"georgia Executes Davis"

[Innocent]

This is from the newspaper, but the article is from AP:
[b] [size=3][url="http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article2475540.ece"]Georgia executes Davis; supporters claim injustice[/url][/size][/b]


What caught my attention was this paragraph in the middle of the article:
[quote]

Amnesty International says nearly 1 million people have signed a petition on Davis’ behalf. His supporters include former President Jimmy Carter,[b] Pope Benedict XVI[/b], a former FBI director, the NAACP, several conservative figures and many celebrities, including hip—hop star Sean “P. Diddy” Combs.[/quote]

Does this mean that some Vatican official acting for the Pope has signed this petition on his behalf? Or is this an error on AP's part?

[rachael]

It's not an error.

[Brother Adam]

Whether or not the Holy Father is aware of the case, the Church is opposed on moral grounds, of his execution.

[Adrestia]

There was no physical evidence against him. Seven of nine eyewitnesses recanted their testimony, some claiming they were coerced by the police.

Eyewitness testimony is the least reliable form of evidence, and, in my opinion, should not be used to put someone to death.

According to the NPR story, Pope Benedict XVI's U.S. envoy sent a letter pleading for his life.
Even staunch conservatives were pleading for Troy Davis. From the NPR story: Former Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson, who served under President George W. Bush, urged the pardons board to grant Davis clemency because "it is clear now that the doubts plaguing his case can never be adequately addressed." And former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr said in a letter that "even for death penalty supporters such as myself, the level of doubt inherent in this case is troubling."

[BG45]

4 trials he went through. Over the 20 years, 7 of 9 witnesses recanted their testimony as Adrestia said, and eyewitness testimony is usually only in the 20% accuracy range anyhow; even with trained individuals it's not that much higher.

I'm pro-life (and that includes the death penalty in addition to abortion) and I truly feel that this was wrong. I will give a nod to CNN though; right after they announced Troy Davis had been executed at 11:08pm, EST, Anderson Cooper just kind of stared in shock and cut off his legal analyst so they could listen to the reaction of Davis' supporters who had gathered at the Supreme Court. There was nothing but total silence and they stayed on that silence for a good 30 seconds instead of exploiting the sensationalism they could have at that moment given a man had just been put to death on dubious grounds.

[Innocent]

Thanks for the information. Today is the first time I've heard of this case, so I didn't know anything about the background

[dominicansoul]

the death penalty has to go... in this day and age, we have the means to keep a dangerous criminal behind bars for life without having the necessity to put him to death...

I'm happy to hear Pope Benny's sig was on that petition...rightfully so


...not to mention, it is very hypocritical to execute one man for "justice's" sake, when you have another man murderering babies just down the block at the abortion mill, and he gets to go about living his life without any penalties whatsoever...

[Brother Adam]

[quote]
[b]CCC 2267 [/b]Assuming that the guilty party's identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.

[u]If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people's safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and are more in conformity to the dignity of the human person. [/u]

Today, in fact, as a consequence of the possibilities which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm - without definitely taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself - the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity "are very rare, if not practically non-existent."[/quote]

[Basilisa Marie]

The Supreme Court spent three hours with the case before they denied the stay of execution. I really want to know what they were talking about, and if someone was writing a dissenting opinion or something. Normally these things are settled in minutes, even at the 11th hour.

Edited September 22, 2011 by Basilisa Marie

[she_who_is_not]

There were no dissents. Davis was granted an innocence hearing a year or two ago. However, the standard to prove innocence is a heavier burden than that to establish guilt. Without DNA evidence, it is close to impossible to establish innocence. I'm assuming the Court was examining the record from that hearing to establish that it was proper.

[CatherineM]

What struck me is that an interview of the murdered cop's mom. She said that she hoped that the execution would give her closure. Research shows that never happens. Family members of murder victims come to acceptance/closure much more quickly when the bad guy gets life in prison. Forgiveness gets you there the quickest. They are sold a bag of goods when they are told that the execution will solve everything for them.

[MithLuin]

In general, the Catholic Church is opposed to the use of the death penalty in nations with functioning prison systems. We do recognize the authority of the government to execute a condemned criminal (so it's not...murder), but we consider it an unjust use of this authority when other nonlethal punishments are available. Just as the 'just war' doctrine means that there are circumstances in which war can be just, but not all wars are just (most are actually quite unjust).

Here's more information on Pope Benedict's involvement:

[quote]

ATLANTA - The state clemency board reviewing the death sentence of Troy Anthony Davis is continuing to receive an unprecedented amount of letters about the case, ranging from Savannah neighbors to international religious leaders.

[b]The Vatican added its support this week for commuting Davis' sentence to life in prison without parole.[/b]

[b]A U.S. envoy for Pope Benedict XVI, the leader of 1.1 billion Roman Catholics worldwide, sent a letter urging state officials to consider the special circumstances in the case, specifically that Davis' "conviction was not based on any physical evidence, and the murder weapon was never found."[/b]

[b]"The pope continually exhorts all people, and especially those men and women who serve in government, to recognize the sacredness of all human life," wrote Monsignor Martin Krebs. "I reiterate the commitment of the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, to uphold the sacredness and dignity of all human life, and I hope that you will give heed to his petition." [/b]

Krebs' letter was mailed early this week to Gov. Sonny Perdue's office. Staff members there forwarded it to the state Board of Pardons and Paroles to add to its sizable stack of petitions.

Lost authority

The governor's office lost its clemency authority in 1943 during a push to reduce its powers after Gov. Eugene Talmadge's term, according to the University of Georgia's Carl Vinson Institute of Government.

Now, Georgia is one of only three states in which the governor has no authority to grant clemency.

However, as with any state board, the governor can apply political pressure. The governor appoints board members, and the board is part of the executive branch. Fourteen states place clemency responsibility solely with the governor, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

In Savannah, family and friends were hopeful that a plea from the pope would result in clemency.

"If you are truly doing the right thing, God will open doors for you that no man can," said Nadra Enzi, who has worked with the Davis family, organizing community events. "How often does the pope make statements like this? Hopefully the pope's pleas for mercy will transcend political and racial lines."

A call to Davis' mother, Virginia, was not returned Friday afternoon.

Jason Ewart, an appeal attorney for Davis, said he was upbeat about the pope's involvement.

"I think most people could discern that the pope is against all loss of life. He's an abolitionist when it comes to the death penalty," Ewart said. "But you don't hear his name associated with every death penalty case. I think he came out on this case because it's an example of a needless loss of life."

Review time

Georgia's five-member clemency board on Monday granted Davis a 90-day stay so members can spend more time reviewing his clemency request. Davis had been scheduled to die Tuesday night by lethal injection.

The letter on behalf of the pope is one of thousands that have been filed with the board in recent weeks, including petitions from other well-known people such as South African cleric Desmond Tutu and Sister Helen Prejean, who wrote the book "Dead Man Walking."

Scheree Lipscomb, spokeswoman for the pardons and paroles board, said the agency has received thousands of letters and e-mails, including form letters supplied by Amnesty International through its Web site.

She said she has received 700 messages since the board issued its delay. Lipscomb said letters, whether from the pope or an interested individual, are all treated the same and are put into the case's file. She said she could not comment on the content of letters, including whether some have opposed commuting the death sentence for Davis.

Krebs stated in his letter, which was provided by Perdue's office, that he was conscious of the suffering felt by crime victims' family members and loved ones.
Davis attorney Jason Ewart said he was surprised when he heard the pope had taken an interest in the case as well as the overall response.

"I think it's an overwhelming volume that shows people are concerned about this case," he said. "I think that this thing has a lot of resonance because of the way the court has mistreated the case, in my opinion."

[url="http://savannahnow.com/troy-davis/2007-07-20/pope-makes-plea-spare-life-troy-davis"]http://savannahnow.c...life-troy-davis[/url]
[/quote]
[left][size=4][size=4]Reverend Monsignor Martin Krebs, Charge d'Affaires ad interim, represented Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States at the installation of Bishop Burbage in Raleigh in 2006. ([url="http://www.sacredheartcathedral.org/bishop.htm"]source[/url]) Likewise, he represented the pope at the installation of Archbishop Nienstedt in Minneapolis/St. Paul in 2007. ([url="http://www.dnu.org/bishop/062907-homily-massofreception-stpaul.html"]source[/url]) In the same role (Charge d'Affaires for the papal nuncio), he informed Bishop O'Brien that he would be Cardinal Keeler's successor in Baltimore and made the announcement that Bishop Zubik would be the new bishop of Pittsburgh in 2007. Other than that, I have no clue who he is. But since he apparently works for the papal nuncio, he has every authority to speak in the pope's name in a case like this...he's like a diplomat from the Vatican. [/size] [/size][/left]

Edited September 22, 2011 by MithLuin

[faithcecelia]

I am so relieved to live in a country where we do not any longer use capital punishment - it makes the doctor/executioner etc a murderer themselves and I cannot ever see how its condifered acceptible insupposedly developed countries. Murder is worder.

[LaPetiteSoeur]

We discussed this in one of my classes. Tons of my classmates were sure that "the death penalty saves money." Um, no it doesn't. It actually costs more than life in prison. But I unfortunately can't find any website that supports what I was told in high school.

Then I was yelled at (I'm pretty sure everyone there thinks I'm a nut, since I don't believe in abortion, nor gay marriage, nor IVF, nor consensual cannibalism, etc) because everyone thinks I'm some kind of socialist/communist.

Thankfully, a girl in the class shares the same beliefs I do, so we ate lunch and vented about how hard it is to be pro-gun control, anti-death penalty, etc. in a Southern state.

[Lil Red]

[quote name='BG45' timestamp='1316693189' post='2308480']4 trials he went through. Over the 20 years, 7 of 9 witnesses recanted their testimony as Adrestia said, and eyewitness testimony is usually only in the 20% accuracy range anyhow; even with trained individuals it's not that much higher.[/quote]
there were more than 9 witnesses. here are two different articles about it (yes, i know one is Ann Coulter, everyone spare me the h8r rage on her and actually read her post). the other is from Ace of Spades.

[url="http://www.anncoulter.com/columns/2011-09-21.html"]Ann Coulter's article[/url]
[url="http://ace.mu.nu/archives/321688.php"]Ace of Spades article[/url]
and the [url="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2016278511_apusgeorgiaexecutionpathtothechamber.html"]AP piece[/url] that Ace links to.