Troy Davis innocence...

[RadioRaheem84]

Anyone actually have any links that claim his innocence?

Even if he was guilty, death penalty is still barbaric.

Point is, I am wondering why his appeals were always denied if there was no physical evidence tying him to the murder?

[Metacomet]

The wikipedia article gives a decent rundown of it.

[Art Vandelay]

Basically there is no physical evidence tying him to the scene which means they originally convicted him on the basis of the eye witness accounts. 7 of the 9 have recanted their testimonies saying the police pressured them to implicate Troy Davis. One of the 2 who did not recant was Sylvester Redd Coles who was the original suspect in the crime and family friends of his have recently said that at times when he is drunk he has admitted to shooting officer Mcphail but gave up Troy because he had kids to take care of and Troy did not.

[RadioRaheem84]

Basically there is no physical evidence tying him to the scene which means they originally convicted him on the basis of the eye witness accounts. 7 of the 9 have recanted their testimonies saying the police pressured them to implicate Troy Davis. One of the 2 who did not recant was Sylvester Redd Coles who was the original suspect in the crime and family friends of his have recently said that at times when he is drunk he has admitted to shooting officer Mcphail but gave up Troy because he had kids to take care of and Troy did not.

I've read Davis had 30 something witnesses. This is why I would like sources and links to people familiar with the case.

I'm not trying to be an ass, I just do not like throwing my support behind a cause (and yes its too late) I know nothing about.

[Iraultzaile Ezkerreko]

I've read Davis had 30 something witnesses. This is why I would like sources and links to people familiar with the case.

I'm not trying to be an ass, I just do not like throwing my support behind a cause (and yes its too late) I know nothing about.

All other "witnesses" were police and were merely testifying to their interrogations of him and the people who claim to have "seen" the crime or heard about it "from" Troy Davis. Only nine people implicated Troy Davis, everything else was fluff and police bullshit. The nine who mattered, the non-police witnesses, seven of them have recanted including an illiterate person and a sixteen year old kid who were told they'd go to jail for the rest of their life, had guns placed on the table in front of them, and never had lawyers or family present.

[RadioRaheem84]

All other "witnesses" were police and were merely testifying to their interrogations of him and the people who claim to have "seen" the crime or heard about it "from" Troy Davis. Only nine people implicated Troy Davis, everything else was fluff and police bullshit. The nine who mattered, the non-police witnesses, seven of them have recanted including an illiterate person and a sixteen year old kid who were told they'd go to jail for the rest of their life, had guns placed on the table in front of them, and never had lawyers or family present.

That's just fucked up! :crying:

[bricolage]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/21/troy-davis-10-reasons

[Binh]

The American legal system is such that it is very, very hard to reverse a conviction on the merits of your case. Most re-trials and appeals are based on technical flaws in the way the trial is carried out. Lawyers provided by the state of Texas to poor people have fallen asleep during their clients trials and they were executed in spite of this. You are guilty until proven rich/white/powerful in this country.

[Klaatu]

If America is executing innocent people, then America has descended into "evil empire" status. :(

[TheGeekySocialist]

If America is executing innocent people, then America has descended into "evil empire" status. :(

it hadn't already?

[Lenina Rosenweg]

As long as the death penalty exists, innocent people will be killed. It doesn't take much research to find numerous cases where innocent people have been put to death.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrongful_execution

I am not an expert on the Troy Davis case. From what I've read it seems very likely that he was innocent. Even if he wasn't, his execution is still horrendous.

The death penalty in the US has deep racist roots.

[RedSonRising]

I know you're looking for more intimate details on the case, but this music video passionately (and musically pleasingly) outlines the facts of the case very well.


9WZUhITejfI

[Smyg]

If America is executing innocent people, then America has descended into "evil empire" status. :(

It has spent the last couple of centuries as such.

[brigadista]

Had it not been for slavery, the death penalty would have likely been abolished in America. Slavery became a haven for the death penalty.
Angela Davis

[MarxSchmarx]

one problem was that when the appeals courts (including the supreme court) ordered a re-examination of the evidence, they basically moved the goal posts so that Troy Davis had to prove basically beyond a "shadow of a doubt", not only "beyond a reasonable doubt" that he was actually innocent, not guilty.

Basically when a person is convicted, the presumption of innocence is replaced by a presumption of guilt. The problem (well, one problem) is that whereas a prosecutor had to merely demonstrate "beyond a reasonable doubt" (or less, in this case it seems) to overcome the presumption of innocence, Troy Davis and his attorneys had to demonstrate basically beyond "a shadow of a doubt" (a virtually impossible claim, even in legal circles) to overcome the presumption of guilt.

Under this routine, I doubt even DNA evidence would have exculpated him. It is a legal technicality, set up by a system that is rigged in favor the state and the oligarchs. So much for criminals getting off on technicalities.

[freakazoid]

http://www.anncoulter.com/columns/2011-09-21.html

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.


Not to mention that they found cloths of his at his moms house with the cops blood on it but were unable to use it as evidence do to the way they got it.



The death penalty in the US has deep racist roots.

:laugh:

[#FF0000]

If America is executing innocent people, then America has descended into "evil empire" status. :(

Having the death penalty automatically means that innocent people will die.

[#FF0000]

:laugh:

It does. One of the judges who was partly responsible for bringing it back to the US even said he regretted it because it established "legal lynching" in the south, where black convicts are executed far, far more often than white convicts.

Also that is from anncoulter.com. What are you doing

[HEAD ICE]

fasdfad

PLEASE tell me this post is being ironic