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Question any system that puts a life at risk

Victoria Dearborn Norwich

Publication: The Day

Published 09/01/2010 12:00 AM
Updated 09/01/2010 02:02 AM

On Aug. 24, Troy Anthony Davis, a man I consider innocent, was once again placed on death row.

Troy Davis has spent 19 years on death row after being convicted in the murder of Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail and the shooting of Michael Cooper. There was no physical evidence in Mr. Davis' case, the two deaths have been proven to be caused by different guns and since 2001, seven of the nine witnesses have recanted or contradicted their testimony.

In a recent trial, Judge William T. Moore ruled against Mr. Davis, even though he said that "Mr. Davis' new evidence casts some additional, minimal doubt on his conviction." Surely, if we will allow courts to kill a man for his crimes, we should be sure that he committed them.

This is a plea for readers to question the infallibility of a system that places the ability to choose who deserves to live in the hands of the courts; in the hands of other people who are as susceptible to flaws as the rest of us.

Amnesty International recently stated: "As long as there's doubt, there should be no execution. But as long as there's hope, we'll continue to fight for Troy Davis."

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