Washington, D.C.—Despite the fact that seven witness recanted their trial testimony the United States Supreme Court refused to halt a the execution of a convicted Georgia cop killer. Adding to the developments in this case new witnesses have since come forward implicating another man for the crime. The validity of the original jury verdict is under a very dark cloud. Troy Davis, 39 was convicted of killing a Savannah policeman, Mark MacPhail back in 1989 when he was 18 years-old. Officer MacPhail was dispatched to a fight outside a Burger King drive-in when he was murdered while trying to keep the peace. The condemned man Davis was nearby but has steadfastly maintained he was not involved with the fight or murder.
I know I part company with most of my peers in the law enforcement community over my death penalty views. The real truth is if government is allowed to kill anyone than government can kill you or members of your family. We’ve seen that in the extreme repeated throughout the history of civilization. Nations become killing fields far too often.
Imagine that the politician you dislike the most becomes President and wants to punish those like you who did not support him. Killing its own citizens is a power no government can be trusted not to abuse.
Life is too sacred for us to kill anyone where there is doubt of guilt. So many people parrot that prosecutor’s word, closure as if killing who the victim's family chose to believe is a killer will somehow feel relieved once an execution is carried out. That’s never the case, instead the families of the murdered are left with memories of the anguish displayed many a condemned man’s innocent family members for the rest of their lives. There is no such thing as closure for the loved ones of a murder victim.
Killing Troy Davis under the present conditions with new facts would make this country look weak and brutal. America would be a horrible example to countries we have condemned like China, North Korea, Cuba that continue to slaughter their own citizens at an alarming rate.
