Troy Davis Case Shows why Death Penalty must be Eliminated

This marks the second time I've written about Troy Davis. Davis, who sits on Georgia's death row, has become an international celebrity and a prime example of why the death penalty must be eliminated.

On Monday, Davis was schedule to die but received his third stay of execution in slightly more than a year.

With more than 300,000 letters sent globally in support of Davis, rallies were recently held from Atlanta to Seattle, New York to Paris and Milan with supporters wearing T-shirts and holding signs that read, "I am Troy Davis."

Davis' case comprises the list of usual suspects in opposition to capital punishment, including Amnesty International, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former President Jimmy Carter, and Pope Benedict XVI.

Calls for clemency can also be heard from Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr and former FBI Director William Sessions -- neither would be characterized historically as opposed to the death penalty for ideological reasons.

In 1989, Davis was convicted for the murder of Officer Mark McPhail in Savannah, Ga., despite the fact that most of the witnesses have since recanted, many alleging they were pressured or coerced by police.

Davis admitted he was at the scene, but stated another man had done the shooting. There was no physical evidence against him and the weapon used in the crime was never found.
The physical evidence that linked the shooting to Davis was a bullet tied to another shooting done by Davis on the same night as the officer was shot.

The case against Davis consisted entirely of witness testimony, which contained inconsistencies even at the time of the trial.

Seven of the nine eyewitnesses have subsequently recanted their testimony; and one of the remaining two witnesses could actually be the assailant.

The manner in which this case has been handled is not fair to Davis and his family, McPhail's family, or the residents of Georgia, whose tax dollars may go toward the execution of an innocent man.

As I have previously written, I have no idea if Davis is innocent. But the central question in this case has now moved beyond his guilt or innocence. Can Davis' life be placed in jeopardy based on a system that has nothing more than inconsistent witness testimony on which to convict him?

Moreover, Davis is on death row because he is a minority and poor. Study after study indicates that someone who has low income, is a minority and suffer from mental illness or mental retardation, has a much greater chance of receiving the death penalty than the rest of the population.

The most rudimentary examination of who receives the death penalty quickly reveals the system does not achieve what its proponents claim.
Are the poor, racial minorities, or those suffering from mental health or mental retardation expendable political pawns? The obvious answer is yes. Ambitious politicians, running on tough on crime policies, can take the most egregious scenarios and make them emblematic of the whole.

It is a costly, unpredictable, unjust and flawed policy that Davis in all probability would not be facing if he did not fall into the socio-economic group that is most likely to receive capital punishment.

The coalition that stands in opposition to Davis' execution is not your traditional left-wing midnight vigil crowd. Does it matter that individuals normally inclined to support capital punishment are uneasy about this one?

I make no apologies for my uncompromising opposition to the death penalty. But even staunch capital punishment supporters must conclude that the way Davis' life hangs represents a possible form of barbarism that is far beneath the values which this country was founded.

The tragic irony is Georgia's parole board professes to be committed to the notion "We will not allow an execution to proceed "... unless and until its members are convinced that there is no doubt as to the guilt of the accused."

What better case than that of Troy Davis to illustrate the parole board's adherence to the aforementioned words?

Byron Williams is an Oakland pastor and syndicated columnist. He is the author of Strip Mall Patriotism: Moral Reflections of the Iraq War. E-mail him at [e-mail] or visit his website byronspeaks.com

Comments

[dudleysharp]

Both sides are important

(1) Davis v Georgia, Georgia Supreme Court, 3/17/08
www(DOT)gasupreme.us/pdf/s07a1758.pdf

" 'most of the witnesses to the crime who have allegedly recanted have merely stated that they now do not feel able to identify the shooter.' "One of the affidavits 'might actually be read so as to confirm trial testimony that Davis was the shooter.' " The murder occurred in 1989.

(2) "PAROLE BOARD'S CONSIDERATION OF THE TROY ANTHONY DAVIS CASE" ,
9/22/08, www(DOT)pap.state.ga.us/opencms/opencms/

"The Board has now spent more than a year studying and considering this case. . . . the Board gave Davis" attorneys an opportunity to present every witness they desired to support their allegation that there is doubt as to Davis" guilt. The Board heard each of these witnesses and questioned them closely. In addition, the Board has studied the voluminous trial transcript, the police investigation report and the initial statements of all witnesses . . . and also had certain physical evidence retested and Davis interviewed."

"The Board has determined that clemency is not warranted."

(3) Chatham County District Attorney Lawton on the case facts at: http://tinyurl(DOT)com/46c73l

A detailed review of the extraordinary consideration that Davis was given for all of his claims.

(4) Officer Mark Allen MacPhail
The family of murdered Officer MacPhail believes that Troy Davis murdered their loved one and that the evidence is supportive of that opinion.
www(DOT)markallenmacphail.com/

[dudleysharp]

Class issues

No one disputes that wealthier defendants can hire better lawyers and, therefore, should have a legal advantage over their poorer counterparts. The US has executed about 0.15% of all murderers since new death penalty statutes were enacted in 1973. Is there evidence that wealthier capital murderers are less likely to be executed than their poorer ilk, based upon the proportion of capital murders committed by different those different economic groups? Not to my knowledge.

[jatkins]

There is on-going New Hampshire murder case involving a white, millionaire defendant, John Brooks. Whilst sentencing is pending, the jury has already made absolutely clear that a death sentence has been ruled out (it would have been the first death sentence handed down in the state since 1959; the first actual execution to go forward since 1939).

But at the same time, in the same state, there is another murder trial going on: this time, of a black, almost certainly non-affluent defendant, yet we are still to hear whether or not he will receive a death sentence.

[dudleysharp]

Racial issues
 
White murderers are twice as likely to be executed in the US as are black murderers and are executed, on average, 12 months more quickly than are black death row inmates.
 
It is often stated that it is the race of the victim which decides who is prosecuted in death penalty cases.  Although blacks and whites make up about an equal number of murder victims, capital cases are 6 times more likely to involve white victim murders than black victim murders.  This, so the logic goes, is proof that the US only cares about white victims.
 
Hardly.  Only capital murders, not all murders, are subject to a capital indictment.  Generally, a capital murder is limited to murders plus secondary aggravating factors, such as murders involving burglary, carjacking, rape, and additional murders, such as police murders, serial and multiple murders.  White victims are, overwhelmingly, the victims under those circumstances, in ratios nearly identical to the cases found on death row.
 
Any other racial combinations of defendants and/or their victims in death penalty cases, is a reflection of the crimes committed and not any racial bias within the system, as confirmed by studies from the Rand Corporation (1991), Smith College (1994), U of Maryland (2002), New Jersey Supreme Court (2003) and by a view of criminal justice statistics, within a framework of the secondary aggravating factors necessary for capital indictments.
 

[LeftRight]

You really scared me at first. When I read the first sentence I thought that you were saying that white people were more likely to be put to death than black people.....

It's a combination of factors. The victim's race is a factor, as is the suspect's race!

[dudleysharp]

"After accounting for some of the many factors that may influence penalty decisions, neither race of the defendant nor race of the victim appreciably improved prediction of who was sentenced to death . . . ".
"Relationship of Offender and Victim Race to Death Penalty Sentences in California"(Jurimetrics Journal, 32, Fall 1991, aka The Rand Corporation Study)


"There is no race of the offender / victim effect at either the decision to advance a case to penalty hearing or the decision to sentence a defendant to death
given a penalty hearing." p30 " . . . there is no evidence that the race of the defendant matters at any stage once case characteristics are controlled for." p 26
"The race of the victim effect does not hold up, however, at the decision of the state's attorney to advance a case to penalty trial and at the decision of the judge or jury to impose a death sentence given that a penalty trial has occurred." p 27
Executive Summary:An Empirical Analysis of Maryland's Death Sentencing System with Respect to the Influence of Race and Legal Jurisdiction, www(DOT)urhome.umd.edu/newsdesk/pdf/exec.pdf