The murder of a police officer, whose job is to protect your community and keep it safe, is one of the most heinous crimes in society next to child abuse and sexual murder. The type of people who intentionally murder cops are generally on the lower end of value to humanity, remove civility from our society, and deserve to be shut down and eradicated. Question is, how?
Michigan got rid of the death penalty shortly before the state became a Union state. The philosophy of the French Enlightenment and the popularity of Catholicism in the popular trade center called “De-twah,” most notably played a role in eliminating the death penalty before statehood. By doing so, Michigan become one of the first English speaking governments in the world to do so. Most southern states still have capital punishment however, and most southern states also went to war to protect their lazy right to use slavery in their economy, which is also a heinous crime against humanity.
The execution of Troy Davis, a black man living in post-colonial Georgia, is scheduled this Wednesday, September 21st. Davis is convicted of murdering an off duty police officer 21 years ago late one night in a Savannah Burger King. While many witnesses were present to see the event, keep in mind this was the time of night when most people hit the fast food to sober up, as a few of them were drunk.
This case has not gone unnoticed. 50 members of the U.S. Congress have personally signed a request for clemency, stating in the note: “Public faith in the integrity of justice in Georgia is at stake and it is for this reason that we urge you clemency for Troy Davis.” Even the global media heavyweight, The Economist, questioned the series of execution dates, the series of stays, and the circus in the court system that begs to question why Georgia is wavering on its very permanent sentence, and why the State of Georgia has failed to make its case.
Further, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the District Court of Southern Georgia to review the case on whether new evidence should be considered, including the recant of several witness testimonies. The appeal, heard by Judge William T. Moore, a white judge who retired later that year, pushed off the request for retrial with new evidence as nothing but “smoke and mirrors.” He stated in his 170 page ruling:
“After careful consideration and an in-depth review of twenty years of evidence, the Court is left with the firm conviction that while the State's case may not be ironclad, most reasonable jurors would again vote to convict Mr. Davis of Officer MacPhail's murder.”
Yet, Judge Moore failed on the perch of his bench by not allowing another jury to make such decisions based on the continuous change of evidence, and the questionable credibility of the witnesses. And, unfortunately for Judge Moore, who should take a statistics class and realize he does not represent all of America, is flat wrong. A petition of 663,000 signatures to save Troy Davis was presented to the Georgia Pardon and Parole Board last Thursday. This is a significant amount of people who believe the courts are making a mistake, which is a sizable 14% against Georgia’s population, and a compelling number of citizens.
To go after a cop killer is not only justified, its necessary. However, if the evidence continues to shift over time, along with the changing demographs and dynamics that have direct influence in our perceptions, capital punishment fails to address little in the administration of justice, when the facts are in fact, not “iron clad.”
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