The Troy Davis Murder

[Nbadan]

What else can you call it when someone is executed and there is reasonable doubt?


ATLANTA (CNN) -- Only the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles stood between life and death for Troy Anthony Davis, and the core principles of American jurisprudence should have been the board's guide. But the board ignored those principles in denying Davis clemency.

Davis was convicted in 1991 of the 1989 murder of Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail. But the trial included no physical evidence to support his conviction. The prosecution produced no murder weapon, no DNA evidence and no surveillance tapes.

He was sentenced to death on the basis of nine so-called eyewitnesses, who testified in the trial. Seven of those witnesses, however, have since recanted or materially changed their stories. The jury, for instance, relied on two people who did not witness the crime but who testified that Davis had confessed to the shooting. Since then, both have said they were lying.

The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles declared in 2007 that it "will not allow an execution to proceed in this state unless and until its members are convinced that there is no doubt as to the guilt of the accused."

And in the Davis case, a significant measure of doubt remained.

The U.S. Supreme Court took the extraordinary step of ordering a lower court to conduct an evidentiary hearing in the case because of the witness recantations and the absence of hard evidence. But in that hearing, the federal judge established a much higher standard of proof than the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles. After finding -- astonishingly for the first time -- that executing an innocent man is unconstitutional, the court then required Davis to prove that he was innocent.

Proving innocence is far more difficult than establishing doubts as to one's guilt and flips our system of criminal jurisprudence on its head. Instead of the American system's presumption of innocence and a requirement that the state prove guilt, Davis' evidentiary hearing began with the court presuming guilt and required the condemned to prove his innocence.

Even though the judge in the evidentiary hearing denied Davis a new trial, he conceded the standard was "extraordinarily high."

Davis was unable to meet this nearly insurmountable task. But while he fell short of "proving" his innocence, he established doubts as to his guilt, prompting the judge to concede the state's case against him was "not ironclad."

I support the death penalty, and have for a long time. And I am not making a judgment as to whether Davis is guilty or innocent. But surely the citizens of Savannah and the state of Georgia want justice served on behalf of MacPhail, the police officer.

Imposing a death sentence on the skimpiest of evidence does not serve the interest of justice. The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles did not honor the standards of justice on which all Americans depend by granting clemency. In doing so, it will allow a man to be executed when we cannot be assured of his guilt.

That was the final admirable principle standing between Davis and his scheduled death by lethal injection Wednesday. And the parole board did not uphold it.

Live (http://www.11alive.com/news/article/206258/3/Barr-Ruling-to-execute-Troy-Davis-violates-core-principles)

"I did not personally kill your son, father, brother. I am innocent." -- Troy Davis to victim's family just before execution

"May God have mercy on your souls. May God bless your souls."

http://twitter.com/#!/thinkprogress

[Nbadan]

Let's look at some comments from the Fox News site..

http://www.newshounds.us/troydavis1.jpg

[Nbadan]

http://www.newshounds.us/troydavis2.jpg

[Nbadan]

http://www.newshounds.us/troydavis3.jpg

[Nbadan]

http://www.newshounds.us/troydavis5.jpg

[Nbadan]

http://www.newshounds.us/troydavis22.jpg

[The_Worlds_finest]

From wiki...

In the early morning of August 20, 1989, the Savannah police, suspecting Davis and seeking a murder weapon, converged on the Davis home. Having sealed off the area, the police searched the house, and a pair of shorts belonging to Davis were found in a dryer and confiscated.

A neighbor of the Davis family, Jeffrey Sapp, testified that soon after the murder Davis had confessed to him.

The jury, composed of seven blacks and five whites.
"Spare my life. Just give me a second chance. That's all I ask." He told jurors he was convicted for "offenses I didn't commit."

Kevin McQueen, a former fellow prisoner, testified that Davis had confessed to shooting MacPhail

Hes dead now and good riddance

[The_Worlds_finest]

even on his last statement was a lie

"....... I did not have a gun........"

[Nbadan]

It's pretty clear the eye witnesses testimony, the primary basis for his conviction, did not stand up to the test of time in this case..


He was sentenced to death on the basis of nine so-called eyewitnesses, who testified in the trial. Seven of those witnesses, however, have since recanted or materially changed their stories. The jury, for instance, relied on two people who did not witness the crime but who testified that Davis had confessed to the shooting. Since then, both have said they were lying.

[The_Worlds_finest]

have you even taken the 15 minutes to read background of the story?

[Wild Cobra]

How many of those did you post Dan?

[Stringer_Bell]

The case is certainly worth a look into at the very least...dude never asked to get out, just get life while people try to clear his name. I wonder what evidence was on those pants the Judge threw out because the cops didn't have a search warrant when they got into his mama's house. Guess we'll never know.

[boutons_deux]

an accused n!gg@ in Georgia?

less chance than a snowball in hell.

[Crookshanks]

Cop killer is media's latest baby seal

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: September 21, 2011
5:15 pm Eastern

© 2011

For decades, liberals tried persuading Americans to abolish the death penalty, using their usual argument: hysterical sobbing.

Only when the media began lying about innocent people being executed did support for the death penalty begin to waver, falling from 80 percent to about 60 percent in a little more than a decade. (Silver lining: That's still more Americans than believe in manmade global warming.)

Fifty-nine percent of Americans now believe that an innocent man has been executed in the last five years. There is more credible evidence that space aliens have walked among us than that an innocent person has been executed in this country in the past 60 years, much less the past five years.

But unless members of the public are going to personally review trial transcripts in every death penalty case, they have no way of knowing the truth. The media certainly won't tell them.

It's nearly impossible to receive a death sentence these days – unless you do something completely crazy like shoot a cop in full view of dozens of witnesses in a Burger King parking lot, only a few hours after shooting at a passing car while exiting a party.

That's what Troy Davis did in August 1989. Davis is the media's current baby seal of death row.

After a two-week trial with 34 witnesses for the state and six witnesses for the defense, the jury of seven blacks and five whites took less than two hours to convict Davis of Officer Mark MacPhail's murder, as well as various other crimes. Two days later, the jury sentenced Davis to death.

Now, a brisk 22 years after Davis murdered Officer MacPhail, his sentence will finally be administered this week – barring any more of the legal shenanigans that have kept taxpayers on the hook for Davis' room and board for the past two decades.

(The average time on death row is 14 years. Then liberals turn around and triumphantly claim the death penalty doesn't have any noticeable deterrent effect. As the kids say: Duh.)

It has been claimed – in the New York Times and Time magazine, for example – that there was no "physical evidence" connecting Davis to the crimes that night.

Davis pulled out a gun and shot two strangers in public. What "physical evidence" were they expecting? No houses were broken into, no cars stolen, no rapes or fistfights accompanied the shootings. Where exactly would you look for DNA? And to prove what?

I suppose it would be nice if the shell casings from both shootings that night matched. Oh wait – they did. That's "physical evidence."

It's true that the bulk of the evidence against Davis was eyewitness testimony. That tends to happen when you shoot someone in a busy Burger King parking lot.

Eyewitness testimony, like all evidence tending to show guilt, has gotten a bad name recently, but the "eyewitness" testimony in this case did not consist simply of strangers trying to distinguish one tall black man from another. For one thing, several of the eyewitnesses knew Davis personally.

The bulk of the eyewitness testimony established the following:

Two tall, young black men were harassing a vagrant in the Burger King parking lot, one in a yellow shirt and the other in a white Batman shirt. The one in the white shirt used a brown revolver to pistol-whip the vagrant. When a cop yelled at them to stop, the man in the white shirt ran, then wheeled around and shot the cop, walked over to his body and shot him again, smiling.

Some eyewitnesses described the shooter as wearing a white shirt, some said it was a white shirt with writing, and some identified it specifically as a white Batman shirt. Not one witness said the man in the yellow shirt pistol-whipped the vagrant or shot the cop.

Several of Davis' friends testified – without recantation – that he was the one in a white shirt. Several eyewitnesses, both acquaintances and strangers, specifically identified Davis as the one who shot Officer MacPhail.

Now the media claim that seven of the nine witnesses against Davis at trial have recanted.

First of all, the state presented 34 witnesses against Davis – not nine – which should give you some idea of how punctilious the media are about their facts in death penalty cases. Among the witnesses who did not recant a word of their testimony against Davis were three members of the Air Force, who saw the shooting from their van in the Burger King drive-in lane. The airman who saw events clearly enough to positively identify Davis as the shooter explained on cross-examination, "You don't forget someone that stands over and shoots someone."

Recanted testimony is the least believable evidence since it proves only that defense lawyers managed to pressure some witnesses to alter their testimony, conveniently after the trial has ended. Even criminal lobbyist Justice William Brennan ridiculed post-trial recantations.

Three recantations were from friends of Davis, making minor or completely unbelievable modifications to their trial testimony. For example, one said he was no longer sure he saw Davis shoot the cop, even though he was five feet away at the time. His remaining testimony still implicated Davis.

One alleged recantation, from the vagrant's girlfriend (since deceased), wasn't a recantation at all, but rather reiterated all relevant parts of her trial testimony, which included a direct identification of Davis as the shooter.

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.

With death penalty opponents so fixated on Davis' race – he's black – it ought to be noted that all the above witnesses are themselves African-American. The first man Davis shot in the car that night was African-American.

I notice that the people so anxious to return this sociopathic cop-killer to the street don't live in his neighborhood.

There's a reason more than a dozen courts have looked at Davis' case and refused to overturn his death sentence. He is as innocent as every other executed man since at least 1950, which is to say, guilty as hell.



Read more: Cop killer is media's latest baby seal http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=347317#ixzz1Yh8UuGOR

[101A]

Cop killer is media's latest baby seal

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: September 21, 2011
5:15 pm Eastern

© 2011

For decades, liberals tried persuading Americans to abolish the death penalty, using their usual argument: hysterical sobbing.

Only when the media began lying about innocent people being executed did support for the death penalty begin to waver, falling from 80 percent to about 60 percent in a little more than a decade. (Silver lining: That's still more Americans than believe in manmade global warming.)

Fifty-nine percent of Americans now believe that an innocent man has been executed in the last five years. There is more credible evidence that space aliens have walked among us than that an innocent person has been executed in this country in the past 60 years, much less the past five years.

But unless members of the public are going to personally review trial transcripts in every death penalty case, they have no way of knowing the truth. The media certainly won't tell them.

It's nearly impossible to receive a death sentence these days – unless you do something completely crazy like shoot a cop in full view of dozens of witnesses in a Burger King parking lot, only a few hours after shooting at a passing car while exiting a party.

That's what Troy Davis did in August 1989. Davis is the media's current baby seal of death row.

After a two-week trial with 34 witnesses for the state and six witnesses for the defense, the jury of seven blacks and five whites took less than two hours to convict Davis of Officer Mark MacPhail's murder, as well as various other crimes. Two days later, the jury sentenced Davis to death.

Now, a brisk 22 years after Davis murdered Officer MacPhail, his sentence will finally be administered this week – barring any more of the legal shenanigans that have kept taxpayers on the hook for Davis' room and board for the past two decades.

(The average time on death row is 14 years. Then liberals turn around and triumphantly claim the death penalty doesn't have any noticeable deterrent effect. As the kids say: Duh.)

It has been claimed – in the New York Times and Time magazine, for example – that there was no "physical evidence" connecting Davis to the crimes that night.

Davis pulled out a gun and shot two strangers in public. What "physical evidence" were they expecting? No houses were broken into, no cars stolen, no rapes or fistfights accompanied the shootings. Where exactly would you look for DNA? And to prove what?

I suppose it would be nice if the shell casings from both shootings that night matched. Oh wait – they did. That's "physical evidence."

It's true that the bulk of the evidence against Davis was eyewitness testimony. That tends to happen when you shoot someone in a busy Burger King parking lot.

Eyewitness testimony, like all evidence tending to show guilt, has gotten a bad name recently, but the "eyewitness" testimony in this case did not consist simply of strangers trying to distinguish one tall black man from another. For one thing, several of the eyewitnesses knew Davis personally.

The bulk of the eyewitness testimony established the following:

Two tall, young black men were harassing a vagrant in the Burger King parking lot, one in a yellow shirt and the other in a white Batman shirt. The one in the white shirt used a brown revolver to pistol-whip the vagrant. When a cop yelled at them to stop, the man in the white shirt ran, then wheeled around and shot the cop, walked over to his body and shot him again, smiling.

Some eyewitnesses described the shooter as wearing a white shirt, some said it was a white shirt with writing, and some identified it specifically as a white Batman shirt. Not one witness said the man in the yellow shirt pistol-whipped the vagrant or shot the cop.

Several of Davis' friends testified – without recantation – that he was the one in a white shirt. Several eyewitnesses, both acquaintances and strangers, specifically identified Davis as the one who shot Officer MacPhail.

Now the media claim that seven of the nine witnesses against Davis at trial have recanted.

First of all, the state presented 34 witnesses against Davis – not nine – which should give you some idea of how punctilious the media are about their facts in death penalty cases. Among the witnesses who did not recant a word of their testimony against Davis were three members of the Air Force, who saw the shooting from their van in the Burger King drive-in lane. The airman who saw events clearly enough to positively identify Davis as the shooter explained on cross-examination, "You don't forget someone that stands over and shoots someone."

Recanted testimony is the least believable evidence since it proves only that defense lawyers managed to pressure some witnesses to alter their testimony, conveniently after the trial has ended. Even criminal lobbyist Justice William Brennan ridiculed post-trial recantations.

Three recantations were from friends of Davis, making minor or completely unbelievable modifications to their trial testimony. For example, one said he was no longer sure he saw Davis shoot the cop, even though he was five feet away at the time. His remaining testimony still implicated Davis.

One alleged recantation, from the vagrant's girlfriend (since deceased), wasn't a recantation at all, but rather reiterated all relevant parts of her trial testimony, which included a direct identification of Davis as the shooter.

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.

With death penalty opponents so fixated on Davis' race – he's black – it ought to be noted that all the above witnesses are themselves African-American. The first man Davis shot in the car that night was African-American.

I notice that the people so anxious to return this sociopathic cop-killer to the street don't live in his neighborhood.

There's a reason more than a dozen courts have looked at Davis' case and refused to overturn his death sentence. He is as innocent as every other executed man since at least 1950, which is to say, guilty as hell.



Read more: Cop killer is media's latest baby seal http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=347317#ixzz1Yh8UuGOR

/thread

[101A]

He is as innocent as every other executed man since at least 1950, which is to say, guilty as hell

Cameron Todd Willingham has a pretty strong case against this statement, IMO.

[boutons_deux]

"He is as innocent as every other executed man since at least 1950"

YOU LIE that executions are 100% perfectly precise, without error, esp for executions of blacks in the South and red states.

[ChumpDumper]

lol Skeletor has reviewed every single death penalty case for the last 60 years.

[admiralsnackbar]

Cop killer is media's latest baby seal

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: September 21, 2011
5:15 pm Eastern

© 2011

For decades, liberals tried persuading Americans to abolish the death penalty, using their usual argument: hysterical sobbing.

Only when the media began lying about innocent people being executed did support for the death penalty begin to waver, falling from 80 percent to about 60 percent in a little more than a decade. (Silver lining: That's still more Americans than believe in manmade global warming.)

Fifty-nine percent of Americans now believe that an innocent man has been executed in the last five years. There is more credible evidence that space aliens have walked among us than that an innocent person has been executed in this country in the past 60 years, much less the past five years.

But unless members of the public are going to personally review trial transcripts in every death penalty case, they have no way of knowing the truth. The media certainly won't tell them.

It's nearly impossible to receive a death sentence these days – unless you do something completely crazy like shoot a cop in full view of dozens of witnesses in a Burger King parking lot, only a few hours after shooting at a passing car while exiting a party.

That's what Troy Davis did in August 1989. Davis is the media's current baby seal of death row.

After a two-week trial with 34 witnesses for the state and six witnesses for the defense, the jury of seven blacks and five whites took less than two hours to convict Davis of Officer Mark MacPhail's murder, as well as various other crimes. Two days later, the jury sentenced Davis to death.

Now, a brisk 22 years after Davis murdered Officer MacPhail, his sentence will finally be administered this week – barring any more of the legal shenanigans that have kept taxpayers on the hook for Davis' room and board for the past two decades.

(The average time on death row is 14 years. Then liberals turn around and triumphantly claim the death penalty doesn't have any noticeable deterrent effect. As the kids say: Duh.)

It has been claimed – in the New York Times and Time magazine, for example – that there was no "physical evidence" connecting Davis to the crimes that night.

Davis pulled out a gun and shot two strangers in public. What "physical evidence" were they expecting? No houses were broken into, no cars stolen, no rapes or fistfights accompanied the shootings. Where exactly would you look for DNA? And to prove what?

I suppose it would be nice if the shell casings from both shootings that night matched. Oh wait – they did. That's "physical evidence."

It's true that the bulk of the evidence against Davis was eyewitness testimony. That tends to happen when you shoot someone in a busy Burger King parking lot.

Eyewitness testimony, like all evidence tending to show guilt, has gotten a bad name recently, but the "eyewitness" testimony in this case did not consist simply of strangers trying to distinguish one tall black man from another. For one thing, several of the eyewitnesses knew Davis personally.

The bulk of the eyewitness testimony established the following:

Two tall, young black men were harassing a vagrant in the Burger King parking lot, one in a yellow shirt and the other in a white Batman shirt. The one in the white shirt used a brown revolver to pistol-whip the vagrant. When a cop yelled at them to stop, the man in the white shirt ran, then wheeled around and shot the cop, walked over to his body and shot him again, smiling.

Some eyewitnesses described the shooter as wearing a white shirt, some said it was a white shirt with writing, and some identified it specifically as a white Batman shirt. Not one witness said the man in the yellow shirt pistol-whipped the vagrant or shot the cop.

Several of Davis' friends testified – without recantation – that he was the one in a white shirt. Several eyewitnesses, both acquaintances and strangers, specifically identified Davis as the one who shot Officer MacPhail.

Now the media claim that seven of the nine witnesses against Davis at trial have recanted.

First of all, the state presented 34 witnesses against Davis – not nine – which should give you some idea of how punctilious the media are about their facts in death penalty cases. Among the witnesses who did not recant a word of their testimony against Davis were three members of the Air Force, who saw the shooting from their van in the Burger King drive-in lane. The airman who saw events clearly enough to positively identify Davis as the shooter explained on cross-examination, "You don't forget someone that stands over and shoots someone."

Recanted testimony is the least believable evidence since it proves only that defense lawyers managed to pressure some witnesses to alter their testimony, conveniently after the trial has ended. Even criminal lobbyist Justice William Brennan ridiculed post-trial recantations.

Three recantations were from friends of Davis, making minor or completely unbelievable modifications to their trial testimony. For example, one said he was no longer sure he saw Davis shoot the cop, even though he was five feet away at the time. His remaining testimony still implicated Davis.

One alleged recantation, from the vagrant's girlfriend (since deceased), wasn't a recantation at all, but rather reiterated all relevant parts of her trial testimony, which included a direct identification of Davis as the shooter.

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.

With death penalty opponents so fixated on Davis' race – he's black – it ought to be noted that all the above witnesses are themselves African-American. The first man Davis shot in the car that night was African-American.

I notice that the people so anxious to return this sociopathic cop-killer to the street don't live in his neighborhood.

There's a reason more than a dozen courts have looked at Davis' case and refused to overturn his death sentence. He is as innocent as every other executed man since at least 1950, which is to say, guilty as hell.



Read more: Cop killer is media's latest baby seal http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=347317#ixzz1Yh8UuGOR

Ah, yes... noted moral authority and legal scholar, Ann Coulter.

I can see why she finds fault with the legal opinion (http://m.ajc.com/opinion/should-davis-be-executed-1181530.html) of ex-TX fed. dist. judge and FBI director under Reagan, GHW Bush and Clinton. What the fuck would that bozo know, anyway?

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

Let's look at some comments from the Fox News site..

http://www.newshounds.us/troydavis1.jpg
:lol "nappybegone"



He is as innocent as every other executed man since at least 1950, which is to say, guilty as hell.
:lmao:lmao:lmao:lmao:lmao:lmao:lmao:lmao

[Nbadan]

A tale of two condemned men...

http://i.imgur.com/W2F4S.png

[BlackSwordsMan]

One less piece of shit in the world? Is that the difference? I don't get it he killed a cop.

[Nbadan]

One less piece of shit in the world? Is that the difference? I don't get it he killed a cop.

He was convicted on circumstantial evidence....most of which has been recanted...no physical evidence, no DNA evidence, no weapon....

[Yonivore]

He was convicted on circumstantial evidence....most of which has been recanted...no physical evidence, no DNA evidence, no weapon....
Shell casings at the scene conclusively matched to shell casings from another crime for which he was convicted.

Eyewitness testimony that he was the shooter...that wasn't recanted.

Eyewitness testimony, from several, that described the shirt worn by Davis.

Sister's convoluted story about how he came to be wearing the shirt identified by most eyewitnesses said was worn by the killer wasn't helpful either.

And, Crowe should be dead too.

[Yonivore]

One more thing.

Davis never argued he wasn't at the scene just that he wasn't the one, of the two thugs mugging the homeless guy, that pulled the trigger on the off-duty officer.

One of the two committed the murder. Nothing points to the other guy and, all Davis has is stuff trying to point away from him. He couldn't get rid of all the evidence.

[Nbadan]

Witness intimidation..


Darrell Collins, who had made an August 1989 police statement that he had seen Davis shoot at people in a car in Cloverdale and approaching MacPhail, recanted his statement under cross-examination by the defense, saying that he made the statement after threats by police with prison if he did not cooperate. He said in court that he had not seen Davis in possession of a gun or fire one

Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Davis_case)

[Nbadan]

A confession by a prosecution witness


The evidentiary hearing was held in June 2010, during which affidavits from several prosecution witnesses from the trial changing or recanting their previous testimony were presented. Some of the affidavits implicated one of the original prosecution witnesses, Sylvester "Redd" Coles, in the crime, and other affiants asserted they had been coerced by police. The State presented witnesses, including the police investigators and original prosecutors, denying coercion. Evidence that Coles had confessed to the killing was excluded as hearsay because Coles was not subpoenaed by the defense to rebut it.

[Yonivore]

Cole was the other thug, right?

[Nbadan]

Yes, Davis was no saint, but probably not a killer either, he was implicated by Coles, the likely shooter...


On the evening of August 19, Redd Coles went to the police. He told them that he had seen Davis with a .38-caliber gun, and that Davis had assaulted Young.[12][19] The same evening, Davis drove to Atlanta with his sister.[12][19] In the early morning of August 20, 1989, the Savannah police, suspecting Davis and seeking a murder weapon, converged on the Davis home. Having sealed off the area, the police searched the house, and a pair of shorts belonging to Davis were found in a dryer and confiscated.[20] Police issued a reward for information leading to Davis's arrest.[21] Davis's family began negotiating with police, motivated by concerns about his safety; local drug dealers were making death threats because the police dragnet seeking Davis had interrupted their business.[19][22] On August 23, 1989, Davis was driven back to Savannah by members of his family, where he surrendered to police

[Yonivore]

The prosecution had 34 witnesses.

There were two thugs that mugged the homeless guy. One was wearing a white shirt and one was wearing a yellow shirt.

Some of the 34 witnesses, who personally know Davis, said Davis was the guy in the white shirt that night. That testimony hasn't been recanted.

Some of the 34 witnesses, who witnessed the crime said the thug in the white shirt was the one that pistol-whipped the homeless guy and shot the police officer. That testimony hasn't been recanted.

None of the 34 witnesses, who witnessed the crime said the thug in the yellow shirt committed the crime. That testimony (or lack thereof) hasn't changed.

So, 7 of 34 witnesses recanted. That leaves 27 who didn't.

You can build quite a narrative over 22 years and, with celebrities and the media on your side, Nbadan can be convinced of things that simply aren't true.

[Yonivore]

And another thing.

Only 2 of the 7 recantations actually changed anything of importance and those affidavits were discounted because Davis (through his attorney) refused to allow the affiants to testify at the post-trial hearing, even though one was at the courthouse, ready to appear.

The court warned Davis his refusal to call his only two genuinely recanting witnesses would make their affidavits worthless. Davis still refused to call them -- suggesting their lawyer-drafted affidavits, recanting on previous testimony, would not have held up under cross-examination.

[Yonivore]

One final thought.

You posted the pictures of two killers and asked what was the difference; as if to say it made a difference Davis is black.

All 34 prosecution witnesses that sent Davis to the death chamber are black.

[Crookshanks]

Davis was another Mumia - a cop killer who caught the attention and sympathy of hollywood celebrities. Doesn't change the facts that both were cop killers and both of them should be dead.

[Nbadan]

Or, he was really innocent.....Davis didn't want to be set free...he just wanted a chance to proof he didn't kill anyone.....

...God Have mercy on our souls if he was innocent...

[ElNono]

I'm personally against the death penalty in general, unless it's an absolutely clear cut case (like that white supremacist that was executed the same day).

It just takes one fellow (and there's been more than one) that was exonerated due to new testing methods (like DNA) to realize that huge mistakes do happen, in something where mistakes should never happen.

It has nothing to do with whether this guy was guilty or not (I personally think he was). But I think there was enough doubt to at the very least lock him in for life and see if during that period some new information developed.

[admiralsnackbar]

One more thing.

Davis never argued he wasn't at the scene just that he wasn't the one, of the two thugs mugging the homeless guy, that pulled the trigger on the off-duty officer.

One of the two committed the murder. Nothing points to the other guy and, all Davis has is stuff trying to point away from him. He couldn't get rid of all the evidence.
So much for the shadow of my doubt.

Kill him again, I say.

[johnsmith]

I find it funny that Dan has never mentioned this case in the history of his posting on spurstalk, but now it's very important to him.

[hitmanyr2k]

Not everyone is getting the Troy Davis treatment....

Judges rule Asheville men convicted of murder are innocent
http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20110923/NEWS/309230039/Judges-rule-men-convicted-murder-innocent?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Frontpage|s


The panel ordered both men set free — almost 11 years after being jailed for a killing in which they had no part. Their decision marked only the second case in North Carolina in which convictions were overturned under a law that created the N.C. Innocence Inquiry Commission in 2006.

Kagonyera and Wilcoxson pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Bowman’s slaying but later said they were under intense pressure from prosecutors, investigators, family members and their own attorneys for fear they could spend life in prison or be sentenced to death.

To think if these guys stood strong on their innocence with a "not guilty" plea and lost that case they could have been sitting on death row right now for no reason. All because of law enforcement holding back evidence that could have exonerated them from the start.

[Nbadan]

And another thing.

Only 2 of the 7 recantations actually changed anything of importance and those affidavits were discounted because Davis (through his attorney) refused to allow the affiants to testify at the post-trial hearing, even though one was at the courthouse, ready to appear.

The court warned Davis his refusal to call his only two genuinely recanting witnesses would make their affidavits worthless. Davis still refused to call them -- suggesting their lawyer-drafted affidavits, recanting on previous testimony, would not have held up under cross-examination.

Exactly, one of the reasons many people think Davis deserved more time to prove his case is because he was so poorly defended by a public defender in his trial and in his appeal process...there was no physical evidence that proved Davis was the trigger man...no shirt, no shorts, no gun no DNA...eye-witness testimony is among the poorest evidence you could have...witnesses can be and very often are wrong...death is a final sentence and should be applied only in cases where there is no doubt that the convict committed the murder or murders...in this case, I don't think that tough standard was met and that cheapens the whole death penalty process...

[Nbadan]

I find it funny that Dan has never mentioned this case in the history of his posting on spurstalk, but now it's very important to him.

Killing a possibly innocent man doesn't bother you?

No surprise there really.

[Yonivore]

Killing a possibly innocent man doesn't bother you?

No surprise there really.
There's no possibility Davis was innocent of this crime.

[The_Worlds_finest]

There's no possibility Davis was innocent of this crime.

which is why the supreme court put him to sleep like the dog he is....NEXT!

[The_Worlds_finest]

Why does it go clear over their heads that only 2 people could have shot the cop? davis or his other standup accomplice collins? 50/50% chance if the evidence pointed at collins then all these assclowns would be saying he "could be innocent"!

[johnsmith]

Killing a possibly innocent man doesn't bother you?

No surprise there really.

:rollin Possibly the weakest "spin" on my comment you've ever made.


What really bothers me Dan, is you coming on this website for just less than a decade and pretendting like the hot button issue of the day is really important to you. You haven't mentioned this case prior to NBC telling you to worry about it and you won't mention it again beyond this.

For being such an "outside the box" thinker, you sure worry about exactly what the media tells you to worry about.

[Yonivore]

What really bothers me Dan, is you coming on this website for just less than a decade and pretendting like the hot button issue of the day is really important to you.
C'mon, to be fair to Dan, isn't that all this forum is about?

There are very few, if any, threads started by original thought or due to personal experience.

[Stringer_Bell]

I dunno bros, seems to me that Davis was put to death without enough evidence IMO. Sure, we have the occassional Negro that captures attention from Hollywood or Amnesty International that makes everyone feel like a big injustice is done...so I get why some people still wanna kill the man out of spite for Hollywood and Non-governmental organizations.

All the dude asked for was life until he can prove his innocence, seems fair to me when there's so much doubt about whether he deserved death when other white people sit comfortably in jail having done much worse shit with far more evidence.

[Nbadan]

Amy Goodman's piece on Davis...


The chorus for clemency grew louder. Allen Ault, a former warden of Georgia’s death row prison who oversaw five executions there, sent a letter to Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, co-signed by five other retired wardens or directors of state prisons. They wrote: “While most of the prisoners whose executions we participated in accepted responsibility for the crimes for which they were punished, some of us have also executed prisoners who maintained their innocence until the end. It is those cases that are most haunting to an executioner.”

...

The eyewitnesses to the execution stepped out. According to an Associated Press reporter who was there, these were Troy Davis’ final words: “I’d like to address the MacPhail family. Let you know, despite the situation you are in, I’m not the one who personally killed your son, your father, your brother. I am innocent. The incident that happened that night is not my fault. I did not have a gun. All I can ask ... is that you look deeper into this case so that you really can finally see the truth. I ask my family and friends to continue to fight this fight. For those about to take my life, God have mercy on your souls. And may God bless your souls.”

The state of Georgia took Davis’ body to Atlanta for an autopsy, charging his family for the transportation. On Troy Davis’ death certificate, the cause of death is listed simply as “homicide.”

Truthdig (http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/troy_davis_and_the_machinery_of_death_20110927)

god have mercy on their souls indeed...

[Yonivore]

Amy Goodman's piece on Davis...

Truthdig (http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/troy_davis_and_the_machinery_of_death_20110927)

god have mercy on their souls indeed...
What does any of that have to do with his guilt?

Let's see, you have wardens bothered by murderers who refuse to accept responsibility for their actions. Nope, doesn't say anything Davis being innocent or guilty.

Hmmmm....Davis, himself, in his last words claiming to be innocent. That never happens! Oh wait, it does.

The charged his family for transportation to the medical examiners office. I'm sure Georgians have paid enough for his crimes. Let the family that raised that vermin pick up some of the tab.

He is guilty.