Radio personality Neal Boortz Tuesday opined that we ought to be able to execute some criminals within weeks of their crimes, after some sort of presumably half-hearted administrative hearing.
It's a good bet that if Boortz had his way, Troy Davis would have been dead long ago.
It seemed so clear 18 years ago that the Georgia death row inmate was guilty, guilty, guilty of gunning down off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail in Savannah, Ga., after the part-time security guard came to the aid of a homeless man being accosted.
But since then, seven witnesses against Davis have recanted, and some have pointed to the prosecution's star witness as the possible killer.
Yes, the case has been debated for nearly two decades. Yes, several courts have turned away Davis' appeals.
But we should be prepared to go to the moon and back in order to avoid executing an innocent man. Every stone must be turned, every possibility fully explored, every alternative narrative put to rest to the extent possible. Justice demands no less of us.
So we welcome the U.S. Supreme Court's effective stay this week of Davis' sentence while a federal court investigates his claims of innocence.
"The substantial risk of putting an innocent man to death clearly provides an adequate justification for holding an evidentiary hearing," wrote Justice John Paul Stevens. "It 'would be an atrocious violation of our Constitution and the principles on which it is based' to execute an innocent person," he added, quoting another judge.
With doubts about this case both chronic and acute -- and an international coterie of luminaries such as the pope and former President Carter supporting Davis -- neither the state of Georgia nor capital punishment supporters worldwide need to have Davis made into a martyr.
Nor should we lose sight of the fact that a young family man was shot in cold blood precisely 20 years ago today.
No one is more adamant in pursuit of justice and just punishments than this editorial page. As such, we sympathize deeply with the family of Officer MacPhail. It must be beyond maddening to see this case draw out even beyond 20 years.
And yet, we shouldn't want retribution so much as justice. The former suffers more from lengthy delays than the latter. Injustice is available at the snap of a finger; justice takes much longer.
The U.S. Supreme Court's historic intervention -- it rarely plucks a case that has yet to work its way through the federal appeals court system -- means that the Davis case will be played out to a sane and just conclusion while Davis still draws breath.
Neither side should be discouraged by that.
The Augusta Chronicle ©2010 Morris Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Michael, thanks for your proper recognition of Mr. Boortz as a radio personality, not as a journalist or news analyst- to the consternation of his fans.
Don't you just love those right wing talking radio heads on the radio. Or as Elmer Fudd would say:Don't you just wuv those wight wing talking wadioheads on the wadio. Seriously, I hope this case comes out in favor of Mr Davis. It sounds like many of the witness's statements were due to coercion, if not from the police, then from the "star" witness himself.
Our justice should not be based on half-hearted hearings but on the truth. I would rather let this man walk free than execute an innocent person. There are some people, however, I do feel should be punished immediately and harshly - child molesters come to mind real fast. Tech Lover - right wing radio heads on the radio and elsewhere sound an awful lot like the left wing nutcases on the radio and elsewhere. They are all spouting inaccuracies or downright lies to make their causes sound worthy.
I think I certainly don't know for sure that this is a case where the police thought they had their man and convinced the public/witnesses to go along to get this cop killer of the street. I mean the witnesses thought they were doing a civic duty then they realized the police may have the wrong guy and they started having second thoughts about being less than truthful.
hopefully we won't let this miscarriage of justice prevent us from getting rid of the REAL monsters like Brian Nichols.. who by some brand of reason that is beyond me, now rots behind bars... instead of six feet under..
TECH quoting Elmer Fudd...birds of a feather. Of course, there are no guilty people on death row. Everyone of them are innocent as newborn babies.
This seems to be a very confusing case. Maybe if we wait another 20 or 25 years, everyone who testified against Davis will recant and we can release him. The testimony given during his trial couldn't have been right back when memories were fresh. Someone must have influenced the witnesses back then, unlike the situation we have now.
Everyone seems to forget, he was there when the murder took place and was a party to it, even if he didn't actually pull the trigger! That makes him just as guilty as if he did!
He is guilty. It's past time for him to pay the price.
The case Boortz is referring to - a man surrounded by police put a gun to his kidnapped pregnant girlfriends head and killed her. I am sure in twenty years and thousands of tax payer dollars later we will read a column about how he is innocent.
Unfortunately, there have been cases in which overzealous police and prosecutors pursue convictions instead of truth. Is the Davis case such an instance? It is good that the courts are, at long last, going to make sure. The courts should be absolutely certain before they execute anybody. Actually, many of our courts should be more careful in general than they are today, even in non-capital cases.
Gee, Riverman, you're absolutely sure of this? What info are you basing this on? Were you on the jury? ColdBeer, I think the preponderance of guilt thankfully needs a little more proof than just being there. What surprises me about this column is the AC's stance. I figured they would just follow the opinion of Scalia and Thomas on this one. Could Michael Ryan be growing some compassion? I seriously doubt that. I think he's just pandering to the level-headed people that have no other newspapers in their city to read.
Yes, Rhetor, much more careful. I bet the 21 yr old woman and her month old baby who were shot and brutalized this week in Atl. by a 17 yr old punk who was out on $250K bond for killing a pharmacist wish the courts would be more careful.
Lobo, a jury convicted him and they knew more than either of us. Appellate courts turned down his appeals. They know more than either of us. Yes, he's guilty.
Lobo...How much compassion would you have if he had been convicted of murdering one of your family members 20 years ago? Yea right...Thats what I figured. You bleeding hearts just kill me.
Heres the problem: The system that determines "guilt" is horribly flawed based on race, so how can "we" trust a flawed system designed to do harm to particular groups. And Boortz is usually up to no good because rednecks are his primary audience...nothing new here.
What system do you propose we use, Justus4?
This guy's caase has been up and down the court system many times---each time the appeal woas denied or the verdict stood. It is way time this case needs to be laid to rest with davis 6ft under!
Hey JUSTUS...nice to see your usual idiot rants today. But, where is your "non-minority media" charge? Don't tell me you're slipping.
The witnesses, according to past reports, did not recant until a few years after the original trial; why did they wait so long? In past appeals, although there was the hue and cry of "new evidence," the appellate courts did not see any new evidence in the attorney's presentations. I think the dissenting judges pegged the correct verdict and there should be no further hearings. Davis is like many other murderers, they want to live but it doesn't matter that they deprived another person their right to live. Justice is not being served in this case.
Justthe facts, I have a simple question for you. If the courts convict the wrong person, and let the real killer go free, how does this help to stop crime?
After 20 years of pressure from race baiting liberal organizations some of the witnesses suddently recant. Bull!!! After 20 years there cannot possibly be a "fair" trial. Failing memories, witnesses pressured by peer groups, witness remorse for sending a young man to his death are all reasons why the FIRST TRIAL IS THE TRUE "FAIREST" TRIAL. Fair for the public. Fair for the victim and their families. Anything that happens AFTER the first trial is slanted in favor of the criminal. Anything that happens 20 years after the first trial is a gimmee for an aquital. And all of this is based on race baiting. Nothing to do with "new evidence". If this murderer gets off....and he probably will.....I hope the prosecutor puts every witness who recanted in prison for perjury in the original trial and subsequent appeals.
Thank you, Augusta Chronicle editors!
Georgias#!- Let's put the shoe on the other foot. What if you were that innocent person on death row? Wouldn't you want everything the legal system can do to prevent your murder by the state of GA?
Here's my question, if Davis stands trial a second time and is found guilty again, will the defenders then shut up, or will they still be screaming unfair justice? James Earl Ray claimed he was innocent in the murder of Martin Luther King till the day he died. I never heard any libs asking for him to get a new trial. His race certainly didn't help him. I have no problem keeping Davis locked up, but come on people, do you really think he's innocent?
It's simple, the State must stop killing.
I certainly don't know the details of the Davis case, however, it seems the trial was based on eye witness testimony. There are numerous studies that eye witness testimony is not reliable.
The police need better aim
Tell you what SJGRACI, why don't you tell murderers to stop killing? I don't see any justice when some dirtbag kills a man trying to help another. Davis, according to testimony, shot this man once. As he was down on the ground, he put the gun right to the victim's face and pulled the trigger again. Yeah, that sounds like a case of mercy to me. Funny how the witnesses changed their testimony after the case got so much publicity. I don't see a single word posted by you, TEHARPER, or any of the other libs about the victim or his family, only how terrible Troy Davis, who by his own admission is no angel, is a victim. Sad.
The only justice anyone needs here is the cops family, put Davis under!