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TechnoratiRallies Protest Impending Execution of Troy Davis
Rallies were held around the globe Thursday as part of a final push to save the life of death row inmate Troy Anthony Davis.
![[Death row inmate Troy Davis in a photo courtesy of the Georgia Department of Corrections. (Georgia Department of Corrections/Handout/Reuters)]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/troydavis1024.jpg "troydavis1024.jpg")
An hour north from where Monday's scheduled execution is to occur, roughly 200 protesters - including Davis's mother and sister - gathered at the state Capitol urging Gov. Sonny Perdue to intercede.
"The whole world is watching Georgia," said Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA. "Nowhere in the world is there a more serious violation of human rights than what Georgia is about to do to Troy Davis."
Davis, 40, was convicted of the Aug. 19, 1989 murder of 27-year-old Savannah police Officer Mark Allen MacPhail.
Since his trial, seven of nine key prosecution witnesses have recanted their testimony.
"If it was only one witness, that would be understandable. But seven of nine? That's a different story," said Ytunde Orumgbeni, of Atlanta. Unlike most of the protesters, Orumgbeni said she is not opposed to the death penalty.
"We have to do something," she said. "I feel they're taking an innocent life."
Davis' case has mobilized unprecedented support for groups opposed to capital punishment, said Sara Totonchi, chair of Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.
"I'm used to being at vigils down at the prison with 10 other people," Totonchi said. "I've never seen a turnout like this in Georgia."
Totonchi's group is holding a mock funeral procession in downtown Atlanta Friday morning and will deliver petitions signed by more than 140,000 people to the State Board of Pardons and Paroles.
Thursday's event was organized by Amensty International, which coordinated similar rallies in 14 other American cities and across much of Europe.
The European Union issued a statement Wednesday opposing Davis' execution, saying there is great risk of miscarriage of justice with irreparable consequences."
Having already pursued a number of unsuccessful state and federal appeals, Davis' lawyers on Wednesday asked the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to stay his execution.
Despite long odds, some attending the Capitol protest said they believe Davis will be spared.
"We're going to get justice for Troy Davis," said Darryl Hunt, wrongfully convicted in North Carolina for rape and murder. He spent 19 years behind bars before DNA evidence exonerated him in 2003.
"No matter what happens, Troy Anthony Davis will get justice," said his sister, Martina Correia. As they did throughout Thursday's rally, the crowd responded in unison, "I am Troy Davis.
15 Comments so far
Show AllNietzsche
This feels like the some attorneys, including prosecutors, some judges, maybe some people in high office have something to lose by opening this case.
The death penalty resolves nothing and only feeds the desire for revenge for the living. Don’t dim the lights in Georgia or anywhere else in the USA for it is immoral and it is barbaric. In the case of Troy Davis I feel a great wrong is being perpetrated. I am one of the 140,000 people that signed petitions asking for the sparing of Troy Davis’ life. I feel it is wrong for the State to execute any human being. I can only hope that this miscarriage of justice will be averted and Mr. Davis will receive his overdue proper due.
Get one of those cable shows to sponsor a cold case file to find the real killer and be done with it. Let him Live!
Let him live.
"The death penalty is barbaric. I might change my mind, however, if it were a serial killer or a child killer."
George Bush is a serial killer and a child killer.
Anyone who favors the death penalty better be damned sure the system works "beyond a reasonable doubt." In the case of Troy Davis we have reasonable doubt, but a legal system, including the Supreme Court, that has adopted a Bush attitude of petulance: "I can do anything I want. See, I'm the Decider."
Damn the torpedoes!
Kablooey...
-30-
Barack Obama could probably help stop this atrocity.
Only one problem: he favors the death penalty
Barack Obama was for single payer before he came out against it.
How sad that the government is willing to put someone to death without any concrete evidence. It's like someone has to pay for the death of a white policeman and they've chosen a probably innocent black man. It's similar to what happened to Native-American Leonard Peltier, only he wasn't executed. There was no concrete evidence that he was guilty, either, and he got a life sentence anyway. The death penalty is barbaric. I might change my mind, however, if it were a serial killer or a child killer. Troy Davis came from a stable home and doesn't look like a thug at all.
Maybe Governor Sonny Perdue will do the right thing and commute the death sentence.
Yeah, I know it's the South, but maybe Governor Perdue will do the right thing anyway.
The criminal justice system is corrupt, looking for people to fill it's prisons and justify its existence. The prison industry, the prison guard industry, the slave labor of the prisoners, all signs of a deeply sick society. End slavery in America: http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/18663 The prison system is partly about removing voters from democracy. The prison system is about institutionalized racism. The 'justice' system is about persecuting some recreational drug users: http://stopthedrugwar.org/ ... http://solari.com/articles/scoop_narco_dummies.htm Wall Street profiteering has really screwed up society and the justice system. The revolving door between government and corporations is a good place to look for the corporate criminals. http://CorpWatch.org ... http://CorporateCrimeReporter.com
Court Issues a Stay of the Execution:
http://www.ajc.com/services/content/metro/stories/2008/10/24/troy_davis_stay.html
This execution is outrageous beyond description. Execution is barbaric in MOST cases. As humans, one would think we had evolved further by now; most European nations have taken the wiser path. This is a case in which the system overrides justice. May all the judges and jurors involved sleep well and find a way to live with their conscience and forgive themselves their lack of compassion.
You are totally right. Execution is barbaric. We have no right to take another's life. The US is backwards in this regard. Like you said, European nations have evolved upwards from this while the US remains barbaric in its prison system.
I also feel that if Troy Davis was white, he wouldn't even be in this predicament.
No doubt. I can't remember this ever happening to a white man, although I'm sure it has. Let us hope this new stay leads somewhere. Keep up the pressure. We may see some form of justice yet!
Guilty before proven Innocent. This is an issue that has gone unaddressed for far too long. People seem to have an unconditional faith in our justice system, and politicians never bring it up. People don't seem to care that innocent people are being put to death and put to jail for life. They think it's only a few people, but it's not, and had they been put into that situation, they would feel a lot different.
We need to end the death penalty.
The death of Troy Daivis can be squrely laid on the soul of Democrat Clinton's "Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penaly Act". This requires that the beureaucratic procedures of the US State's deeply flawed criminal justice system must trump any exonerating evidence.
When will the USA join the civilized world and abolish the death penalty altogether?