My heart is heavy….even though it has been two days and almost all of society has forgotten how the US justice system failed us………….AGAIN! This time the US Supreme Court had the opportunity to grant clemency to a convicted murder whose case has been shadowed by recanted witness testimony, police coercion, lack of physical evidence and confessions. One would think that with all of “that”, there would be cause for reasonable doubt. There would have been enough to grant a re-trail or at the very least commute his sentence to life in prison with or without the possibility of parole. Instead the justice system chose to kill a man, not fully knowing if he is actually guilty. They failed to realize if it ever comes out that he was innocent there is NO way to bring this man back to life.
There are so many things about this situation that doesn’t sit right with me. Now let me say this…..I am a Civil Rights Analyst by trade and have been for the past 10 years. It is hard for me not to look at social issues such as this from racial standpoint. A quick review of the facts is that this young black man was convicted in 1991 of murdering a white GA cop. During his trail the state used only witness testimony to convict him. The weapon was never found and the ballistics from the “alleged weapon” presented at trial linked bullets recovered at or near the scene to those at another shooting in which he was also charged. He was convicted of murder and various lesser charges, including the earlier shooting. The witnesses originally testified that they either saw him commit the crime or he confessed the killing to them.
Fast forward to 2010…..seven of the nine witnesses have recanted or contradicted their testimony. Some asserted they had been coerced by police. Several implicated one of the original prosecution witnesses, Sylvester "Redd" Coles, in the crime. Evidence that Coles had confessed to the killing was excluded as hearsay because Coles was not subpoenaed by the defense to rebut it. In an August 2010 decision, the conviction was upheld, and the court described defense efforts to upset the conviction as "largely smoke and mirrors”. He was scheduled to die by lethal injection on 21 Sep 11.
Let’s contrast his case with that of a white man who was also scheduled of execution on the same day. In March 1988, he killed a store manager during a robbery at the lumber company in Douglas County, west of Atlanta. He had previously worked at the store, shot the store manager three times with a pistol, beat him with a crowbar and a pot of paint. He pleaded guilty to armed robbery and murder and was sentenced to death the following year. The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles made its decision less than three hours before he was to be executed, according to a spokeswoman for the state's prisons. "After careful and exhaustive consideration of the requests, the board voted to grant clemency. The board voted to commute the sentence to life without parole," the parole board said. "He takes full responsibility for his crime and experiences profound remorse," according to Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, an advocacy group, who welcomed the board's decision.
In this case there is NO doubt that this man took the life of someone else, yet he gets to live? Is it because he showed remorse? Because of his color? Because he killed a store manager and not a police officer? As much as I hate to admit it, the justice system is not color blind as it ought to be, smh. The entire world was outraged for various reasons the black man’s sentence was not commuted. Petitions were signed, protests were staged, money was raised, e-mails/phone calls were sent to those who could have saved a life. Instead they chose to kill a man, not knowing if he was guilty or not. 
It is my prayer that Troy Anthony Davis is sitting in the heavens with my God. It is not man’s decision to determine life or that, only God’s. Those that kilt a man who may have been innocent will have to answer for their action on judgment day. My Troy Davis rest in peace and know that his death was NOT in vain. We have the power to bring about a moratorium on the death penalty by voting out those representatives and senators who are steadfast on its use; by enacting the old saying that government is of, by and for the people I am Troy Davis and his cause lives through me…..I hope it lives through you as well!
