Georgia Executes Davis

[Minor Axis]

Troy Davis Put To Death

Amnesty International Article

NYTimes Article

After the applause dies down from the Tea Party, I'll say I have been against the Death Penalty ever since it has been proven through DNA evidence that innocent people are sitting on death row and innocent people have been put to death by their respective State. This case in particular is troubling when afterwards, people who gave evidence implicating Davis, recanted saying they had been coerced. I can't believe if there were irregularities in testimony that Georgia would still push for Death instead of Life in Imprisonment. It makes me feel ill.

 

[Natasha]

I'm not sure if I believe he was guilty or not. That 7 of the 9 witnesses recanted is concerning to say the least. 1 or 2 I might shrug off...but the vast majority??? I am not one that typically believes convicted people are innocent...there are way too many safeguards built into our legal system. I guess I'd have to research the case more to make an informed decision. I'm just not sure we got it right on this one.

 

[Dana]

I'm not sure if I believe he was guilty or not. That 7 of the 9 witnesses recanted is concerning to say the least. 1 or 2 I might shrug off...but the vast majority??? I am not one that typically believes convicted people are innocent...there are way too many safeguards built into our legal system. I guess I'd have to research the case more to make an informed decision. I'm just not sure we got it right on this one.

And this says a lot about our legal system.

 

[retro]

I'm not entirely certain why you have to continually bring the Tea Party rhetoric into nearly everything.

That being said, I think it's disgusting that he was executed.

 

[Rachie]

Can I just say that it REALLY creeps me out that this was one of the first things I saw on Twitter when I woke up and leave it at that? :shudders: I hate that word! It makes my skin crawl

 

[porterjack]

Troy Davis Put To Death

Amnesty International Article

NYTimes Article

After the applause dies down from the Tea Party, I'll say I have been against the Death Penalty ever since it has been proven through DNA evidence that innocent people are sitting on death row and innocent people have been put to death by their respective State.

If DNA proves guilt do you then support the death sentence? There can never IMHO be justification for this barbaric inhumanity

 

[Minor Axis]

I'm not entirely certain why you have to continually bring the Tea Party rhetoric into nearly everything.

That being said, I think it's disgusting that he was executed.

I don't. I only bring it up where it applies. In this case the TP literally cheers the concept of execution when there are SO many cases of innocent people convicted of murder and sentenced to death. I realize it can be argued that they cheered for law and order, but based on the way the System works today, if you are for the Death Penalty, by default you are for murdering innocent people of crimes they did not commit. Not all of those convicted of murder, just enough that it makes the process untenable to anyone with a conscious. I can't live with that, the Governor of George Ryan, a Republican could not live with it in 2002 and put a stay of execution on all Illinois Death row inmates. And no surprise, our bubba President who presided over a record (at the time) 152 executions in Texas, had no problem with executions. He was confident that the system was color blind. I say that because the majority of those executed in this country are black so that is debatable. I understand that it might be argued that blacks commit most of the murder in this country, but without investigating more, that is debatable too at least from the standpoint of the ratio of blacks as compared to other races sentenced to death.

If DNA proves guilt do you then support the death sentence? There can never IMHO be justification for this barbaric inhumanity

At one point in my life I supported executions for heinous crimes, but don't any more. Practically because the legal system is flawed. I admit that if my family was butchered by someone like Charles Manson, the way Sharon Tate was, I might thirst for his blood, but calmly, philosophically, logically I am against the death penalty because it makes the State and society no better than the criminal.

 

[Panacea]

I signed the Amnesty International petition, I feel very sorry this happened...I do think this is a situation where politics came before justice, and it's sickening.

 

[rback33]

MA... you glasses are seriously tinted if you think the Tea Party cheers the concept of execution. This topic has NOTHING to do with the tea party... it didn't even exist when the crime or conviction occurred.

That said, my biggest issue with the death penalty is the insane cost. It's cheaper to keep them in prison for life than to fight the legal battles and appeals. THEN if they screw up, you still have someone to set free....

 

[retro]

I don't. I only bring it up where it applies. In this case the TP literally cheers the concept of execution

Prove it. You're being absurd. My dad is a member of the so-called Tea Party, in that he has spoken at a number of local events, especially during the health care "reform" debate, as he is a physician of some standing in the local community. He's also against the death penalty except in extreme circumstances where the guilt of the accused is incontrovertible. Also, please explain to me how what our "bubba President" did when he was Governor of Texas has anything to do with the Tea Party. You're making a connection between the two because they are two things that you seem to despise. I daresay that you have what borders on an obsession with involving the Tea Party in your rhetoric.

 

[Alien Allen]

Seems like the Liberals new rant is to make it all about the Tea Party

The funny part is that there is to the best of my knowledge no official Tea Party platform

In fact there is no actual national Tea Party unless I am mistaken. I think this is what scares liberals. They have to resort to denigrate a loosely knit group of people that want to see some fiscal sanity come to this country. Something that neither the Reps or Dems can claim any fame for.

Anyway if I am wrong Minor then show me where the Tea Party has made the death penalty one of their causes

 

[Panacea]

The Tea Party just needs better PR. The biggest morons in the country seem to latch on to this group (morons love anger, it's a primitive emotion, so it makes sense) and make racist, hypocritical, brain dead noise that everyone hears. Otherwise they're just a group with differing opinions than mine, for the most part.

Too bad this thread has unraveled into a Tea Party discussion thread, because another person was just executed on shady terms, and I think that's more important to discuss.

 

[Alien Allen]

I have not read up much on Davis but what little I did see makes me ashamed of our so called justice system.

I used to be a died in the wool death penalty supporter but there are just too many times when somebody innocent had been convicted.

Davis should have been given life once all these questions arose.

I would not want that on my conscience if he was innocent.

I wish there was a way for very heinous crimes where guilt is not in doubt they could fry people but there just is no way to differentiate without being accused of cherry picking cases.

 

[Panacea]

I admit as well, I am more open to the death penalty than is normal for my moral stance, but I suppose it's an inability to take emotion out of the situation. More and more I feel cloudy about it.

It's just inexcusable that doubt like this can't stop someone from being executed. I suspect if the victim hadn't been a cop, things may not have turned out this way.

 

[BadBoy]

Guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt? Nope. Our legal system is seriously flawed and Natasha, I'm disappointed that you think it has all these "safeguards" built into it.

 

[Natasha]

Guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt? Nope. Our legal system is seriously flawed and Natasha, I'm disappointed that you think it has all these "safeguards" built into it.

I work in the legal system...I see the amount of guilty that walk free. The news doesn't report on those. When someone can get off on self-defense after having shot my uncle in the back, yeah, I think there's a lot of safeguards.

 

[Panacea]

I think those cases are just definitely more evidence of flaws, when a guilty person gets off without punishment and an innocent person pays...and in this case, when an ambiguous case lands the person executed. I think that's why people are against the death penalty in the first place. We aren't as safe under the law as we might like to think

 

[BadBoy]

I work in the legal system...I see the amount of guilty that walk free. The news doesn't report on those. When someone can get off on self-defense after having shot my uncle in the back, yeah, I think there's a lot of safeguards.

How is that safe guards? That's called a glitch in the Matrix. The innocent or even any remote possibility of being innocent should not be put to death. In case I missed something, you don't come back from that. The guilty walk free because cops don't do their due diligence and defense lawyers are much better at their jobs than prosecutors. Sucks, but that's the way it is.

 

[Minor Axis]

MA... you glasses are seriously tinted if you think the Tea Party cheers the concept of execution. This topic has NOTHING to do with the tea party... it didn't even exist when the crime or conviction occurred.

That said, my biggest issue with the death penalty is the insane cost. It's cheaper to keep them in prison for life than to fight the legal battles and appeals. THEN if they screw up, you still have someone to set free....

Prove it. You're being absurd. My dad is a member of the so-called Tea Party, in that he has spoken at a number of local events, especially during the health care "reform" debate, as he is a physician of some standing in the local community. He's also against the death penalty except in extreme circumstances where the guilt of the accused is incontrovertible. Also, please explain to me how what our "bubba President" did when he was Governor of Texas has anything to do with the Tea Party. You're making a connection between the two because they are two things that you seem to despise. I daresay that you have what borders on an obsession with involving the Tea Party in your rhetoric.

I guess you guys didn't watch the Republican debate and the Tea Party crowd that cheered when Perry spoke of executions in his state. :tooth My mention of Bush was not to link him to the Tea Party but to point out there are those with consciousnesses who see the flaws, and then there are the idiots who blindly trust in the process and let the chips fall where they may despite the evidence that race plays a huge factor in what chance a black man convicted of murder has of getting death as compared to a white man accused of the same crime.

I work in the legal system...I see the amount of guilty that walk free. The news doesn't report on those. When someone can get off on self-defense after having shot my uncle in the back, yeah, I think there's a lot of safeguards.

Is there really an equation between the guilty that walk free and the innocent that are murdered by the State? I agree with Bad Boy, your example may be partially due to safeguards but just as likely both represent flaws in the process and the former does not excuse the latter imo. If you are innocent and are being put to death by the State, how would you describe characterize it, justice or travesty of justice?

I have not read up much on Davis but what little I did see makes me ashamed of our so called justice system.
I used to be a died in the wool death penalty supporter but there are just too many times when somebody innocent had been convicted.
Davis should have been given life once all these questions arose.
I would not want that on my conscience if he was innocent.
I wish there was a way for very heinous crimes where guilt is not in doubt they could fry people but there just is no way to differentiate without being accused of cherry picking cases.

Your comment is noted and appreciated.

 

[Joe the meek]

What I find so ironic is the fact that the family (white) of the cop killed wanted Davis put down, but they just put down that cocksucker who deserved to die down in Texas (for the hate crime), and the son (black) of the victim in that case said he had better things in his life than to want his father's killer executed.