7 p.m.
Posted by Thomas Nephew on September 23rd, 2008
This can’t be happening. Well, it can, but it shouldn’t be happening. Troy Davis, a man who’s almost certainly innocent, is about to be executed today, but the New York Times’s Bob Herbert is reporting:
The United States Supreme Court is scheduled to make a decision on whether to hear a last-ditch appeal by Mr. Davis on Sept. 29. That’s six days after the state of Georgia plans to kill him.
As I wrote two weeks ago, Davis’s murder conviction has been cast in doubt by the recantations of many witnesses, who say police pressured them into identifying Davis as the killer of Officer Mark MacPhail of Savannah, Georgia. One of the two remaining witnesses has reportedly confessed he was the real killer. But the Georgia State Board of Appeals has already rejected a bid for clemency, unmoved by appeals from the pope, Jimmy Carter, and former FBI director William Sessions’s opinion that a closer look at the case is warranted.
The Georgia board can still change its mind; please urge them to do so here (Amnesty International USA). Meanwhile, if you’re the praying sort, now’s the time to start. Troy Davis’s execution is set for 7pm today.
Further reporting: Atlanta Journal Constitution, NPR, Guardian. Updates via Google News search here.
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UPDATE, 5:30pm: CNN reports “The Supreme Court called an emergency session to hear the petition” for a stay of execution.
UPDATE, 5:45pm: WXIA: “Stay Of Execution Granted For Troy Davis.”
UPDATE, 9/25: The best major media rundown I’ve found of the legal status and issues at this point is by Robbie Brown of the New York Times. As others have reported, if the Supreme Court decides not to hear the appeal on Monday, it’s over. The basis of the appeal is what it should be: if new evidence appears to acquit Mr. Davis, is it constitutional to execute him? Brown (links added):
Mr. Davis’s lawyers have asked the court to use his case to decide whether the Eighth Amendment bars the execution of the innocent. The case, his lawyers wrote in a petition to the justices in July, “allows this court an opportunity to determine what it has only before assumed: that the execution of an innocent man is constitutionally abhorrent.”
In a 1993 decision, Herrera v. Collins, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote for the court that “we may assume, for the sake of argument in deciding this case, that in a capital case a truly persuasive demonstration of ‘actual innocence’ made after trial would render the execution of a defendant unconstitutional.” The death row inmate in that case, Leonel T. Herrera, had not made a sufficient demonstration, the court ruled. He was executed the same year.
While a footnote in Herrera v. Collins finds fault with Herrera’s claims in that the affidavits potentially exonerating him were not produced under cross-examination(!), Davis’s case may be different in that witness recantations directly undermine the case made against him. Still, the 1993 decision also asserts a “need for finality in capital cases” that doesn’t augur well for Mr. Davis.
Category: Post. Tags: death penalty, georgia, troy davis.
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September 23rd, 2008 at 7:22 pm
[...] decision is scheduled for Monday. As Thomas Nephew pointed out in his blog, newsrack, in turning down Davis’ appeals, the Georgia Board of Pardons and the State Supreme [...]
October 6th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Terrible news; the Supreme Court won’t hear the case.
Am trying hard not to wish awful things on the bigoted, unqualified, and blatantly partisan hacks on the Supreme Court, and turn my thoughts to Troy Davis and his family.
October 6th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
I had just Google-News’ed it myself, and posted about it here. A dark, dark, sad day; the death penalty has got to go.
October 6th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Confusing news today; apparently the Supreme Court hasn’t reached a decision on the case, and will be meeting on the next two Fridays to review it and similar cases.
But there was a scary moment; an AFP story says the Court has refused to hear the case, but doesn’t back that up with any statement from the court.
October 6th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
I guess I’ll need to pull that piece. Good!
October 24th, 2008 at 12:20 am
JUDICIAL INJUSTICES BEING INFLICTED ON POORER AMERICANS NEEDS…C*H*A*N*G*E…
US CONGESSIONAL MEMBER LAWYERS DENY POORER AMERICANS PROPER LEGAL REPRESENTATION ???
THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY NEEDS TO BEGIN A FORMAL INVESTIGATION INTO THE US CONGRESSIONAL CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY,AND HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS BEING INFLICTED ON POORER AMERICAN’S LIKE MR.TROY DAVIS OF GEORGIA !!!!
WHEN THE AMERICAN PUBLIC FOUND OUT THE TRUTH ABOUT THE IVORY TOWERS OF THE US CONGRESS !
HAVING BEEN DENIED APPEAL LAWYERS FOR THREE YEARS ON DEATH ROW IN GEORGIA MR. TROY DAVIS IS NOW BEING EXECUTED FOR A CRIME HE MIGHT NOT HAVE EVEN BEEN INVOLVED WITH !!!
SENATOR OBAMA PLEASE LET THIS COUNTRIES VOTERS KNOW YOUR FEELINGS AND THOUGHTS ABOUT A NEEDED FUTURE REPAIR AND RENOVATION OF OUR BROKEN JUDICIAL SYSTEM THAT CONTINUES TO ALLOW THE EXECUTION’S OF EVEN POSSIBLE INNOCENT AMERICAN’S LIKE TROY DAVIS OF GEORGIA ?????
BEING THE WEALTHIEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD SENATOR OBAMA, DON’T WE NEED AS THE LEADERS OF THE FREE WORLD TO BEGIN ONCE AGAIN TO RE-INVEST THE PROPER MONIE$ IN OUR OWN US JUDICIAL SYSTEM, ASSURING ALL OF OUR CITIZENS THEIR RIGHTS TO FAIR TRIALS WITH PROPER LEGAL REPRESENTATION ???
DOES GOD NEED TO LOBBY OUR US CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS OF THE FREE WORLD ON BEHALF OF OUR poorer american’s SENATOR OBAMA,OR ARE YOU WATCHING OUT FOR THEM ??
***OUR US CONGRESS CONTINUES TO DENY MIDDLE CLASS AND WORKING POOR AMERICANS PROPER LEGAL REPRESENTATION EVEN THOUGH WRONGFUL EXECUTIONS & FALSE INCARCERATIONS CONTINUE ALL ACROSS AMERICA ???
*** 700 BILLION $$$ AVAILABLE FOR US BAILOUT, & NO $$$ FOR ALL POORER AMERICANS PROPER LEGAL REPRESENTATION ? SENATOR OBAMA, THIS JUDICIAL INJUSTICE HAS BECOME AN AMERICAN ART FORM, AND NO LONGER CAN BE KEPT HIDDEN OR SECRET FROM THE AMERICAN PEOPLE EVEN IF CERTAIN (501c3) U$ RELIGIOU$ LEADER$ HAVE BEEN $ILENCED ??
LETS ALL HOPE OUR MEDIA FRIENDS CONTINUE TO SHOW AN INTEREST IN REPORTING ON THIS AMERICAN HORROR FACING THESE (TENS OF THOUSANDS) FORGOTTEN AND TRAPPED POORER AMERICANS, AND HOW THIS PRESIDENTIAL CONTENDER HANDLES THIS VERY SERIOUS ISSUE FACING AMERICA’S LATINO AND BLACK AMERICAN COMMUNITIES ????
WITH 80% OF THE BLACK AMERICAN VOTERS SAYING THEY SUPPORT SENATOR OBAMA IN THIS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, IT IS ONLY FAIR FOR EVERYONE TO KNOW PRIOR BEING ELECTED OUR NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES HOW THIS DEMOCRATIC SENATOR TRULY FEELS ABOUT THIS AMERICAN JUDICIAL INJUSTICE CONTINUING TO INFLICT GRAVE HARM ON THE BLACK & LATINO AMERICAN FAMILIES AND THEIR COMMUNITIES NATIONWIDE ??????
*** WHEN GOD’S FACE BECAME VERY RED *** THE US SUPREME COURT GAVE ENEMY COMBATANTS FEDERAL APPEAL HC RIGHTS LAWYERS AND PROPER ACCESS TO US FEDERAL COURTS,AND POORER AMERICANS (MANY EVEN ON DEATH ROW) ARE DENIED PROPER FEDERAL APPEAL LEGAL REPRESENTATION TO OUR US FEDERAL COURTS OF APPEAL, AND ROTTING IN AMERICAN PRISONS NATIONWIDE ?????????
**** INNOCENT AMERICANS ARE DENIED REAL HC RIGHTS WITH THEIR FEDERAL APPEALS ! THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE $LOWLY FINDING OUT HOW EA$Y IT I$ FOR MIDDLE CLA$$ AND WORKING POOR AMERICAN$ TO FALL VICTIM TO OUR U$ MONETARY JUDICIAL $Y$TEM.
****WHEN THE US INNOCENT WERE ABANDONED BY THE GUILTY **** The prison experts have reported that there are 100,000 innocent Americans currently being falsely imprisoned along with the 2,300,000 total US prison population nationwide.
***WHERE ARE AMERICA’S RELIGIOUS LEADERS ??????? Since our US Congress has never afforded poor prison inmates federal appeal legal counsel for their federal retrials,they have effectively closed the doors on these tens of thousands of innocent citizens ever being capable of possibly exonerating themselves to regain their freedom through being granted new retrials.
This same exact unjust situation was happening in our Southern States when poor and mostly uneducated Black Americans were being falsely imprisoned for endless decades without the needed educational skills to properly submit their own written federal trial appeals.
This devious and deceptive judicial process of making our poor and innocent prison inmates formulate and write their own federal appeal legal cases for possible retrials on their state criminal cases,is still in effect today even though everyone in our US judicial system knows that without proper legal representation, these tens of thousands of innocent prison inmates will be denied their rightful opportunities of ever being granted new trials from our federal appeal judges!!
Sadly, the true US *legal* Federal Appeal situation that occurs when any of our uneducated American prison inmates are forced to attempt to submit their own written Federal Appeals (from our prisons nationwide) without the assistance of proper legal counsel, is that they all are in reality being denied their legitimate rights for Habeas Corpus with our US FEDERAL COURTS and will win any future Supreme Court Case concerning this injustice!
For our judicial system and our US Congressional Leaders Of The Free World to continue to pretend that this is a real and fair opportunity for our American Middle Class and Working Poor Citizens, only delays the very needed future change of Federal Financing of all these Federal appeals becoming a normal formula of Our American judicial system.
It was not so very long ago that Public Defenders became a Reality in this country.Prior that legal reality taking place, their were also some who thought giving anyone charged with a crime a free lawyer was a waste of taxpayers $$.
This FACADE and HORROR of our Federal Appeal proce$$ is not worthy of the Greatest Country In The World! ***GREAT SOCIETIES THAT DO NOT PROTECT EVEN THEIR INNOCENT, BECOME THE GUILTY !
A MUST READ ABOUT AMERICAN INJUSTICE:
1) YAHOO 2) GOOGLE
(MANNY GONZALES THE KID THAT EVERYONE FORGOT IN THE CA PRISON SYSTEM.) ** A JUDICIAL RIDE OF ONES LIFE !
***Someone please tell our US Congress that the GED degree that Manny Gonzales acquired in prison is not a LAW DEGREE !!!!!!
lawyersforpooramericans@yahoo.com (424-247-2013)
October 24th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Thanks for writing, Mr. Field. (It’s a little hard to read stuff that’s all in CAPITAL LETTERS, though.) I agree with you that there’s been too much emphasis on cutting off appeals, and not enough on serving justice in the real world by helping the accused and incarcerated with access to legal counsel.
For others, here’s one link to what you’ve written about Manny Gonzales.