Troy Anthony Davis-Georgia-9/21/2011

[Russki]

I was convinced that he would get a stay. I woke this morning to hear the news channels screaming about how the USA has executed an innocent man. Almost put me off my bacon.

[0000]

I was convinced that he would get a stay. I woke this morning to hear the news channels screaming about how the USA has executed an innocent man. Almost put me off my bacon.

I didn't believe they would actually do it either. I'm actually quite shocked that this case has come to some sort of conclusion!

[JoeGuru]

You have to step back from it and look at how many reasonable people reviewed it.  Though they won in the court of public opinion, nobody really took time to read the facts of the case.

Finally, when they had their "n'th" day in court, the produced no "recanted" witnesses to be cross-examined.  It turned out they had no new evidence.  There was no smoking gun miscarriage of justice.

All they had in the end was innuendo and a worldwide press willing to parrot their spiel.

There's no doubt in my mind that we'll eventually do away with the death penalty again (remember: we've done away with it before).  It won't be because we've executed a blatantly innocent person--it will be because someone really wins big in the court of public opinion and media relations.

[leopard32]

I am so glad that for once the anti's have lost.  The whole of their case seemed to be "froth and bubble".  As Joe says above, "when they had their "n'th" day in court, the produced no "recanted" witnesses to be cross-examined.  It turned out they had no new evidence.  There was no smoking gun miscarriage of justice.  All they had in the end was innuendo and a worldwide press willing to parrot their spiel."

Well done Georgia for not giving into all the pressure!

[ICE75]

Bravo Georgia!  I thought my beloved state lost it's balls years ago when we knuckled under and took the Stars and Bars off of our flag. I'm glad to see that Georgia 'manned up' under the tremendous pressure that this scumbag and his followers put up! 

To close out this fool though, I never had any doubt thst Troy did it. Not just because all of the evidence, but also because that was just the type of guy he was. He was the guy who you would see intimidating kids in the halls of high school. He was the guy who achieved notoriety by being being physical having others fear him. He was infamous, not well known. He was the guy that when you heard it was him who was wanted for executing a police officer that you weren't shocked and wonder if it could possibly be. All of Savannah heard that he had fled to Atlanta and for most of us, we thought that IF he was ever caught it would only be after a shoot out or a last stand.  That's just what you expected from him if you had ever observed him in a controlled environment (like a school) for awhile. He really did live up to RAH, well, at least during his running years and he could've kept up that RAH demeanor had he sacked up and told us all to eat shit, that he murdered that police officer and we could all go to hell but he wasn't man enough to be RAH anymore last night, it seems.  He could've even been RAH had he simply admitted that he did it and apologized to the wife and son but he didn't.  He punked out and whined...and lied, just like the rest of them last night and didn't own up to his crime or give the victim's what I feel would've been full closure. 

Scumbag...

[Metfan62]

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Troy Anthony Davis, who maintained his innocence until the end, was executed late Wednesday night after the nation’s highest court rejected his final appeal.
 

.
Georgia Department of Corrections Troy Davis, 42, was put to death for the 1989 murder of off-duty Savannah Police Officer Mark Allen MacPhail.






 . Davis, 42, was declared dead at 11:08 p.m., but his execution did not put to rest widespread doubts about whether he committed the crime for which he was punished – the 1989 murder of off-duty Savannah Police Officer Mark Allen MacPhail, a father of two young children and a former Army Ranger. His death-penalty case was one of the most bitterly contested and controversial in Georgia history.
 
Strapped to the lethal-injection gurney, Davis lifted his head and looked at the MacPhail family, and said, "The incident that night was not my fault, I did not have a gun. ... I did not personally kill your son, father and brother. I am innocent."
 
He then said for "those about to take my life, may God have mercy on your souls, may God bless your souls."
 
When Davis addressed members of the MacPhail family who witnessed the execution, they said nothing, but did not look away.
 
MacPhail’s family and the prosecutors who put Davis on death row steadfastly stood behind Davis’ conviction as his innocence claims attracted worldwide attention and the calls from dignitaries and celebrities for Davis to be spared. But while Davis may have made thousands wonder if he was a true cop killer, he could not convince the justice system to halt his execution.
 
"I'm not joyous," MacPhail's mother, Anneliese MacPhail, said. "I'm feeling a little bit relieved. It has been a long, long battle. I'd like to close the book."
 
Brian Kammer, one of Davis' lawyers, said the state may have executed an innocent man. "I think Georgia has shamed itself in a very profound way by failing to err on the side of life when there is meaningful, significant doubt," he said.
 
This was the fourth time Davis faced execution. On the three prior occasions, he received stays. But a succession of court decisions issued Wednesday denied Davis' final bids.
 
The Georgia Supreme Court unanimously declined to stop the execution about two hours before it was to be carried out. Davis' scheduled 7 p.m. execution was put on hold for more than three hours as the U.S. Supreme Court considered his final bid.
 
The scene outside the state prison in Jackson was unlike any other in past executions. Television satellite trucks and media cars parked bumper to bumper. A crowd of death-penalty opponents swelling into the hundreds --  but dwindled at the evening wore on -- rallied outside and held vigils in an area set aside for them. A news conference organized by Amnesty International and the NAACP at a nearby church resembled a tent-revival meeting.
 
As the high court deliberated past the scheduled execution time, a dozen Georgia state troopers in riot gear raised tensions when they marched in military formation between protesters and other officers in paramilitary gear stationed just outside the prison. The troopers were met by choruses of “Shame on you” from the protesters.
 
Benjamin Jealous, head of the NAACP, predicted Davis’ case would be a “game-changer for the death-penalty debate” and make jurors more reluctant to send killers to death row for fear they might be making a mistake.
 
As the day wore on and Davis’ execution neared, he met with family members and friends. He declined the opportunity offered all condemned inmates to give a final, recorded statement. He was given a tray with a cheeseburger, potatoes, baked beans, coleslaw and cookies but did not eat a last meal, a prison spokeswoman said.
 
This week, Davis’ legal team mounted an aggressive effort to try and stop the execution. It first asked the state Board of Pardons and Paroles to grant Davis clemency, a request that was denied Tuesday.
 
The lawyers, joined by U.S. congressmen, former Department of Corrections officials and the Innocence Project, asked the parole board to reconsider. The board denied that as well.
 
Davis’ lawyers next asked the Department of Corrections to let Davis take a polygraph test, but they were rebuffed at the prison gate on Wednesday morning.
 
“We came here to try and prove Mr. Davis is innocent and unfortunately we were denied that opportunity by the Department of Corrections,” said Stephen Marsh, one of Davis’ lawyers, after he was turned away from the prison in Jackson, about 50 miles south of Atlanta.
 
Davis’ supporters even called for President Barack Obama to stop the execution, though only the state parole board or a court could do so. At a Monday news conference, White House spokesman Jay Carney, when asked about Davis’ case, declined to weigh in.
 
“Well, as you know, the president has written that he believes the death penalty does little to deter crime but that some crimes merit the ultimate punishment,” Carney said. He referred questions about the pending Davis execution to the U.S. Justice Department.
 
The case was one of the most popular topics throughout Wednesday on the social media Twitter site.
 
MacPhail, 27, was moonlighting on a security detail shortly after midnight on Aug. 19, 1989, when he rushed to help a homeless man who had cried out while he was pistol-whipped in a Burger King parking lot.
 
MacPhail was shot three times before he could draw his gun. One witness said the killer wore a “smirky-like smile” and stood over the fallen officer, firing again and again, including once in MacPhail’s face.
 
Sylvester “Redd” Coles, who accompanied Davis to the scene, was the first to implicate Davis to police. Other witnesses said they either saw Davis fire the fatal shots or identified Davis as the killer by the clothes he wore.
 
Davis was tried, convicted and sentenced to death during a 1991 trial.
 
In ensuing years, however, several key prosecution witnesses renounced or backed off their trial testimony, while others issued sworn statements that said Coles had told them he was the actual trigger man. Coles, once asked by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution about the accusations, declined to comment. At trial, he testified that he left the immediate crime scene before he heard shots fired.
 
The new testimony and evidence gained notoriety because the murder weapon was never found, and no DNA, fingerprint or blood evidence tied Davis to the killing. At least three jurors who sentenced Davis to death recently signed sworn statements that said they now had doubts about their verdicts and asked that Davis be spared execution.
 
People arrived outside the prison in buses, including some who accompanied Al Sharpton and his National Action Network from Atlanta.
 
A.C. Dumas traveled to Jackson from Flint, Mich., to rally support for Davis. “I think you have to correct the mistake — that is why you have erasures,” Dumas said. “This is a threat of injustice and needs to be corrected.”
 
Organized by Amnesty International and the NAACP, a news conference held at Towaligia County Line Baptist Church near the jail better resembled a tent revival meeting. Among the speakers were Big Boi of the musical group Outkast and Martina Correia, Davis’ eldest sibling, who has been the most outspoken champion of his cause.
 
The wheelchair-bound Correia, who is battling breast cancer, said she deeply believed in her brother’s innocence and contended his case should be reason for abolishing the death penalty. “Troy said this movement did not begin with him and will not end with him,” she said.
 
“I’m not here to say who is innocent or who is guilty, but, if you’re going to execute a man, you need to make sure he is 100-percent guilty,” said Big Boi, whose legal name is Antwan Patton and who was raised in Savannah. “There is too much doubt.”
 
About 400 Troy Davis supporters gathered in front of the state Capitol Wednesday night in a vigil calling for a stay of execution. Some carried “I Am Troy Davis” banners, held candles, sang and prayed.

[JeffB]

EDITORIAL: Davis execution: Justice prevails

Updated: September 22, 2011 - 12:57am

AN INNOCENT man was not executed Wednesday night by the state of Georgia.

Troy Anthony Davis, who died by lethal injection at the state prison in Jackson, was legally convicted and sentenced to death two decades ago for murdering a Savannah police officer. He had the benefit of appeal after appeal and an unprecedented opportunity to prove his innocence in open court.

Thus this case was not an example of justice run amok. It was an example of justice denied for a long time.

Unfortunately, the execution of Davis, 42, doesn’t right the most horrible of wrongs — the slaying of Police Officer Mark MacPhail, 27.

History must record that the officer, a husband and father, died a hero. He was shot to death on Aug. 19, 1989, while doing what good police officers instinctively do — rushing to help a man who was being beaten by thugs.

The MacPhail family has been to hell and back since that agonizing night. First they had their hearts ripped out when they lost a loved one. But that painful wound always remained fresh and open, as the details of the shooting were rehashed again and again and again with every Davis appeal.

Let’s hope that the family can start the healing process and begin to find closure. And peace.

Pray for them.

Likewise the Davis family has suffered. They have paid a price.

Pray for them as well.

And throw some prayers in the direction of the criminal justice system.

It needs them.

Although Amnesty International ultimately failed to save a convicted cop-killer’s life, it succeeded in one thing — keeping Davis alive for 20 years by preventing a legal sentence from being imposed.

As we’ve said before, it’s good that all death penalty cases get an automatic appeal. Once this sentence is imposed, there’s no looking back.

Davis and his legal team, which opposes all applications of the death penalty, spent the better part of the last 20 years trying to reverse the decision by a Chatham County jury. How? By discrediting the original testimony of witnesses who implicated Davis as the killer.

They did an excellent job at creating a smokescreen. They convinced many members of the media — along with others who don’t have time to plow through judge’s orders or court transcripts — that Davis was railroaded during his original trial.

But that wasn’t the case. There was smoke, but no fire.

Go back to that rare chance that Davis had last year to prove his innocence before a U.S. District Court judge in Savannah. The court looked at these so-called witness “recantations” that were the main tools used to pry Davis off Death Row and perhaps out of prison. What did it find?

Judge William Moore Jr. found that “of his seven ‘recantations,’ only one is a meaningful, credible recantation. (But) the value of that recantation is diminished because it only confirms that which was obvious at the trial — that its author was testifying falsely.

“Four of the remaining six recantations are either not credible or not true recantations,” the judge found. “The remaining two recantations were presented under the most suspicious of circumstances, with Mr. Davis intentionally preventing the validity of the recantation from being challenged in open court through cross examination.”

Facts are stubborn things. Death penalty foes are entitled to their opinions about capital punishment. But they aren’t entitled to treat manufactured “recantations” as proof that Davis got a raw deal. That’s disingenuous. It makes a mockery of the justice system.

Worse, it put families through prolonged agony.

There is no joy in the execution of Troy Davis. Instead, there’s mostly the feeling of weary finality, that a long, torturous journey is over. But in the end, justice prevailed. That counts for something.

Healthy debate can and should continue over the death penalty in Georgia and whether its application deters crime (clearly, it does not when 20 years elapse between sentencing and execution).

But there should be little question about how the late Troy Anthony Davis should be viewed. “Davis is not innocent,” Judge Moore wrote on Aug. 24, 2010. Case closed.

http://savannahnow.com/opinion/2011-09-21/editorial-davis-execution-justice-prevails#.TnrEAGPLq_I
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SPOT ON...

[JoeGuru]

I am so glad that for once the anti's have lost.

Hold that thought. 

Let me quote from The Atlanta Urinal-Constipation article:

Brian Kammer, one of Davis' lawyers, said the state may have executed an innocent man. "I think Georgia has shamed itself in a very profound way by failing to err on the side of life when there is meaningful, significant doubt," he said.

...went completely unchallenged; completely accepted as fact--same as it has time-and-time again.  If anyone bothered to read the facts of the case, they would conclude, like multiple courts and a jury did, there was no "significant doubt."

Here's the most accurate quote in the article.  Hands down.  Spot on:

Benjamin Jealous, head of the NAACP, predicted Davis’ case would be a “game-changer for the death-penalty debate” and make jurors more reluctant to send killers to death row for fear they might be making a mistake.

Which brings us back to our good friend Leopard's "hold that thought."  Leopard is 100% right.  The case was full of froth and bubble.  Other people (including courts) have used the phrase "smoke and mirrors."

Friends, the anti's have lost nothing.  Make no mistake: if they could have pushed the plunger on Davis themselves they would have.  He is worth much more to them dead--just like Cameron Todd Willingham.  Just like Hank Skinner will be.  They know this.

The froth, bubble, smoke, mirrors innuendo survives.  It will continue to be spread by the media as a gross miscarriage of justice--and, folks, it will continue to be unchallenged and accepted as fact.

Eventually the death penalty will be banned again; and a few years later, there will be some gruesome media-frenzied mass-murder of an innocent person that gets it restated--and the cycle will start all over again.

Welcome to the forum!

[Grinning Grim Reaper]

Strapped to the lethal-injection gurney, Davis lifted his head and looked at the MacPhail family, and said, "The incident that night was not my fault, I did not have a gun. ... I did not personally kill your son, father and brother. I am innocent."

Well as FBI agent Melvin Purvis told Pretty Boy Floyd as he lay dying...it's not good to LIE when you're so close to your maker boy!

[time2prtee]

BUT BUT BUT Kim Kardashian says...

All he wants is a polygraph test 2 prove he's innocent & the judicial system can't give that to him? Let's make #TroyDavis a trending topic!

http://thestir.cafemom.com/in_the_news/126277/kim_kardashian_takes_on_troy

I am sure she took the time to read all of the available court documents and appeals  !

Peace and comfort to the MacPhail family...Way too long 

[JeffB]

BUT BUT BUT Kim Kardashian says...


Kim Dardashian?   

Hey, Kim Kardashian should just keep her bubble-head mouth closed..  She should be seen and not heard...  The same goes for Paris Hilton or anyone like her...   

[63Wildcat]

So much for nine lives. I heard it on the radio on the way into work... nice... Justice served. Hopefully now the families on both sides will close the book.

[Granny B]

Troy Davis Executed After Stay Denied by Supreme Court


Charles Dharapak/AP Photo
'MAY GOD BLESS YOUR SOULS': Troy Davis Executed in Ga.


Supporters Rally to Save Troy Davis

By COLLEEN CURRY and MICHAEL S. JAMES
Sept. 21, 2011

Troy Davis was executed this evening for the murder of an off-duty policeman after the U.S. Supreme Court denied a last-minute stay of execution amid widespread public doubts about his guilt.

Davis, 42, died at 11:08 p.m. ET, according to a Georgia Department of Corrections official. His death by lethal injection came after an approximately four-hour delay for legal review.

Eyewitnesses described the mood in the execution chamber as "somber" as Davis was wheeled in strapped to a gurney. He declared his innocence a final time in the 1989 murder as witnesses and relatives of the victim -- off-duty Savannah, Ga., policeman Mark MacPhail -- looked on.

"I'd like to address the MacPhail family," Davis said, according to The Associated Press. "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," he added. "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," he said. "For those about to take my life, God have mercy on your souls. And may God bless your souls."

Witnesses said Davis' eyes fluttered as he received his first injection and lost consciousness, and that the entire process of lethal injection lasted about 15 minutes.

"Justice has been served for Officer Mark MacPhail and his family," state Attorney General Sam Olens said in a statement.

Joan MacPhail-Harris, the widow of Mark MacPhail, told The Associated Press that "it's a time for healing" now that Davis' execution has occurred, that she saw "nothing to rejoice" over in Davis' death and that she was praying for his family.

"I will grieve for the Davis family because now they're going to understand our pain and our hurt," she told the AP in a telephone interview from Jackson. (Classy Lady!)

"I'm kind of numb. I can't believe that it's really happened," MacPhail's mother, Anneliese MacPhail, told the AP in a telephone interview from her home in Columbus, Ga. "All the feelings of relief and peace I've been waiting for all these years, they will come later. I certainly do want some peace."

Members of the MacPhail family are convinced Davis was guilty, but many other observers are not.

Davis had his execution stayed four times over the course of his 22 years on death row, but multiple legal appeals during that time failed to prove his innocence.

Public support grew for Davis based on the recanted testimony of seven witnesses from his trial and the possible confession of another suspect, which his defense team claimed cast too much doubt on Davis' guilt to follow through with an execution.

A growing tide of celebrities, politicians and social media users called for the execution to be delayed because of "too much doubt" present in his case.

Up to and beyond the moments of execution, the criticism continued. "Strange Fruit," a classic song about lynching, trended on Twitter, celebrities tweeted their disapproval and, after it was over, an Amnesty International official released a written statement condemning the execution.

"Killing a man under this enormous cloud of doubt is horrific and amounts to a catastrophic failure of the justice system," said Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International AIUSA. "Our hearts are heavy, but we have not lost our spirit of defiance. Millions of people around the world now know of Troy Davis and see the fallibility of the U.S. justice system."

The execution was delayed more than four hours as the U.S. Supreme Court weighed last-minute arguments from Davis' legal team and the state of Georgia over whether his execution should be blocked.

The court's decision to deny the stay came without comment after 10 p.m. ET.

Troy Davis Backers in Frantic Last Minute Efforts to Stop Execution

At 7:05 p.m. ET, five minutes after his scheduled death, Davis' supporters erupted in cheers, hugs and tears outside the jail in Jackson, Ga., as supporters believed Davis had been saved from the death penalty. But Davis was granted only a temporary reprieve as the Supreme Court considered the decision.

At a protest in front of the White House today, at least 12 Howard University students were arrested for failing to move off the White House sidewalk, according to ABC News affiliate WJLA. The protest there was expected to last until 7 p.m.

A flurry of messages on Twitter using the hashtags #TroyDavis and #TooMuchDoubt showed thousands of supporters of Davis were intent on flooding the Jackson District Attorney's Office, Georgia Judge Penny Freezeman's office, and the U.S. Attorney General's Office with phone calls and e-mails to beg for a stay on the execution.

Some users accused Twitter of blocking the topic from trending on Tuesday, though a representative from Twitter told ABC News there was no such action taken. The hashtags were trending today in cities around the U.S. as well as Germany, the U.K., Sweden and France. Many tweets called the case a symbol of a return to Jim Crow laws and racial inequalities in the justice system.

Big Boi, a member of the group Outkast, tweeted to his followers to go to the Georgia state prison in Jackson to protest the decision. The Roots' Questlove tweeted a similar message.


The NAACP and the Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson held a news conference today calling for the execution to be halted.

Amnesty International, which has been fighting on behalf of Davis, encouraged supporters to attend a vigil at the church across the street from the prison at 5:30 p.m. and a protest at 6 p.m., and asked participants to wear a black armband and write on it, "Not in my name!"

Wendy Gozen Brown, a spokeswoman for Amnesty International, said that Davis would want the protests to remain peaceful.

"In this type of situation, there's always the potential for it to go awry, with certain groups, angry rhetoric," Brown said. "But Troy Davis would want people to keep fighting peacefully, for him and for, as he would put it, all of the other Troy Davises out there."

Others who have voiced support for Davis include former President Jimmy Carter, the pope and a former FBI director.

Davis's execution was stayed four times for appeals since his conviction in 1991, and the Supreme Court gave him a rare chance to prove his innocence last year, but rejected his plea.

A Georgia board of pardons and paroles rejected Davis's plea for clemency on Tuesday.

ABC News' Arianne de Vogue and Steve Osunsami and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/troy-davis-executed-stay-denied-supreme-court/story?id=14571862&page=2

[AnneTheBelgian]

If I can post a comment here, I would lije to say that the State of Georgia did a nice job yesterday

I am sorry for the antis and all the supporters of this man but he was a murderer

Also, I am sick and very nervous (always during this moment) because in Belgium and in Europe, we received numerous bombs like "STOP THE EXECUTION OF TROY DAVIS", "TROY DAVIS : AN INNONCENT MAN WHO WILL DIE", etc...

It was a great subject for myself, my loved ones and at work and I was happy to say : "Justice served" !



God bless Mister MacPhail and all his family and friends Honor and peace for them all






Welcome to Hell rubbish Davis...












Anne

[GermanFan]

Also, I am sick and very nervous (always during this moment) because in Belgium and in Europe, we received numerous bombs like "STOP THE EXECUTION OF TROY DAVIS", "TROY DAVIS : AN INNONCENT MAN WHO WILL DIE", etc...

When I was on my way to work this morning, I always vomitted onto the steering wheel :-( "Innocent man executed", "serious and unavoidable doubts" and more s... like this. In general, German public radio is quite OK and has a high journalistic integrity, but when it comes to topics like these, they shut off their brains and copy & paste Amnesia International's PR right on the air