the Georgia pardons board.

 

The Council of Europe had also called for Davis' sentence to be commuted.

 

Amnesty International and other groups organised protests at the US embassy in Paris, where 150 people gathered in Place de la Concorde, holding signs bearing Davis' image.

 

"We strongly deplore that the numerous appeals for clemency were not heeded," the French foreign ministry said after the execution.

 

In Washington DC dozens gathered outside the White House, in the hope that President Barack Obama might intervene at the last-minute.

 

But White House press secretary Jay Carney said it would not be appropriate for the president to interfere in specific cases of state prosecution, such as this one.

 

Reports suggested around a dozen people were arrested for refusing to co-operate with police.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Three words - "Beyond Reasonable Doubt".. The basic tenet upon which people are tried and convicted.... So much "reasonable doubt" has cropped up in the case of Troy Davis that his continued incarceration is surely completely unsustainable, never mind executing the guy - 7 out of 9 witnesses recant on their testimony, some alledging police intimidation (with it being in 1989 that the crime occurred, I can certainly believe in that probability), no gun was found, no DNA evidence, and flawed ballistics... I almost hesitiate to ask the question but... "IS IT COS HE IS BLACK??" Actually, I lied, there was no hesitiation at all..... -_-

 

 

So, the next time the bloody Americans decide to go on a "morality" trip concerning Sharia Law and countries like Iran, just remember the name "Troy Davis" and throw it back in America's face.... YOU HAVE NO MORAL HIGH GROUND, AMERICA..... F/UCK YOU...... <_<

Disgraceful, but it's all too common in the US. My main argument against capital punishment (aside from the fact it's not a long-term deterrent) is that for the guilty it's in some respects an easy way out while for the innocent - I'll extend this to Amanda Knox as well given it's lucky for her that Italy doesn't have CP - it eliminates any chance of justice being served at a later date.

EDIT.

Edited September 22, 201113 yr by Common Sense

The US "Justice" system is even worse at admitting that it got it wrong than our own. There was a case in Texas a few years ago when fresh evidence emerged that the man convicted could not possibly have committed the murder. However, Texas has a time limit for appeals. As that limit had expired the state went ahead and murdered a totally innocent man.

This is an excellent post from Digital Spy! Not by me btw.

 

"Davis was convicted in a court of law. The Appeal Court upheld his conviction, the Federal Court upheld his conviction and the Supreme Court upheld his conviction.

 

All four courts had access to something that we do not...........actual evidence.

 

It's all very well Amnesty International coming out and saying that 7 witnesses have recanted their statements, but there is another side to that story too.

 

It is claimed that 1 of them reaffirmed their evidence, and that some of the others basically stated that the could no longer recall the details, given the passage of time.

 

So who's right and who's wrong.

 

The judicial system has had 20 years looking at this case and more than adequate opportunity to overturn or commute. The fact that they did not tells you all you need to know...............namely that the actual evidence and not just the claims by each side was more than enough to satisfy the "beyond reasonable doubt" test. "

Edited September 22, 201113 yr by Common Sense

So therefore by that judgement every single trial made the right decision? :manson: Police pressure being alleged in several of the recantations should be at least ENOUGH for a retrial.

So therefore by that judgement every single trial made the right decision? :

 

No but I think it did in this case. It's amazing how many people on Facebook now seem to "know that he's innocent" when they've seen no actual evidence or sat in a court that convicted him. They're just jumping on a bandwagon! :rolleyes:

Edited September 22, 201113 yr by Common Sense

No DNA evidence connects him to the scene and a tangential bit of circumstantial evidence is the only thing aside from eyewitness evidence (which has proven shaky and been alleged to have been subject to police pressure, which you conveniently leave out of your quote of me I notice!). It's not quite a bandwagon, there are fairly reasonable doubts over the evidence that was put forward for this!

 

Your argument that you quote that juries have seen all the evidence and that we therefore can't know a thing or object to miscarriages of justice overlooks that these things can and do occur, and this strikes me as an obvious example. What about this case tells you that it can't be a miscarriage of justice also?

 

(Other than you being a contrarian shit as ever but then nothing changes.)

It's not just the original jury though but the Supreme Court and last night the Georgia State Governor who has the authority to halt an execution up to the very last second. A phone line is kept open to him or her. Don't you think they'd have halted the execution if there was enough doubt?

Edited September 22, 201113 yr by Common Sense

This is an excellent post from Digital Spy! Not by me btw.

 

"Davis was convicted in a court of law. The Appeal Court upheld his conviction, the Federal Court upheld his conviction and the Supreme Court upheld his conviction.

 

All four courts had access to something that we do not...........actual evidence.

 

It's all very well Amnesty International coming out and saying that 7 witnesses have recanted their statements, but there is another side to that story too.

 

It is claimed that 1 of them reaffirmed their evidence, and that some of the others basically stated that the could no longer recall the details, given the passage of time.

 

So who's right and who's wrong.

 

The judicial system has had 20 years looking at this case and more than adequate opportunity to overturn or commute. The fact that they did not tells you all you need to know...............namely that the actual evidence and not just the claims by each side was more than enough to satisfy the "beyond reasonable doubt" test. "

And every one of those institutions is part of the system that refuses to accept mistakes might occasionally happen. The evidence has only been heard by a jury once and some of those jurors now think they returned the wrong verdict.

There have been cases before where people have had significant amounts of evidence displaying that they could not have committed the crime leading to their death sentence where the defendants haven't been granted clemency and where the system has been unable to confront itself and admit it made mistakes in the due process. A case with this many holes and doubts should have gone to retrial - the death penalty is abhorrent, but if it's going to be enforced it should only ever be where there is no doubt whatsoever that the accused is guilty of the crime and the evidence is overwhelming. The Georgia parole board said in 2007 that Davis would not be executed if any doubts came to light. Doubts came to light. The execution went ahead anyway.

He was executed for being a black man and in the wrong place and the wrong time - America is proving it's still a fukked-up, racist society despite Barack Obama being president... If this guy had been some rich, white businessman he'd likely have never been on Death Row to begin with.... Look at the stats - black men are far more likely to get a Death Sentence than a white man, FACT.....

...And by a complete contrast.....

 

US soldier gets 7 years for killing Afghan

Source - Press TV

 

An American soldier is sentenced to seven years behind bars for killing an unarmed 15-year-old Afghan boy in January 2010.

 

Private 1st Class Andrew Holmes, 21, was among six soldiers charged by the US military with being part of the "thrill killings" of Afghan civilians in Kandahar Province; he was sentenced to seven years in prison on Friday after his Thursday confession of firing a heavy machinegun at an unarmed man from just 15 feet away, the Guardian reported.

 

Army Judge Lt. Col. Kwasi Hawks sentenced Holmes at a hearing at Joint Base Lewis McChord, outside of Seattle, Washington.

 

Hawks said the fact that Holmes was a "junior" soldier in a "difficult situation" did not excuse the murder.

 

"You aimed a fully loaded automatic weapon at a child that stood 15 feet away," said Hawks.

 

Prosecutor Major Rob Stelle showed a large picture of Holmes standing over his victim's dead body during the closing argument in his case.

 

Two other soldiers in the kill team received a 24-year and a three-year sentence after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter. Others are awaiting trial.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Words almost fail me...... <_<

 

This just shows how much the US (in)justice system values the life of an Afghan teenager as opposed to that of a white cop.... "Winning hearts and minds", eh...?

He was executed for being a black man and in the wrong place and the wrong time -

 

 

No Scott, he was executed for having murdered in cold blood an off-duty cop. He was found guilty by a jury of his peers and lost three last-minute stays of Execution, from the Georgia Supreme Court, the US Supreme Court and the Governor Of Georgia. They all obviously had facts before them that you didn't. Good riddance. One less murderer to be kept alive by US tax-payers.

 

What really angers me is that there are actually Facebook pages supporting this guy, a cold-blooded killer. They're making him out to be some sort of hero and all seem to "know he's innocent" :rolleyes: Erm sorry but he was as gulty as sin as decided by a jury, with a majority of black people on it.

Edited September 26, 201113 yr by Common Sense

No Scott, he was executed for having murdered in cold blood an off-duty cop. He was found guilty by a jury of his peers and lost three last-minute stays of Execution, from the Georgia Supreme Court, the US Supreme Court and the Governor Of Georgia. They all obviously had facts before them that you didn't. Good riddance. One less murderer to be kept alive by US tax-payers.

 

Yeah, and do you know how much it costs for the tax-payer to execute someone..? Twat.... <_<

 

So, you think it's okay for a society to tell someone "Hey, dont kill anyone!" and then enforce that by killing someone...? That's just utterly retarded. And so is anyone who defends the Death Penalty....

Yeah, and do you know how much it costs for the tax-payer to execute someone..? Twat.... <_<

 

So, you think it's okay for a society to tell someone "Hey, dont kill anyone!" and then enforce that by killing someone...? That's just utterly retarded. And so is anyone who defends the Death Penalty....

 

I'm a huge supporter of the Death Penalty and wish it was brought back here. I applaud all the US states that still have it. You kill and you deserve to be killed.

No Scott, he was executed for having murdered in cold blood an off-duty cop. He was found guilty by a jury of his peers and lost three last-minute stays of Execution, from the Georgia Supreme Court, the US Supreme Court and the Governor Of Georgia. They all obviously had facts before them that you didn't. Good riddance. One less murderer to be kept alive by US tax-payers.

 

What really angers me is that there are actually Facebook pages supporting this guy, a cold-blooded killer. They're making him out to be some sort of hero and all seem to "know he's innocent" :rolleyes: Erm sorry but he was as gulty as sin as decided by a jury, with a majority of black people on it.

As I said earlier in this thread, he was only tried by a jury once. All the other institutions which pronounced him guilty were part of the establishment. The very establishment whose integrity was being questioned.

I'm a huge supporter of the Death Penalty and wish it was brought back here. I applaud all the US states that still have it. You kill and you deserve to be killed.

Perhaps you could explain how you demonstrate that murder is wrong by killing people.

As I said earlier in this thread, he was only tried by a jury once. All the other institutions which pronounced him guilty were part of the establishment. The very establishment whose integrity was being questioned.

 

Well I sure trust them rather than a bunch of idiots on FB who suddenly "know" he was innocent. :rolleyes: Theyre just sheep jumping on a bandwagon.

Perhaps you could explain how you demonstrate that murder is wrong by killing people.

 

I don't have to explain anything to anyone. I support the death penalty and you and Scott and many others don't. Fine. You're entitled to your opinion and me mine.