Troy Davis Execution Stay Denied
Moments ago, Troy Davis was killed in Georgia for the murder of Mark MacPhail, a Savannah police officer (pictured). Late tonight the Supreme Court of the United States denied a request for a stay of execution.
MacPhail was moonlighting as a security guard when he came to the aid of a homeless man who was being pistol whipped. For this, he was shot in the head and heart and he died, leaving behind a young wife, a toddler and a newborn son. That was over 20 years ago.
Opponents -- and even some supporters -- of the death penalty had attempted to reverse the punishment levied for this crime. They said that there is too much uncertainty as to Davis' guilt. This relates to how eyewitness testimony has changed over the decades since the killing.
I myself am not a strong supporter of the death penalty. I do believe that the state has the right to execute murderers but I worry about how it's carried out in practice. Executing an innocent man would be a horrible injustice.
In this particular case, I have no doubt about his guilt. The 20 years of appeals plus a new evidentiary hearing last year were more than most people on death row get. But I'm curious what Ricocheters think about this case as well as the death penalty in general.
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Jul '10
Re: Troy Davis Execution Stay Denied
I'm not familiar with this case, but here's one I bet We All remember.
Jul '10
Re: Troy Davis Execution Stay Denied
I have no qualms about the execution of murderers. Justice was finally served.
May '11
Re: Troy Davis Execution Stay Denied
Unfortunately mistakes have and will be made regarding the death penalty. That being said, it is a price to be paid to help protect each of us.
Thomas Sowell made a good point about it here. Clear thinking at its best.
Oct '10
Re: Troy Davis Execution Stay Denied
From the initial trial the decision met all standards. As to the question of the validity testimony degrading over time is a moot point and a simple tool.
Provided all information in a case is evident as well as the smoking gun, one has no problem with the death penalty.
Dec '10
Re: Troy Davis Execution Stay Denied
I'd have a lot more sympathy for the anti-death-penalty activists except for 2 things:
(1) They always wait until the 11th hour to pull this. Probably because:
(2) Every article arguing that some condemned prisoner shouldn't be executed is full of lies, deception and omission. Every single one.
They think they can get people excited over it based on little information that's never subject to scrutiny.
Ann Coulter has a rather fact-packed essay on the subject. Granted, it's not long enough to address the whole case, but from the dog-that-didn't-bark department:
"Only two of the seven alleged "recantations" (out of 34 witnesses) actually recanted anything of value -- and those two affidavits were discounted by the court because Davis refused to allow the affiants to testify at the post-trial evidentiary hearing, even though one was seated right outside the courtroom, waiting to appear.
"The court specifically warned Davis that his refusal to call his only two genuinely recanting witnesses would make their affidavits worthless. But Davis still refused to call them -- suggesting, as the court said, that their lawyer-drafted affidavits would not have held up under cross-examination."
May '10
Re: Troy Davis Execution Stay Denied
Thank you for linking to this excellent article. Here's how Sowell ends it:
"As so often in life, there is no real "solution" with a happy ending. There is only a trade-off. Those who cannot bring themselves to face trade-offs in general are of course unable to face this most painful of all trade-offs. But they have no right to consider their hand-wringing as higher morality. People are being murdered while they are wringing their hands."
May '10
Re: Troy Davis Execution Stay Denied
You have to frame this debate in terms that a liberal can understand:
Tonight, the State of Georgia, exercising its free choice not to bring its imprisonment to full term, aborted Troy Davis from the Georgia Diagnostic Prison.
It's not a prisoner, it was just a choice, ok?
Jan '11
Re: Troy Davis Execution Stay Denied
Basically, the social compact (or contract) is a generally agreed upon set of rules for maintaining order and safety within a social system. There are degrees of noncompliance with the rules, but life is one's most precious possession. If a person takes a life in purposeful way, a way which could have been avoided had he or she complied with the social compact, it seems to me to the most egregious human act possible. What should be the consequences of such an act in a practical, moral, and justicial sense? Why shouldn't a perpetrator of the most egregiousness violation of the social compact not pay with his life? What are the mitigating factors which serve practical, moral, and judicial ends?
Mar '11
Re: Troy Davis Execution Stay Denied
(1) Mr. Davis had more "due process" (hearings, briefs filed, appeals, etc) than likely contemplated by the 14th Amendment. None of them supports his assertion that he was wrongfully convicted.
(2) The prosecutor and defense attorney have different ethical obligations. If the prosecutor lacks probable cause to believe the defendant committed the offense, she must dismiss the case. The defense attorney has no equivalent obligation. He may argue anything to the court that helps his zealously advocate for his client.
(3) The death penalty isn't doled out easily. In my state as in others states, there are aggravating factors that the jury must find in order to recommend the death penalty. This case was heavy on aggravating factors. As a prosecutor, I have the utmost respect for officers. They are a different breed and I am honored to work with them.
Re: Troy Davis Execution Stay Denied
I'm incoherent on this issue. I have no objection to the death penalty, but I do think that 40 years behind bars is a greater punishment than a tranquilized quietus. I would prefer that murderers spend a long, empty, vacant life in a cell rather than get a fast jab that slides them into oblivion. No TV, maybe a book on odd-numbered years, a 30-watt bulb burning night and day in the cell - but you'll never have a prison system that lets them rot, because that would be inhumane.
Child killers, on the other hand, should be shot - frequently, until it has the desired effect. Someone in my twitter feed said he wondered what the effect on public opinion might be if executions were televised; I'm more interested on the effect of child predators if they saw men who shared their enthusiasms drawn and quartered.
Aug '11
Re: Troy Davis Execution Stay Denied
When does cop-killer Mumia abu Jamal get his turn? It's been 30 years that he's been a martyr of the radical Left and, for a time, a commentator on National Public Radio.
Oct '10
Re: Troy Davis Execution Stay Denied
Within the mix of compacts, both social and family, there are additional issues to consider in the metting out of justice. As an example, one was made privy to a story of a fellow we will call, Uncle Charlie. Seems Uncle Charlie was rather fond of his relatives children. When the menfolk became aware, they took Charlie out behind the barn. Charlie lost interest in children.
In another case, there was a fellow that became far to familiar with the local kids. When this came to light, he was found to have given himself to suicide in a manner most unusual. Truly impossible in fact, yet the Police took one look and agreed with the outcome.
It always seems simple to debate the outcomes of evil deeds until the toes stepped on are closer to home.
Just where does the trust and actions of the legal system fail the victims and families ? Any Takers ?
Nov '10
Re: Troy Davis Execution Stay Denied
Mumia’s death sentence was overturned by the 3rd Circuit in April, so he won’t be getting what he richly deserves unless the Supreme Court reinstates it.
Those who oppose the death penalty must not, to my mind, understand the nature of evil and appreciate how a heinous criminal killing can impact the loved ones of the victim. The victim is gone and it is easy to focus on the killer and forget the suffering of the victim and his or her family.
A woman once told me she was against the death penalty until her brother was murdered. That changed her mind. I ask her why she didn’t change her mind when other people’s brothers were being murdered. It all depends on whose loved one is being murdered, I guess. At least with some people.
Oct '10
Re: Troy Davis Execution Stay Denied
James Lileks: I'm incoherent on this issue. I have no objection to the death penalty, but I do think that 40 years behind bars is a greater punishment than a tranquilized quietus. I would prefer that murderers spend a long, empty, vacant life in a cell rather than get a fast jab that slides them into oblivion. No TV, maybe a book on odd-numbered years, a 30-watt bulb burning night and day in the cell - but you'll never have a prison system that lets them rot, because that would be inhumane.
Child killers, on the other hand, should be shot - frequently, until it has the desired effect. Someone in my twitter feed said he wondered what the effect on public opinion might be if executions were televised; I'm more interested on the effect of child predators if they saw men who shared their enthusiasms drawn and quartered. · Sep 21 at 9:45pm
Comparing child predators to even serial killers is an apples and oranges thing.
There is a compulsion to those that prey on children that the threat of castration or grand displays of body parts will not curtail the desire. Grim, yet sadly true.
Oct '10
Re: Troy Davis Execution Stay Denied
While we are on the subject of extended stays for the duly convicted on Death Row.
Have to put this in the context of Spending Other Peoples Money that even any conservative should take to heart when blaming the Left for the same.
No offence intended.
Jun '10
Re: Troy Davis Execution Stay Denied
There are very good reasons for having the death penalty, but I don't think justice was served here. Given the sloppy history of even fairly recent Georgia capital cases, our horrific public defense system, the recanted testimony of seven of the nine key witnesses in this case, and the lack of evidence, it's very possible that my state killed an innocent man tonight. I'm deeply troubled by that.
Mar '11
Re: Troy Davis Execution Stay Denied
I think we use the death penalty much too infrequently. I really don't understand society's guilt trip over ridding itself of parasites and predators, at least in cases where the guilt is well established. It would also be much less expensive if we could eliminate the endless appeals and legal fees associated with it. As James Lileks implies, death is really a much less oppressive punishment than life in prison. If one believes in ultimate justice being meted out in the afterlife or merely oblivion it seems to me that either would be preferable to a meaningless life in prison.
Apr '11
Re: Troy Davis Execution Stay Denied
"all mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated; God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice; but God's hand is in every translation, and his hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again for that library where every book shall lie open to one another."
Donne, John Devotions Upon Emergent Occasion
I believe that because of the great redemptive cost to God for each of our soles, our lives have infinite worth, even the condemned. Not defending the infinite worth of one innocent life from being diminished by murder is the only true immoral act we should be troubled by.
Dec '10
Re: Troy Davis Execution Stay Denied
I think you've been reading too many anti-DP sources. As I said above, every mainstream article about any death penalty case is fraught with lies, mischaracterizations and omissions.
As I pointed out, there weren't 7 of 9 recantations but there were 34 witnesses, the defense claims that 7 recanted. In fact, only 2 recanted anything of substance and Davis wouldn't let them testify at the post-evidentary hearing.
Davis isn't "innocent". It's only in the sense that the Supreme Court has ruled that the felony-murder rule is insufficient to carry the death penalty. For all other penalties, even the anti-DP advocates acknowledge he's guilty.
Edited on Sep 21, 2011 at 11:58pmJun '10
Re: Troy Davis Execution Stay Denied
AmishDude
I think you've been reading too many anti-DP sources. As I said above, every mainstream article about any death penalty case is fraught with lies, mischaracterizations and omissions.
As I pointed out, there weren't 7 of 9 recantations but there were 34 witnesses, the defense claims that 7 recanted. In fact, only 2 recanted anything of substance and Davis wouldn't let them testify at the post-evidentary hearing.
Davis isn't "innocent". It's only in the sense that the Supreme Court has ruled that being an accessory to a Felony Murder cannot carry the death penalty. For all other penalties, even the anti-DP advocates acknowledge he's guilty. · Sep 21 at 11:26pm
Actually, I'm associates with one of the attorneys who worked on researching his penultimate appeal. That "7 of 9" number comes from key witnesses, not folks who maybe saw a shadow of something, or heard a voice, or whatever else. The magic nine were the individuals who positively identified Troy Davis, and around who's testimony the prosecution built their case. He would most likely not have been convicted without them, and they recanted. That's wrong.