Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Troy Davis Executed
When Aragon students think of Troy Davis, they normally think of a smiling, bald man who is passionate about music and everything music. To the world, Troy Davis is known as the prime case against the death penalty, whose life was ended on the faulty testimony of seven witnesses. Davis was convicted of murdering off-duty policeman Mark MacPhail, and was sentenced to death by lethal injection. When seven of the witnesses later recounted their testimonies and Davis was restricted in his appeal means, his case was taken up by many advocacy groups including Amnesty International and the NAACP. Davis faced many legal challenges and had his death sentence moved four times. In a last ditch effort to appeal the decision, crowds protested in front of the White House, pleading with President Obama to step in. Nearly one million people signed a petition pleading with the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to pardon Davis. His case was reviewed by the Georgia Supreme Court, but he was denied clemency. Davis was executed 11:08 PM eastern time. The case has also drawn severe criticism from Europe and other countries. Hearing this sad story makes me seriously reconsider the effectiveness of our legal system. If seven of nine witnesses to such a serious case recounted their testimonies, how is it still plausible to convict a man of such a crime and sentence? Should the government have stepped in and appeased the views of foreign countries and advocacy groups? I feel there should be a better closure to this sad case.
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3 comments:
Alice, although seven out of the nine witnesses recounted their testimonies, we do not know to what extend their stories changed. One witness stated that Troy Davis explicitly told him about the shooting of officer MacPhail in accurate detail before information about the shooting had been released to the public. How could Troy Davis have known how MacPhail was shot unless he was at least an accomplice? No matter the truth, of which we may never know, I believe that it is wrong to sentence a man to death without DNA evidence. They did not even recover the murder weapon. It is not just to murder a man on the account of the hearsay of others. How scary would it be to live in a society in which we could be put to death just because someone said we committed a crime? C'mon America, what will you do next? Pass the PATRIOT act?
I agree with both Alice and Jacob. When seven out of nine witnesses recant, regardless of what the two say, there is not proof beyond a reasonable doubt that he is guilty. What really bugs me is the lack of DNA evidence as Jacob said. If you don't have DNA to prove that the suspect was there and/or did the crime, you have very little evidence to get a trial let alone execute someone. To put it differently, the lack of DNA evidence should have proven that he should not have been executed! to quote some of the news networks last night, "death can't be taken back." The fact that we killed a man without sufficient evidence leaves me greatly perturbed. If this is how justice works in America, then I think some more reforms should be put on the president's desk in the very near future. I realize that people could say that he could indeed be guilty of murdering MacPhail, but the fact of the matter is the justice system really couldn't prove he was guilty so for now, he remains innocent by justice standards. To just say it outright, we could have just killed an innocent man with nothing to legitimize execution.
Ok, so I don't want to say that Troy Davis is innocent but, there is still reasonable doubt as mentioned by the previous commentors. I feel that if Casey Anthony can be acquitted for "reasonable doubt," then Troy Davis should also have the chance to have his case reconsidered. The seven affidavits presented by Davis should have warranted him a new trial to at least convice America that the justice system wasn't going to kill an innocent man. Quite a few Americans no longer trust the legal system and leaving more doubt in the minds of Americans only increases the feeling of resentment.
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