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<a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/jacobs05152009.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.counterpunch.org/jacobs05152009.html<br><br>
</a></font><font face="Verdana" size=2 color="#990000">May 15-17,
2009<br><br>
</font><h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4><b>Executions and
the Advancing Police State <br><br>
<br>
</i></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5 color="#990000">
It's Up to You to Save Troy Davis
</b></font></h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>By RON JACOBS
<br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=6 color="#990000">O</font>
<font face="Verdana" size=2>ne wonders how many times this scenario has
played out in the United States. Like a classic crime movie, the
details go something like this: A group of young men, usually
African-American, get involved in an activity of questionable
legality. A police officer (often off-duty) intervenes.
Weapons are drawn by the officer and someone else. The officer ends
up dead. One of the young men is accused of the crime even though
the evidence (if there is any) offers no clear link between the accused
and the crime. Prosecutors rely on witnesses with minimal
credibility to get a conviction. The accused young man is then
sentenced to death. While he sits on death row, questions about the
prosecution and conviction begin to appear in the press. The
prosecution conspires with the judicial system to keep their conviction
intact, refusing any motions for retrial based on new evidence. The
convicted man grows old in prison, facing multiple execution dates that
are only stayed by appeals that never lead to a new trial.<br><br>
This is the case of Troy Davis in one paragraph. The bulk of the
prosecutor's evidence presented at Davis 1991 trial in the murder of an
off-duty policeman in Georgia was based primarily on that of prosecution
witnesses who later recanted their testimony. In addition, most of
them have claimed repeatedly that they were pressured by police to point
to Davis as the perpetrator. No murder weapon was ever found and no
physical evidence linked him to the crime. One of the two main
witnesses who has not recanted was the original suspect in the
crime. <br><br>
Despite a bulk of new evidence, the state of Georgia has refused to grant
a new trial. As recently as April 16th, 2009, Davis’ appeal
for a new trial was rejected by a federal appeals court in a 2-1
decision. The dissenting judge was unsparing in her criticism of
the Georgia's legal case and his death sentence. She wrote:
"To execute Davis, in the face of a significant amount of proffered
evidence that may establish his actual innocence, is unconscionable and
unconstitutional." Yet, the execution of Troy Davis looms in
the distance.<br><br>
Like almost every other case of this nature, the fundamental action that
has kept Davis alive is a popular movement that spans the globe.
From the streets of Atlanta to the chambers of the European Parliament,
thousands have called for Davis's death sentence to be commuted, with
many demanding a new trial based on the new evidence. I recently
communicated with Marlene Martin, an organizer for the National Campaign
to End the Death Penalty--one of the organizations spearheading the
campaign around Troy. When I asked her about the Global Day of
Action for Troy Davis on May 19th, she wrote me this:<br><br>
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<dl>
<dd>The coming global day of Action for Troy Davis on May 19th--which
also happens to be Malcolm X’s birthday--is really important. Troy Davis
is alive today in spite of our legal system, not because of it. The
fact that he hasn’t ever been allowed to present new and compelling
evidence of his innocence to a jury--and could be executed without ever
having the opportunity to do so--is mind-boggling.<br><br>
<dd>The state of Georgia has already tried three times to kill Troy. They
would rather kill him than admit wrongdoing. But they have been
stopped in their tracks each and every time by the movement outside the
courthouse, spearheaded by Troy’s sister Martina Correia. As a
result of her efforts, and Amnesty International and many other
organizations coming together to fight for Troy, people around the
country and around the world know about his case. I get e-mails from all
over -- England, Germany, France, New Zealand Canada--all people that
support Troy.<br><br>
<dd>One thing that’s clear in this fight is we can’t rely on the
courts. We need to build for the day of action to be as big as it
can be, and to keep organizing. Troy represents many, many others
who are in prison today--too poor to afford good representation at trial,
and a person of color.<br><br>
</dl>Also at issue in this case is the entire question of the death
penalty. The United States is one of the few nations in the
so-called free world that continues to practice this barbaric form of
justice. In addition, it also ranks near the top among nations that
do execute some of their criminals. Add to that the well-documented
racial disparity in these executions, especially when looking at the
numbers of whites executed for killing blacks versus the number of blacks
executed for killing whites and those executions seem even more
barbaric. When one considers this, it becomes essential to
challenge not only the execution of Troy Davis, but the political system
that supports the practice of state-sanctioned murder. This
challenge becomes even more necessary when that system also tortures
those it has arrested in its "war on terror" and imprisons them
indefinitely without trial. A land with such a system is closer to
a police state than the land of the free. Unless those who live within
its borders resist these authoritarian policies, there may come a time
when such resistance will find them subject to them.<br><br>
Not only is the movement to commute Troy Davis' execution and get him a
new trial an effort to save a man's life, it is also part of an effort to
prevent an increasingly authoritarian nation from becoming even more
so. Please consider joining the
<a href="http://nodeathpenalty.org/content/index.php">Global Day of
Action for Troy Davis</a> on May 19, 2009<font size=3>.<br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=2>Ron Jacobs</b> is author of
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1859841678/counterpunchmaga">
The Way the Wind Blew: a history of the Weather Underground</a>, which is
just republished by Verso. Jacobs' essay on Big Bill Broonzy is featured
in CounterPunch's collection on music, art and sex,
<a href="http://www.easycarts.net/ecarts/CounterPunch/CP_Books.html">
Serpents in the Garden</a>. His first novel,
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0977459098/counterpunchmaga">
Short Order Frame Up,</a> is published by Mainstay Press. He can be
reached at:
<a href="mailto:rjacobs3625@charter.net">rjacobs3625@charter.net</a>
<br><br>
<br><br>
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