NS-StateSanctionedLynching

Home ** State-Sanctioned Lynching or Justice Served? **  A man was put to death by legal injection on Wednesday, September 21st in Georgia. Troy Davis was convicted in 1991 of the murder of white off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail in 1989. The murder occurred while MacPhail was working as a security guard for a private business. He came to the aid of a homeless man being beaten and calling for help. MacPhail advanced towards Davis and two other men and was shot and killed. Troy had already faced three execution dates before the final one. Of the 9 original witnesses who testified against Davis, 7 have either recanted or contradicted their previous statements. Several jurors have come out and said that they would have reconsidered their decision in favor of Davis if they had known then what they know now. There is no physical evidence linking Davis to the crime. Davis claims that Sylvester "Redd" Coles, who was present at the scene of the crime was the one who had been in a dispute with the homeless man, Larry Young, and that Redd was also the one who pistol whipped him. Redd Coles was one of the main witnesses who was used during the trial. Coles admitted to possession of the same caliber gun that killed MacPhail, but claims that he had given it to another man earlier that day. Coles is also the one who originally informed police of the shooting. Many organizations and prominent people have spoken out against the execution of Troy Davis. Amnesty International created a petition with hundreds of thousands of signatures from people worldwide voicing their disagreement. Other supporters of Troy Davis include Pope Benedict XVI, Jimmy Carter, Al Sharpton, Bob Barr; a former Republican congressman, and William S. Sessions; former FBI director and judge. (The latter two are supporters of the death penalty but oppose this particular execution.)