NAACP poster in memory of Troy Davis. Download and print one here.
For those of you unfamiliar with the Troy Davis case, I’ve posted about it many times in the past.
June 29, 1972: The U.S. Supreme Court rules in the case Furman v. Georgia that arbitrary and inconsistent imposition of the death penalty violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, and constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.
Prosecutor Mustafa Khater
Hosni Mubarak Trial: Former President Responsible For Killings, Prosecutor Says
Too Much Doubt To Execute!!
Troy Davis was convicted of murdering a Georgia police officer in 1991. Nearly two decades later, Davis remains on death row — even though the case against him has fallen apart.
The case against him consisted entirely of witness testimony which contained inconsistencies even at the time of the trial. Since then, all but two of the state’s non-police witnesses from the trial have recanted or contradicted their testimony.
Many of these witnesses have stated in sworn affidavits that they were pressured or coerced by police into testifying or signing statements against Troy Davis.
One of the two witnesses who has not recanted his testimony is Sylvester “Red” Coles — the principle alternative suspect, according to the defense, against whom there is new evidence implicating him as the gunman. Nine individuals have signed affidavits implicating Sylvester Coles.An execution date for Troy Davis is scheduled for September 21, 2011.
Tomorrow. They’re going to kill him tomorrow.
This makes me feel so helpless. What can we even do? I mean, no really. What can I do?
http://action.naacp.org/page/s/petition-larry-chisolm
The DA is basically the last hope. Sign petition above.
I am sitting in my law school in the Innocence Project office. Our faculty advisor has been in tears all day. I can’t even imagine what Troy’s family is going through.
Signed. It takes all of thirty seconds.
(Source: wishbat)
Celebs, Politicans Rally to Stop Troy Davis Execution
Nobel Peace Prize recipients, celebrities, musicians, the Pope, a former president (and probably your neighbor) rally to stop the execution of Troy Davis.
Add your voice and spread the word!
Troy Davis is set to be executed on September 21st.
Please click through to send a message to the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles to prevent this execution. You can also send messages through Amnesty International USA.
Learn more about Troy Davis from Amnesty International USA, ACLU, and my previous posts.
PLEASE SPREAD THIS INFORMATION AS MUCH AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN. Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
I’m not posting my reaction to the death penalty component of tonight’s GOP debate until tomorrow morning. I’m feeling too despondent about the state of affairs in this country to start reading comments on what I’ve written. By 11am tomorrow, I’ll be ready for it. I hope you’ll tune back in then.
In the meantime, click on the photo above and learn more about all of the executions that Rick Perry hasn’t been losing any sleep over. The Texas Tribune has them organized chronologically there; alternatively, the New York Times looks at some of the most controversial, by category.
See you tomorrow …
In this picture, the tiny figure in the parking lot across the street is approximately where Troy Davis was, and the camera is approximately where Dorothy Farrell was, when, according to her trial testimony, she saw his face at 1:30 am. (She, like most of the witnesses, has since recanted).
…
Doubts about the reliability of the witnesses used to convict Troy Davis, and the quality of the investigation that produced those witnesses, are only heightened as we learn more about the unreliability of witness testimony itself. Yet another reason his execution must not be carried out.
Experts Exclude Man As Killer, Execution Set Anyway
Texas has set August 18 as the execution date for Larry Swearingen. Swearingen was sentenced to death for the murder of Melissa Trotter, but he had been in jail for 23 days when the body of the victim was found. Five separate forensic experts, including four current or former Chief Medical Examiners from Texas, have determined that Melissa Trotter died very close to the date her body was found. That is, the crime occurred when Larry Swearingen was in jail. This contradicts the trial testimony of Dr. Joye Carter who had said the death occurred 25 days prior to the body’s discovery. But she herself has recanted that testimony and now agrees with the other forensic experts.
Ah, Texas. Where the government is desperately hoping that science doesn’t get in the way of poisoning its citizens to death.
For your researching pleasure, U.S. Death Penalty information from Amnesty International USA.
Death Penalty Cost via Amnesty International USA
Statement of Michael J. Fitzpatrick, Executive Director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness
Juries are called upon to apply narrow, irrelevant legal definitions to people who do not fit those terms. The law tries to paint bright lines between right and wrong in order to evaluate psychosis, delusions, and hallucinations. The death penalty poses issues that typically are never considered:
- Stigma - the fear, ignorance, and prejudice - surrounding mental illness may influence jury decisions. Mental illness becomes an aggravating, rather than mitigating factor.
- Defendants with serious mental illnesses during trial may appear impassive, because of the effects of psychiatric medications. Juries wrongly interpret their demeanor as lack of remorse.
- As noted by President Bush’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, the mental healthcare system in America is a fragmented “system in shambles.” Barriers to care exist. Individuals with serious mental illness often are unable to get help. Treatment or interventions may be inadequate, including long waiting lists or early discharge from hospitalization.
- In supreme irony, defendants denied medical treatment before committing crimes may be forcibly medicated to make them competent to stand trial or be executed. States make people who are profoundly sick - through no fault of their own - marginally well for the sole purpose of putting them to death.
An analysis of Jefferson Parish, La., by the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center found that from 1999 to 2007, blacks were struck from juries at more than three times the rate of whites.
In North Carolina, at least 26 current death row defendants were sentenced by all-white juries. In South Carolina, a prosecutor said he struck a black potential juror because he “shucked and jived” when he walked.” Study Finds Blacks Blocked From Southern Juries
