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The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday night refused to temporarily halt the execution of death row inmate Troy Davis, giving Georgia officials clearance to carry out his death sentence.
The court had no comment on the order, which it made about four hours after Davis’ attorneys had filed the motion. His sentence was carried out at 11 p.m., and he was dead eight minutes later.
Davis had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop Georgia authorities from executing him in an eleventh-hour plea after the Georgia’s Supreme Court upheld his execution.
“The application for a certificate of probable cause to appeal is denied. The motion for stay of execution is denied,” read a unanimous ruling from Georgia’s Supreme Court, upholding a lower court’s earlier decision.
Davis, 42, was convicted of murdering Georgia police officer Mark MacPhail in 1989. Since his conviction, seven of the nine people who testified against him have recanted or changed their testimonies.
No murder weapon was ever found, no DNA evidence or fingerprints tie Davis to the crime, and some witnesses have since said the murder was committed by another man — a witness who testified against Davis.
With his death in Georgia on Wednesday night, the sad, savage story of Troy Davis appears destined to become one of the leading cases cited by the movement to abolish capital punishment in the United States and abroad.
This video was published to YouTube on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2011.
Related articles
- Denied (kaystreet.wordpress.com)
- Troy Davis Denied Clemency By Georgia Pardons Board (kaystreet.wordpress.com)
- Mark MacPhail’s Mom Agonizes Over Troy Davis Execution Wait (huffingtonpost.com)
- Georgia & Us Supreme Courts Have Blood on Their Hands (goodolewoody.wordpress.com)
- Troy Davis execution on hold as Georgia waits on ruling from U.S. Supreme Court (news.nationalpost.com)
- Troy Davis Executed: Death Row Inmate Killed After U.S. Supreme Court Denies Stay Of Execution (huffingtonpost.com)
- Troy Davis Executed in Georgia for Killing Off-Duty Cop (newsfeed.time.com)
- Troy Davis Executed in Georgia for Killing Off-Duty Cop (newsfeed.time.com)
- Troy Davis Executed In Georgia (hiphopwired.com)
The so-called “liberal” members of the Supreme Court missed a golden opportunity to make a principled statement which, with the whole world watching, could have gone a long way toward restoring sanity and common sense humanity to this country’s criminal justice system. A dissent by a member of the Supreme Court on this life and death issue need not have been a blanket condemnation of the death penalty (assuming the particular Justice didn’t want to go that far.) But even a mere expression of doubt, or angst, or an expression of mere regret, or an explanation of the Justices’ reasoning that led to a reluctant decision not to intervene – all would have shown the world that the American judicial system, while flawed, is not entirely heartless or careless.
What were the women justices afraid of? Appearing to “grandstand”? I’m telling you such “grandstanding” would have drawn the respect and admiration of most of the world, if not most of America. It would have made that Justice a star.
But maybe they didn’t want to “rock the boat”. Maybe they are “laying low” for fear they might become a target of curiosity and inquiry themselves. Maybe there is, or was, something in their personal lives that they think might surface if they get too “high and mighty.”
On the other hand, they ARE on vacation right now. Maybe after a long day of barbecue and beer and public acclaim they were tired and just wanted to go to sleep.
Watch Elizabeth Warren.