&host=rt.com&uri=/usa/news/inmate-troy-davis-innocence/&via=(none)&ua=CCBot/1.0 (+http://www.commoncrawl.org/bot.html))
US death row inmate Troy Davis' innocence claim rejected
Published: 26 August, 2010, 03:49
Edited: 27 August, 2010, 04:59
TAGS: Crime, Human rights, Law, USA
Troy Davis was convicted of murdering a Georgia police officer in 1991 and sentenced to death. Although the case against him appears to have fallen apart, he remains on death row.
In 2009 the US Supreme Court ordered a new evidentiary hearing for Davis, giving him another opportunity to prove his innocence.
A federal judge has now ruled Davis failed to prove his innocence – despite no physical evidence against him, seven of the nine witnesses recanting their earlier testimonies against him, and still others naming another man all together as the killer. The judge simply referred to the new evidence as "smoke and mirrors.”
The case gained international attention and has led many to believe an innocent man may be put to death.
“You have a case based, like you said in your introduction, completely based on witness testimony, no hard physical evidence, and their witnesses have basically fallen apart entirely,” said Michael Stark, an anti-death penalty activist.
Stark further explained that evidence exists than another individual carried out the murder and actually confessed to doing so to another person. Witnesses have come forward stating that they had lied on the stand at earlier trials, yet the judge ruled against Davis.
“This information was swept aside,” said Stark.
The Pope, through the US Envoy for the Pope, former US President Jimmy Carter and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have come out against the execution of Davis, citing violations of human life and failures in the US justice system.
The Judge in the case admitted that the prosecution had not presented an “ironclad” case; however he argued Davis had not proven his innocence, regardless of the fact that in the US one is supposedly innocent until proven guilty.
“Flipping the standard of proof completely on its head,” said Stark.
Thomas Ruffin Jr., one of the attorneys for Troy Davis called the judge’s decisions a “terrible mistake”. Ruffin explained that the initial trail was unfair due to discrimination and police pressure on witnesses to lie in court, which is why he was awarded another opportunity to present his case.Ruffin said the evidence of Davis’ innocence was powerful and should have lead to a change in verdict, the judge should have seen that the evidence against Davis had fallen apart and did not show guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
“People make mistakes and then in this matter the judge’s decision essentials says, whether there’s a mistake or not what’s more important than whether people made mistakes is the process, and the worshiping of process at the expense of a man’s life, worshiping the process at the expense of proof of innocence that’s discounted is something that discredits the system to a degree I wonder what justice really is,” said Ruffin.
26.08.2010, 00:23
12 comments
Fat in America, Part 1Americans are among the fattest people in the world. According to the World Health Organization, over 60 percent of the general population of the US is obese. |
26.08.2010, 17:46
1 comment
Beautiful spy makes headlines againNot content with provoking an international incident between Russia and the US, femme-fatale Anna Chapman is back in the news after a photo shoot for a Russian glossy magazine. |
What a farcical disgrace! Yet more proof that true justice doesn't exist in the US if you are black and poor. If Mr Davis were the son of a rich, white, christian conservative republican, does anyone honestly believe he would be facing execution? Hang your head in shame America.
An exotic dancer from Moldova who was jailed for not paying her debts in South Africa has helped get the country's law changed.Tatiana Malachi was brought to South Africa in 2008 by House of Rasputin Properties, which ran a Cape Town dance club. The owners said she owed them for the money spent on her accommodation, visas and other travel costs. The owners kept her passport to ensure she paid. When they learned she had sought help from Russian diplomats and planned to leave the country in July 2009, they had her arrested. After spending two weeks in jail she returned to Moldova. In a ruling this week, South Africa's highest court said portions of the country's debt law dating back to 1944 allowing for such detention were unconstitutional. In his ruling, constitutional Court Justice Mogoeng wa Mogoeng ordered anyone being held in prison for unpaid debt should be "released with immediate effect." Mogoeng said that although Malachi triumphed in court, "nothing can undo the degrading effect of incarceration." "Freedom is an important right. The detention of any person without a just cause is a severe and egregious limitation of that right," Mogoeng said. He said it would be difficult to imagine circumstances in which a law allowing detention without cause could be justified.