As of this writing (10:00pm) there is no word from SCOTUS, and some say this is an unusually long time for them to deliberate. They have already ordered a delay in two executions in Texas this week. A Georgia prison official clarified what is happening: "We are in a delay, waiting for a decision from the US Supreme Court. There has not been a reprieve." The execution could still be carried out tonight, or any time through September 28 without a new execution order.
Davis' case has drawn world-wide condemnation and protest rallies. Pope Benedict, Jimmy Carter, Amnesty International all have made pleas. Tonight, in Paris and Rome, as well as all over the U.S., and particularly at the prison in Jackson, and at the state capitol in Atlanta, crowds have gathered, holding signs: "NOT IN MY NAME."
This case is especially poignant right now. Although the crime happened 20 years ago, the execution is scheduled a couple of weeks after a case in New Jersey has brought forth scientific evidence on the unreliability of eye-witness reports. And this case hinges primarily on eye witnesses identifying him as the man who shot the police officer. Seven of the nine eye witnesses have since recanted, amid accusations of police coercion and conflicting reports of a confession from the real killer, in fact the man who first said Davis did it.
The only "hard" evidence in the case that I have read about is that the shell casings from the bullets in this case match ones from a shooting in a case in which Troy Davis had previously been convicted of armed robbery. But the gun was never found. And there is no hard proof that he fired it in this case.
New York Times columnist Nicolas Kristoff put it most succinctly on his blog, after it was known that the Supreme Court was deliberating the case and had been for some time:
"When smart people debate whether or not a man should be executed, that's a good reason not to execute him."As I have written before, any execution to me is state-sanctioned murder. It should be abolished. This is not meant to be unsympathetic toward victims, or their families; it is not meant to be condoning crime. It is unrelated to the severity of the crime. It is a principled opposition to the State, ACTING IN MY NAME AS A CITIZEN, deciding in the cold light of reason and responsibility that another human being should be put to death, when s/he is no immediate threat to others.
I do not know whether Davis is guilty. But the evidence seems too flimsy, the doubts too large. An innocent man may be put to death.
Ralph
10:30 The Supreme Court has denied the appeal for a stay of execution. It is expected to be carried out within the hour.
ReplyDeleteAn innocent man may very well be about to be put to death.
Troy Davis was put to death by lethal injection; he was pronounced dead at 11:08 pm.
ReplyDeleteFormer Congressman Bob Barr of Georgia, a supporter of the death penalty, wrote in an editorial last week:
"Imposing an irreversible sentence of death on the skimpiest of evidence will not serve the interest of justice."