Time: Troy Davis' Clemency Denial - The Failure Of A Legal 'Safety Valve'

[Hissyspit]

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2094103,00.html#ixzz1YXoVkzA4

Troy Davis' Clemency Denial: The Failure of a Legal 'Safety Valve'
By NATHAN THORNBURGH Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2011

When Texas Governor Rick Perry said in a recent Republican presidential candidates' debate that his sleep is untroubled by doubts about the guilt of any of the 235 men and women who have been executed on his watch, he pointed out that his state has "a very thoughtful, a very clear process in place" to review death penalty cases. A cornerstone of that process, in Texas and elsewhere, is the Board of Pardons and Paroles, which is designed to act as a safety valve, removed from the emotion of the crime and the courtroom. It's a last resort, not to retry a case, but to ensure that a conviction is so ironclad that there is no doubt that it merits the ultimate punishment.

That safety valve failed in Georgia Tuesday, just as it has on a number of occasions in Texas. The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles denied convicted murderer Troy Davis' last appeal for clemency, setting him on a seemingly unstoppable course for execution Wednesday evening.

For the simplest picture of why that decision was so wrong — as so many of Davis' myriad supporters have pleaded for years — just look at the numbers.

— 7: that's how many of the nine original eyewitnesses have recanted their testimony against Davis.
— 0: the amount of physical evidence linking Davis to the crime (no fingerprints, no DNA, no weapon recovered).
— 3: the number of jurors who voted for death in the original trial who now believe their vote was a mistake.
— 22: the number of years the family of slain police officer Mark McPhail has had to wait for an answer to the question of whether or not Davis would die for the crime.

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[Gregorian]

1. I'm trying to find the reason for denial. Who is the beneficiary?

I keep coming to the conclusion that it serves to postpone responsibility for the errors made throughout the process.

This uncivilized failure is probably no failure at all. It cannot be failure in a just system, since justice is academic in the sense that it proceeds by a set of rules. Rules that have been skipped in this process.

It's a double injustice that not only is there an imminent death, but for the many years of time languished in a cell.

It's sickening to any sane citizen who is paying attention.

[riverwalker]

2. I wonder who is in the pardon board

would like to know how they can sleep at night.