UPDATE: Judge denies Troy Davis innocence claim

[aikoaiko]

Source: Savannah Morning News (largest local paper)

A federal judge has ruled Georgia death row inmate Troy Anthony Davis failed to prove his innocence after Davis was granted a rare hearing by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Tuesday's ruling against Davis sets the stage for Georgia officials to move forward with executing him for the 1989 shooting death of Mark MacPhail, an off-duty Savannah police officer.

In June, U.S. District Court Judge William T. Moore Jr. heard two days of testimony from witnesses in Savannah seeking to cast doubt on Davis' conviction. The Supreme Court ordered the hearing for Davis a year ago.

Davis has been spared from execution three times as his attorneys pushed their argument that new evidence showed police ignored MacPhail's real killer as they rushed to pin the shooting on Davis.



Read more: http://savannahnow.com/troy-davis/2010-08-24/update-judge-denies-troy-davis-innocence-claim

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[RaleighNCDUer]

1. since when does he need to "prove his innocence"?

It's the state's job to prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If he can show that the state manipulated the evidence to deny the jury evidence of a reasonable doubt, that should be sufficient grounds for a re-trial.

Isn't that what he and his lawyers are trying to do?

[seattleblue]

3. If a defendant has been found guilty the burden of proof shifts to the defendant in appeals.

He was not able to show the state had manipulated the evidence at his hearing.

[Kweli4Real]

7. That is only partially correct ...

The burden does shift to the defendant upon appeal; but not to the extent that you indicate. The defendant must show that a jury with the benefit of wrongfully excluded evidence MIGHT have reached a different conclusion. If court finds yes, then a new trial is in order. And I would think that a death bed retraction of testimony by a lead prosecution witness and evidence of police and prosecutorial misconduct in terms of obtaining the damning evidence, would most certainly give a jury reason to pause, i.e., reasonable doubt.

[aikoaiko]

9. This hearing was a very special case for Georgia.

I'm not a lawyer, but as I understand it, Davis's lawyers really needed to establish innocence.

[Kelvin Mace]

10. Hate to break it to you

This case was one of those "fuck justice, we're talking technicalities and letter of the law" here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herrera_v._Collins

The Wikipedia entry's key sentence about Rehnquist:

Rehnquist’s opinion, although not explicitly holding that the Eighth Amendment does not prohibit executing an innocent person, emphasized that Herrera was not raising a constitutional violation.

My reading of the ruling (I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV) is that if you are actually innocent, unless you can show a violation of your Constitutional rights, the state has a legal right to execute you because you "are guilty".

Court: We find you guilty, now die!

You: But I have evidence that I am innocent.

Court: Does you evidence prove that we somehow didn't follow the rules when we convicted you and sentenced you to die?

You: No, it just proves I am innocent.

Court: Sucks to be you! Now come along, the executioner is getting paid overtime and CCA can't maximize its shareholder's value with you taking up a cell.

[Hawkeye-X]

2. That judge, whoever that is needs to resign effective immediately

[cowman]

4. Why?

He did his job, just because you don't like the outcome doesn't mean he should resign.

[SkyDaddy7]

6. This will be another case of executing an innocent man!

Most of the witnesses have come forward & said police pushed them to testify against him...This is scary!

Good ole Georgia where racism was strong in the 80's & still is in some parts!

[Judi Lynn]

5. He apparently buried his conscience long ago.Sad to see ANY of these radical racists in positions

of power over the lives of human beings. They are genuinely unqualified, unworthy.

Dreadful, horrid disgrace.

[aikoaiko]

8. This case bothers me greatly.

For the record, I support the state having the option of executing a citizen when the crime is heinous enough, there is certainty of agency of the accused, and there are no compelling mitigating circumstances.

However, the Davis case provides no certainty of agency.

I had hoped that Davis's attorney could provide a compelling case to the judge. I was very disappointed when his lawyers had not put Redd Cole on the stand.

Then Davis's lawyers tried to reopen the hearing to put Cole on the stand and the judge was very unhappy. One doesn't get these hearings very often (at least in GA), and Davis's lawyers were doing something strategic that backfired.

http://savannahnow.com/news/2010-08-13/troy-davis-bid-re-open-hearing-new-evidence-rejected

Sadly, Davis may pay with his life.

[Kelvin Mace]

11. Sorry, I oppose the death penalty in all cases

If you have a death penalty, it is inevitable that innocent people will be executed because the criminal justice system is a quite imperfect instrument of justice where race and money are the main factors in capital cases.

Even with a very good system, mistakes are made and the police/DA would rather pull out their own gonads with vice grips than admit error.

So, I ask you the question I ask everyone who favors the death penalty:

(Please note that this question is quite harsh, so before you answer it, read what I say after it, think about it, then answer.)

How many innocent people are you willing to murder to satisfy your need for vengeance?

To execute someone is to murder them with legal sanction. That is the brutal, unvarnished truth. Games can be played with words and legal statutes, but murder is murder, no matter how nicely we try to claim "righteous" action.

Despite that fact that we have legally proven a significant number of people on death row innocent, and that in a significant number of those cases the prosecution/police lied, suppressed/fabricated evidence, not a single one of these people (police/prosecutors) has ever been charged with attempted murder. Not once. You would be hard pressed to find even a letter of censure in someone's personnel file.

Gandalf said it best when he asked this question:

Many that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo?

Society should never impose a penalty it cannot revoke or mitigate.