Justice Denied

Last week in Georgia, a man was executed for a crime he most likely didn't commit. After being incarcerated for over 20 years, Troy Davis was put to death despite

• the fact that there was no physical evidence that he shot anyone
• the fact that no murder weapon was ever found
• the fact that there was no DNA evidence whatsoever
• the fact that another man confessed to the crime
• the fact that 7 out of 9 eyewitnesses recanted their testimony, saying they were coerced by the prosecution at the time of the trial
• the fact that 3 jurors said that if they knew then what they know now, they would have voted "not guilty".

The fact is, no jury system is 100% correct.  Ever. That being said, assuming the juries in Texas have been correct an astounding 90% of the time, then around 23 of the 235 executions in that state under Governor Rick Perry involved the state sponsored murder of completely innocent people. Let's remember juries are chosen by lawyers based on the likelihood of being able to sway them.

The Innocence Project has documented 266 people scheduled for executions in the last 20 years who were proven to be innocent thanks to DNA testing.

Once you execute someone, you can't take it back.

In addition, it's hypocritical for the far rightwing "right to life" phonies to salivate at the thought of another execution. We heard these pitchfork and torch carriers at the Regressives' debate just 2 weeks ago applauding and cheering when Perry's execution record was merely mentioned (watch the video on blog post for September 14).

More hypocrisy: the far rightwing Teabag crowd that constantly shrieks "the government can't do anything right!" wants to trust the government with the ultimate power of life and death -- the same government these screamers insist is incompetent.

Civilized countries around the world have long banned state sponsored murder. It's still very popular in Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Somalia and the USA. That's the kind of company the Teabaggers and Regressive Republicans want us to keep.