| Viewing Single Post From: TROY DAVIS TO DIE, BY ONE VOTE | |
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| Sydney Carton | Apr 18 2009, 03:42 PM |
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Baldo: Honestly what bothers me in this case was a crime was committed and it was murder of a Policeman. That is what separates it from the Duke case where no crime was committed. Troy Davis was there and clearly he was at least a particpant to some degree if not the real perpretator. I wish I knew more about the Troy Davis at the time of the crime. With that said from what I have read he shouldn't be executed as it appears doubts exists he was the real trigger man. No man should be executed with doubts. SC: Baldo,I have never said that I believe Davis innocent(there is not sufficent information-and I have searched diligently-to decide one way or the other).I only came in at here when the Georgia Supreme Court issued a ringing dissent that caused me to re-evaluate the known,uncontested,facts. Yes,a cop was killed,brutally,and the cops went wild trying to find the killer.The first murder trial I ever sat through(Brooklyn,New York) was a cop killing case and the cops went wild trying to find the killer.They had their choice of one (or all)three thugs who had been together shortly before the murderd.So they ran around the town breaking in doors and beating(and I mean beating) at least one future alibi witness who gave them a story they didn't want to hear. Within twenty-four hours they had an eye-witness who swore she was riding in the car with the three guys and had seen the whole thing.Two of them turned out to be guilty, on evidence other than hers ;the third managed to get a severance in the middle of the first trial,otherwise he also would have received a death sentence.At the second trial the defense was able to produce over a dozen witnesses to prove a complete alibi for the defendant-and the automobile and the defendant was acquitted,with the approval of both judges involved.If he had been forced to present his defense in the atmosphere of the first trial and in the company of the two guilty men he would certainly have been sentenced to death and the appelate court would not likely have intervened for the relief of only one. The basic weakness of the Davis case is neither the trial identifications nor the later mass repudiations of those identifications,it is,exactly as in the Duke case,the circumstances under which those identifications were first made.True,there was no rape,but even if there had been,Crystal was ifrom the beginning obviously unable to identify any of the people she actually had seen at the Duke house.We will never probably know whether she was first fed the identifications by Durhan LE or whether she(with Brian,Travis,or Jackie) searched the web or whether she was handed a copy of that infamous "Wanted" poster (by Victoria Peterson?)or read that magazine(newspaper?) article that featured spreads of most of the team not long before the party. We have the same situation in the Davis case.Red Cole came into the police station(with a high priced attorney) and implicated Troy Davis.Cole apparently did not implicate the third man who was with them for a long time before the shooting and has since testified for both sides.The third man's testimony,as so far publicly given,is entirely unsatisfactory either for one side or the other. He provides one of the main reasons why the courts should order a full inquiry irrespective of what facts will eventually emerges from that inquiry. None of the seven "identifying" witnesses were shown photographs of either Cole or the third man.In fact it is not yet certain how many(or if any) of them were first shown photographs of anyone but Davis before making the original identifications. The earliest statements,not the court testimony(nearly two years later) nor the recantations(from shortly before the trial to 2002) are best evidence.But what should have been best evidence seems to have played no part whatsoever in the court's decision. There is a lot more to be said here(I'll be back) but this is enough for starters. It is a bad sentence and it will be a major blot on our judicial system if the defendant is allowed to die without a full hearing of all witnesses ,production of all relevant documents, and,of,course,full cross-examinations of everyone concerned.Many of us may not feel inclined to weep for Troy Davis but we should weep for the shame of our country if he dies without the fair hearing which at least four of his jurors and and four out of ten of his recent judges demand that he receive. Edited by Sydney Carton, Apr 18 2009, 03:43 PM.
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| TROY DAVIS TO DIE, BY ONE VOTE · DUKE LACROSSE - Liestoppers | |
5:05 AM Dec 3
