Much is made by these groups about how they step betwixt the justice system and the prisoner to prevent an injustice. July 17th, Troy Anthony Davis will be murdered by the state of georgia while all of those who fight for those who are convicted and still innocent. Is there no one who will pick up the glove and challenge the system?

Populated by those who seek justice through murdering the convicted, georgia seeks to bring to justice those convicted by murder. Never mind that most of the witnesses have recanted. Never mind two jurors have suggested they would have voted otherwise given the TRUE facts. This man stands convicted and justice, faux justice, must be served regardless. A win is a win! How does one fill in the notch on the gun of justice? The wood would not be the same color.

Troy Anthony Davis goes to his death for a crime he did not commit and convicted. Any prosecutors want to argue? Georgia and the US murders another one. The US is 4th in murdering prisoners, just behind Iran. Hey, we gotta be right, he was convicted by a jury of his "supposed" peers. We can all rest easy on that one!!!

Leave no dead behind. We all owe to make sure justice is real,

Is your gripe that the death penalty is murder, or that Troy Anthony Davis was innocent? You seem to fluctuate between the two in your post. So I think you should clarify whether you think that a significant percentage of executions in the United States are executions of innocent people (or all of them?)

I read it as a general indictment of the Death Penalty system with a particular example of Troy Davis. No fluctuation in my read of it.

Kade:

.... So I think you should clarify whether you think that a significant percentage of executions in the United States are executions of innocent people (or all of them?)

And I suggest you clarify whether you think it is ok to execute a few innocent people so long is it is not a significant percentage.

Of one thing, however, I am certain. Just as an execution without adequate safeguards is unacceptable, so too is an execution when the condemned prisoner can prove that he is innocent. The execution of a person who can show that he is innocent comes perilously close to simple murder.

-- Justice Blackmun

I share your underlining sentiment, but am unsure why you target groups who have traditionally challenged the system. For instance, Rep. John Davis (D-GA) -- part of the civil rights movement NAACP is part of -- has spoken on his behalf. Perhaps, his story has been selectively not told? I am not familiar with it in particular, so it's possible.

Anyway, by chance, my local paper had a column on the case. In part:

"This man may be innocent. Georgia wants him dead."

Two days ago, the state of Georgia issued a death warrant in the case of Troy Anthony Davis, requiring the state's Department of Corrections to execute him by lethal injection between July 17 and 24.

There's overwhelming evidence that Davis did not commit the murder for which he has been sentenced to die. But Georgia's machinery of death is grinding ahead anyway, despite pleas for mercy from a growing number of voices including Amnesty International and Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu.

...none of these facts can change Davis' sentence, thanks to the federal Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, which puts a time limit on when evidence can be admitted in state death penalty cases.

Davis didn't have the aggressive legal help needed to round up witnesses in time: Georgia is the only state in the union that doesn't guarantee Death Row prisoners a lawyer during crucial points in the appeals process.

Some times the fact we are animals is more apparent than others. Our "civilization" has far to go. -j

Joe:

Just like I can not get Project Innocence or the Civil Liberties Union to assist us because we do not have DNA issues and /or we are not black, this too is an instance of no one group having time or interest to intercede on this man's behalf. No time, no money, no relevance and they all shrug their shoulders and walk away. So one potentially innocent man dies because no one has the time or feels the duty to intercede? Some one, some group needs to step foward.

I often times wonder what would have happened to us without Chemerinsky and doodah helping us meet him. He might have said yes otherwise an then again maybe not. doodah helped tilt the balance in our favor. One person's words helped.

kade:

Scalia using Marquis flawed analysis of felonies comparing it to criminals sentenced to death attempted to make the argument that less than 1% of those convicted were indeed innocent. That stat in itself is still to big . . . another story.

In reality Scalia was guilty of attempting to be an expert in statistics when in reality he is not and in reality he too is guilty of violating daubert which he supported. If you analyze Marquis numbers and back out felony convictions from the total, deal strictly with murder convictions, the numbers of those convicted and innocent rise to ~10%. Didn't Gov. Ryan commute the sentences of ~115 death role prisoners because of lack of evidence?

My stance is both.

Thomas:

Marquis and Scalia felt that if was a small percentage and very much less than 1%. However, if you (and even I) were the one; the perrcentage is still too high. Thank you for your response.

Thanks degs

I went to a website for the person in question, and there are public figures and groups on his side. So, I don't think you are being totally fair in that respect.

Saw EC on C-SPAN last week ... took part in an interesting mock court honoring the 150th anniversary of Dred Scott.

-j

Joe:

You know my economic feelings towards this. Paris had more coverage and she resided in a jail and not a true prison. He should have more coverage and more help than Paris had. Is death worth less than prison time? Why the hurry, unless someone wants the notch in their gun or broomstick?

I am interested in your mock court. Was it recorded anywhere? I took the time to read Marsbury vs Madison as Marshall is an ancestor. The guy was a wizard. I have one of the family bibles. Not worth much; but, it is terribly interesting in tracking a family lineage.

Well, it was his -- with others -- mock court, not mine, but you can find it on the C-SPAN website, his role about an hour in. Specificially, American and the Courts.

-j

There are no checks and balances on the power of prosecutors, and few jurisdictions provide remotely similar resources to the defense that the state has. Thus, unless the defendant is wealthy, he is virtually at the mercy of the state. Had the Duke rape defendants not been able to spend several million dollars in exposing the evil misdeeds of D.A. Mike Nifong, they might be in prison right now.

Too many prosecutors are political animals whose primary motivations are the next election and the pursuit of higher office. Hell, they unabashedly campaign on their conviction rates--as you point out, the "notches" on their guns. Pursuit of the truth is the casualty. Coercion of false testimony and nondisclosure of exculpatory evidence are the tools of the trade.

The state cannot be trusted with the death penalty.

Unchecked governmental power is evil.

Iwasblind:

would love to argue with you; but, I can not. I am in court fighting my own battles. I am not an Evans and just a common person.