Terse Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 Story in INDEPENDENT At around 7pm local time (midnight GMT) tomorrow, 42-year-old Troy Davis will be escorted to an execution chamber at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison outside the city of Jackson. He is scheduled to be killed by lethal injection. The execution comes after Georgias five-man Board of Pardons spent Monday hearing a plea for his sentence to be commuted. Supporters argue that Daviss conviction for the murder of off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail in 1989 was deeply flawed. The Board heard submissions from several jurors who found Davis guilty but have since changed their mind, along with a selection of key prosecution witnesses who have recanted the evidence they gave at his trial in 1991. A spokesman refused to elaborate on why the board rejected his latest plea, or by what majority the decision was reached. Seven of the nine prosecution witnesses who testified in court that they saw Davis carry out the attack have since recanted, saying they were pressured into giving evidence by investigators. Two further witnesses have since come forward saying that another man, Sylvester Coles, confessed to the crime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheels Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 E mail appeals from http://action.amnesty.org.uk/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1194&ea.campaign.id=12137&utm_source=email&utm_medium=update_email&utm_campaign=deathpenalty&utm_content=troy_clemency_link1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terse Posted September 22, 2011 Author Share Posted September 22, 2011 Davis continued to protest his innocence in the death chamber. "I did not have a gun," he said, "For those about to take my life, may God have mercy on your souls. May God bless your souls." Davis was pronounced dead at 23:08 (03:08 GMT Thursday), 15 minutes after the lethal injection began. Barbarianism is alive and well and living in America. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheels Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 Agreed I wonder if Troy had been white....... http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/FactSheet.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebees Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 So wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thommo2010 Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 A guy on death row claiming he didn't do the crime christ better let a lot of people out of prison then. Fact is we only know snippets of the court case a jury 20 years ago heard the evidence and convicted him, since then numerous appeal panels have held up his conviction again hearing evidence we never will. Like I say if we believe every criminal who claimed they were innocent prisons would be empty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terse Posted September 22, 2011 Author Share Posted September 22, 2011 A guy on death row claiming he didn't do the crime christ better let a lot of people out of prison then. Fact is we only know snippets of the court case a jury 20 years ago heard the evidence and convicted him, since then numerous appeal panels have held up his conviction again hearing evidence we never will. Like I say if we believe every criminal who claimed they were innocent prisons would be empty I take it you couldn't be bothered reading this bit: The Board heard submissions from several jurors who found Davis guilty but have since changed their mind, along with a selection of key prosecution witnesses who have recanted the evidence they gave at his trial in 1991. A spokesman refused to elaborate on why the board rejected his latest plea, or by what majority the decision was reached. Seven of the nine prosecution witnesses who testified in court that they saw Davis carry out the attack have since recanted, saying they were pressured into giving evidence by investigators. Two further witnesses have since come forward saying that another man, Sylvester Coles, confessed to the crime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thommo2010 Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 A guy on death row claiming he didn't do the crime christ better let a lot of people out of prison then. Fact is we only know snippets of the court case a jury 20 years ago heard the evidence and convicted him, since then numerous appeal panels have held up his conviction again hearing evidence we never will. Like I say if we believe every criminal who claimed they were innocent prisons would be empty I take it you couldn't be bothered reading this bit: The Board heard submissions from several jurors who found Davis guilty but have since changed their mind, along with a selection of key prosecution witnesses who have recanted the evidence they gave at his trial in 1991. A spokesman refused to elaborate on why the board rejected his latest plea, or by what majority the decision was reached. Seven of the nine prosecution witnesses who testified in court that they saw Davis carry out the attack have since recanted, saying they were pressured into giving evidence by investigators. Two further witnesses have since come forward saying that another man, Sylvester Coles, confessed to the crime. Ok here goes Jurors may now have been swayed with what they have read on the news and thinking hang on I could be wrong, at the time they heard the evidence first hand with no prejudice. The prosecution witnesses said they were pressured into giving evidence, they could have gave their evidence at the time stating they saw nothing why didn't they? they could have stated in court they were pressured into what they said. 2 of the witnesses have stuck with their story so we have 7 people who may or may not be telling the truth and 2 who have stuck by their story for 22 years who would you believe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alias Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 Ok here goes Jurors may now have been swayed with what they have read on the news and thinking hang on I could be wrong, at the time they heard the evidence first hand with no prejudice. The prosecution witnesses said they were pressured into giving evidence, they could have gave their evidence at the time stating they saw nothing why didn't they? they could have stated in court they were pressured into what they said. 2 of the witnesses have stuck with their story so we have 7 people who may or may not be telling the truth and 2 who have stuck by their story for 22 years who would you believe? could/maybe/perhaps Not think these little matters should be cleared up and clarified to the public before any execution takes place? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrighty Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 I've got mixed feelings on the death penalty. Somebody on Question Time a few minutes ago said that there was another execution in the US yesterday, in Texas. A particularly heinous crime, no apparent doubt as to the guilt of the perpetrator, and nobody has lost any sleep about his punishment. There are certain criminals who I think should just be killed. Not US style, with 22 years of legal wrangling and witnesses changing their minds (who can remember, really, specific events 22 years ago), but rapid justice. That Norwegian mass murderer would be one example. Just kill him. On the other hand, cases like this one yesterday seem very medieval - recently read John Grisham's "The confession", and it has a lot in common with Troy Davis' case. On balance, if I had to vote one way or the other, I'd say no to the death penalty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gladys Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 But US life row inmates get double bubble: life imprisonment ending with execution. Just bizarre. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheesemonster2005 Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 Completely wrong. Don't know if he is innocent but there is clearly doubt here and in such cases the "ultimate punishment" should not be carried out. And since he was convicted in 1991 he has basically been punished twice - 20 years in prison (more than a life sentence in most countries) and death. There were massive problems with this convistion, most prosecution witnesses now back away from their original statements, other people have been accused of the crime, there is no DNA or blood evidence and importantly the man always maintained his innocence - "death row, go to hell", as the protesters were chanting yesterday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wing of the Nut Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 But US life row inmates get double bubble: life imprisonment ending with execution. Just bizarre. a worrying flawed legal system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terse Posted September 23, 2011 Author Share Posted September 23, 2011 The prosecution witnesses said they were pressured into giving evidence, they could have gave their evidence at the time stating they saw nothing why didn't they? they could have stated in court they were pressured into what they said. 2 of the witnesses have stuck with their story so we have 7 people who may or may not be telling the truth and 2 who have stuck by their story for 22 years who would you believe? I would say there was enough doubt involved not to take such an irrevocable step as execution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheels Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 I agree with Terse Also why was there not a retrial given that so many witnesses changed their statements? That at least would have hopefully resolved the validity or otherwise of the original conviction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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