They just executed Troy Davis. A man accused and found guilty many years ago of killing a policeman, but whose guilt it seemed almost everyone in the world had come to doubt except for the policeman's family, the Georgia state prison board and the prosecutor.
But many former guards and even a former warden of the prison where Davis was executed petitioned the government not to go through with it. Not just because of the doubts about Davis's guilt, but because of the impact executing a possibly innocent man will have on the psyches of the prison guards who took part in any way in the execution, and even those who didn't but knew him.
There are doubts because no murder weapon was ever found. There was no DNA evidence. There were nine witnesses, but seven of them later said they'd been pressured by the police to name Davis as the murderer and have recanted their testimony.
Of the two other witnesses, one is the man many believe actually committed the murder and the other identified Davis from one hundred and twenty feet away in the dark, and Davis is a dark skinned man, as were others on the scene.
It is barbaric, to say the least. There have now been several people executed in recent years whose guilt was in doubt. Though not to the governors who backed the executions—including Bush Junior and Rick Perry among them. And many of the rightwingers who back these executions, including tonight's, call themselves "Christians" though this kind of primitive so-called "justice" is totally an Old Testament tradition but goes against everything Jesus stood for in the New Testament their faith is supposedly based upon.
Sometimes it's embarrassing to be a citizen of such a backward country. Tonight's one of those times.
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3 comments:
Remember that you are a citizen of the world first. Before Nationality, Religion, Gender, Orientation, Political Party, I am human. And before I am human, I am a living being. Issa says, "Borrowing my house from insects, I slept." Herclitus says: "You won't discover the limits of the soul, however far you go." They murdered Terri Schiavo too even though she smiled and her eyes widened when someone she loved came in the room....Too quick to judge...
I totally agree with both of you ...
This is all part of the incivility that goes along with self righteousness, and in many ways the 21st century is making a mockery of the progress and consciousness we achieved collectively in the 20th century.
Since Bush, a regressive attitude has found firm footing not only in human rights but across the board with lower standards of justice, education, and arts. Some has to do with a lack of funding and support but the majority comes from a lack of will to hold the principles of a progressive culture.
I'm getting a little annoyed by this by-line: "what the American people want" ...
Clearly, the 'people' wanted Davis' execution stayed, but in the wisdom of the high court (south of the Mason Dixon) line trying to trying to protect their own errors, sacrificed someone to protect their version of justice.
Surprising how this kind of thing doesn't spark 'flash mobs' to protest the criminal justice system in Georgia ...
Beyond embarrassing, this is disgraceful and despicable, and will remain in the conscience and legacy of this country. Thanks to all the 'regressives' who promote this kind of mindlessness.
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