Faith-Based Cruelty: The Other Georgia

What day and time you will die? I, for one, have no interest in knowing. Troy Anthony Davis, almost certainly an innocent man, knows. He'll die Tuesday, September 23, 2008. Never mind his conviction was based solely on the testimony of witnesses, seven of whom have recanted, saying they were coerced by Savannah police and changing what they said in court. Never mind signed affidavits implicating one of the two witnesses who did not recant as the actual killer. Or that there was no other evidence against Mr. Davis -- a total lack of physical evidence -- and no new evidence has ever been heard in court because the appeals process is increasingly restricted. Never mind the national and international outcry, pleas for justice and for Troy Anthony Davis' life.

This execution has come to feel personal. September 11th, I stood on the stops of my state capitol in downtown Atlanta. Hope glimmered that I and the State of Georgia could honor many lives lost in 2001 by saving one now. Many hundreds of us were there -- ordinary people of every possible description. We stood as one as we implored the State Board of Pardons and Paroles to stay Mr. Davis execution, to grant him a fair trial.

It got suddenly even more personal when Troy Anthony Davis' sister put her mobile phone up to the microphone and there he was. Troy Anthony Davis. That kind face on the T-shirts suddenly alive in his voice, talking to us from his tiny death row cell in Jackson, GA. First, he grieved for the family of the off-duty policeman who lost his life in 1989. Then he was glad we were there for him, sure enough. Mostly, he desperately urged us to remember that whatever happened to him, we must continue to stand up for all the other people languishing on death rows across the nation. Too many are unknown...and also innocent.

I do not know if the State of Georgia will shame and disgrace itself and me this week. September 12th, the Board of Pardons and Clemency rejected Mr. Davis' appeals, so the clock ticks. According to a writer for The New York Times, the Supreme Court of the United States has agreed to decide whether to hear a last-minute appeal of Mr. Davis' case -- on September 29th.

This violent nation's faith-based cruelty offends decency, conscience and justice. "Kill them all and let God sort them out" was a bad idea in the 13th century. There is compelling evidence that legally sanctioned execution does not deter. Does justice require a life for a life? Will any life do? Are we infallible? Is faith more trustworthy than evidence? Where lies the urgency in killing this man? What does "sanctity of life" mean?

The genuinely appalling becomes truly indefensible when a State -- in this case Georgia, acting in my name as one of the sovereign people -- annihilates a man whose guilt is far, far, far beyond a reasonable doubt.

Amnesty International and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) are among those offering ways to urge the State of Georgia to stop the imminent execution of Troy Anthony Davis.

Comments

[Darlene621]

This is an absolute travesty. There have been so many signatures, calls, e-mails, etc. to stop this execution and it's been to no avail. I thought that I read somewhere that Georgia's courts said they would not execute someone if there was a shadow of a doubt of their guilt. Mr. Davis' case has been the textbook for 'shadow of a doubt.' I'm ashamed and angry.

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." Gandhi

[joeyfoto]

When asked what he thought of 'Western Civilization,' Gandhi responded:
"I think it would be a good idea."

Ye, it would be a good idea but the death penalty is proof that we're not there yet and sadly that we are not moving in the direction of civilization. This is a very sad series of events for more reasons than their impact on the innocent victim of Georgia's injustice system.

If a political system, as represented in it's legal system, is willing to tolerate this level of injustice and cruelty toward an obviously innocent citizen, is it inappropriate to ask; Is this system worth fixing?

[DavidFinke]

Capital punishment is ghastly on so many accounts -- beyond the fact that those with "capital" seldom get this "punishment." "Let me count the ways..." in just starting my own list.

--It is irreversible. There's no undoing when a mistake is found: "Oops!" Exoneration (sometimes posthumously!) of the wrongfully-convicted is now in the hundreds. With life sentences, possibilities of new evidence, uncovering tainted testimony, outright fraud by prosecutors, ineptness by appointed counsel can be rectified. How dare we be so absolutely certain that we "have the right man"?

--It punishes whole families, not just the convicted. The circle of death is extended, the number of widows and orphans enlarged.

--It dehumanizes those agents of "the State" who are made to be professional killers, "just doing a job," but one violating the sanctity of life.

--It invokes my name, when death warrants issue by authority of "The People" of a State, dragging us into complicity with what profoundly violates our own conscience.

--This ultimate penalty contradicts the concept that human beings can change, can make amends or serve their fellow man. "Rehabilitation" is a lost goal; Official Vengeance becomes everything. Blood lust trumps all.

-- "Civilization" is set back: We've gradually renounced slavery, female subordination, torture, infanticide, genocide, cruelty to animals, religious persecution. A State killing its own citizens has been abandoned by most of the world. We are in company with Iran, China, Afghanistan & Saudi Arabia when we carry out death penalties.

For shame!

[iken]

Save the life of Troy Davis! Innocense matters!

Make yourself heard again via telephone... The message is simple: "I am calling to ask the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to reconsider the case of Troy Davis and to stop this execution."
Get a real person at the State of Georgia Board of Pardons and ParolesCall: . 404-656-5712...."