Thursday, September 22, 2011

Tragedy Troy



Well, the State of Georgia just put a scumbag down. Personally, I think this was a mistake. Not because I think Troy Davis was 'innocent', but because I have changed my mind on the Death Penalty. Brian Nichols was on video killing people in the Fulton County Courthouse and he got life in prison. Troy Davis should have got the same.


So between the Amnesty Hippies and the "Fire Up Sparky" crowd, lets take a look at the actual case:


Problems for the prosecution:

1) A big problem for the prosecution was the fact that evidence from a search of Davis's mother's home was thrown out as the police were unable to prove that they acted with probable cause (no warrant). This evidence involved a pair of shorts found in a dryer in the home, as well as anything else.

2) Some have claimed that there was "no" physical evidence. This is not the case.Shell casings recovered at the scene matched the casings recovered from a previous shooting earlier in the evening to which Davis was present for.

3) Proving motive. During testimony at trial a family neighbor Jeffrey Sapp testified that Davis had confessed to the shooting to him. Kevin McQueen a fellow inmate Testified that he had also confessed to him. Stating that he had shot MacPhail for fear of the officer connecting him to the shooting earlier in the evening

4) Additionally based on crime scene reconstruction and testimony at trial, Officer MacPhail upon coming to the aid of Larry Young ran past Sylvester Cole, One could conclude that Davis the only one of those two with a motive to shoot MacPhail. Some of wondered if Coles shot MacPhail? However, the question remains why would he have done that?

5) Sylvester Coles himself was a problem for prosecutors. He admitted at trial that he too owned a .38 caliber, but had given it to another man earlier in the evening. That is a big, big problem for the prosecutors case. Where is the gun?

If one were to argue there is questionable evidence that Davis is guilty, there is even less that Coles is.

Problems with Davis's defense:

The issues with Davis's defense were plenty.

1) Davis's trial for killing the officer was clumped in together with being charged with shooting Cooper and the beating of Larry Young. His defense atty should have objected, as the other alleged crimes would taint the jury against Davis effectively making it look like 1 crime. .

2) Davis fingered for being at the scene of two shootings/three crimes on the same night. The shell casings from both shootings matched. They came from the same .38 caliber. Common denominator: Troy Davis.

3) Davis was also at the scene of the beating of Larry Young, the homeless man in the parking lot the night of MacPhail's death and the person he was trying to assist.

4) Taking off for Atlanta the same night as the shootings. So it is just a coincidence that he flees to Atlanta the same night of the two shootings. Atlanta is a 4 hour ride from Cloverdale (where Davis is from) some 248 miles. If you didn't do anything or weren't involved at all where are you going?

5) The fact that the cop was shot twice implies intent to kill. This isn't a case of a gun mistakenly going off in a struggle. This goes back to the prosecution's argument for motive. Whoever shot MacPhail wanted to be sure he was dead. These things matter to a jury.

6) For the Davis defense and this applies mostly to the appeal process. How reliable are the reenactments of the previous prosecution witnesses? Were they lying then, now or have memories simply faded.

7) How much does their change of testimony reflect the pending execution and how much of it reflects them actually telling the truth "this time". An 80% reenactment rate is rather incredulous. Either there was some massive conspiracy involving cops, neighbors, friends and inmates to convict him or memories are really bad.

8) Some argue that some witnesses were intimidated my police, as some witnesses later stated. However, what about the neighbor Jeffrey Sapp or Kevin McQueen? Why would they lie about a confession? What about the other 20% who stuck by their testimony.

The Verdict:

This focus on this case by people and the media is about the death penalty and that alone. I see signs that say "Free Troy Davis". Even if his execution was commuted he would not be set free.

Even at trial, if the jury had come back without a conviction they would have said "not guilty", not "innocent".

Given the preponderance of albeit circumstantial evidence, I suspect he is guilty.

I suspect that upon realizing Davis would be executed people recanted testimony not because they had lied before, but to keep him from being executed.

Would I commute the execution? Probably, since there are some unknowns. Davis made a choice to shoot MacPhail the second time, which is what seals it for me. However, it just isn't as air tight as I might like for death penalty case, but I do think he is guilty of the crime just the same.

That being said, Troy Davis is not innocent.





Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Davis_case#Shootings_and_arrest
http://legalcases.info/troydavis/
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/troy-davis-executed-parole-board-denies-clemency-131916604.html
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/opinion/stories/2008/10/21/lawtoned_1021.html?cxntlid=inform_sr
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