1 post tagged “questionable”
Troy Davis is scheduled to be executed on Sept 23, 2008 at 7pm. Last year he was scheduled to die on July 17th, 2007 - but with enough protests, emails, and phone calls, the Georgia Board of Pardons held off on his execution date. The Georgia Supreme Court refused his stay request, and now we have a few more hours to hear what the US Supreme Court has to say.
After his request was filled for a stay by the Georgia Board of Pardons last year, Amnesty International has been working hard in this corrupt-against-blacks US system and most recently he was denied clemency again on Sept 12 - so he is still scheduled to die on Sept 23, 2008. The worst part is that Georgia is 1 of 3 states where the governor can't grant clemency, so really all appeals must be made to the George Board of Pardons.
Just keep in mind that with enough protests from citizens and organizations, his execution was held off last year. It can happen again this year. Please find a way to do something about this - e-mail, blog, vlog, twitter, flickr, change your ghcat-im status - whatever you can do!
More than 20,000 people signs petitions. " Four thousand letters were received by the board written on his behalf, including letters written by Desmond Tutu, Harry Belafonte, and former FBI director William Sessions.[6] Sister Helen Prejean, Amnesty International US director Larry Cox, and the Council of Europe all spoke out against the planned execution.[7] The Vatican's nuncio to the U.S., Monsignor Martin Krebs, sent a letter on behalf of Pope Benedict XVI to Governor of Georgia Sonny Perdue urging him to spare Davis's life." <h href="en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Anthony_Davis"from wikipedia
This is what ex-FBI director, William S. Sessions, has to say about the case.
for more info, read this recent NY Times article.
Amnesty Intl provides clear instructions on how to protest this.
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written on July 16th, 2007
The execution of Troy Anthony Davis is set for tomorrow, July 17th. Send an e-mail to protest it.
Amnesty International says that "Troy Davis was sentenced to death for the murder of Police Officer Mark Allen McPhail in Georgia. The case against him consisted entirely of witness testimony which contained inconsistencies even at the time of the trial. Since then, all but two of the state's nine non-police witnesses from the trial have recanted their testimony. Many of these witnesses have stated in sworn affidavits that they were pressured or coerced by police into testifying or signing statements against Troy Davis."
I understand the reality of stopping this will probably not materialize (which brings me back to when I angrily wrote about Stanley "Tookie" William's execution a few years ago) - but silence is worse - and even if his execution isn't stopped tomorrow, at least the Georgia state will see the intense the opposition is and *may* prompt them or some individuals to re-think the death-row policy.
Davis's case is especially apalling in the high error of its evidence (purported witnesses), and even members of Congress have written to Georgia's Board of Pardons. "Nobel-prize winner Rev. Desmond Tutu, singer Harry Belafonte, actor Mike Farrell, Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL), Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Sister Helen Prejean, Sam D. Millsap, Jr. (former D.A. of Bexar County, TX), record producer and activist Russell Simmons and Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation are among those who have voiced support for clemency." (From Amnesty Intl)
So send an e-mail or fax to Georgia's Board of Pardons. Amnesty makes this very easy - you can do it all online here
