Troy Davis execution

[Razgovory]

I'm a bit confused by people claiming what Berkut said or was going to say.  Berkut has never been one to shy away from telling us what he thinks, I think he can speak for himself.

[Capetan Mihali]

Stay denied, they should be killing him as we speak.

[Ideologue]

That sucks.  Take solace in the knowledge that a swift death is preferable to one more month imprisoned.

[Capetan Mihali]

One of the guys who dragged James Byrd to death back in the late 90s was executed tonight in Texas as well.  What an exciting evening for the justice system.

[OttoVonBismarck]

I wish I could decapitate him with a rusty axe and bathe in his blood.

[Habbaku]

 

[CountDeMoney]

I'm just pointing out than in Europe we have decided universally that death penalty is a basic violation of human rights.

I'm rather happy to be a part of culture that considers human life to be more valuable than an ability to express a belief in imaginary creatures.

You're so happy being part of a culture that considers human life to be more valuable than an ability to express a belief in imaginary creatures, why don't you come out of the closet already and find out exactly how much that culture values your human life, cocknibbler.

[Capetan Mihali]

Troy Anthony Davis, 10/9/1968 -- 11:08pm EST, 9/21/2011. 

Cause of death: homicide.

[CountDeMoney]

Troy Anthony Davis, 10/9/1968 -- 11:08pm 9/21/2011.  Cause of death: homicide.

Oh, please.

[Capetan Mihali]

Troy Anthony Davis, 10/9/1968 -- 11:08pm 9/21/2011.  Cause of death: homicide.

Oh, please.

It's what goes on the coroner's report.

[Ideologue]

Now, now.  Let's focus on the important things instead: buying Exocets to fire at Japanese whaling ships.  Take no prisoners, unless they look good in a dress.

[OttoVonBismarck]

I don't really give a shit about concepts like "oh let's not be barbaric" and I also don't, and will not ever, allow a bunch of Jew-murdering bigots in Europe be the ones to dictate to me what is and is not barbarism.

That being said, the truth about the death penalty in America is it's something applied to less than 0.1% of murderers (we've killed 35 this year or so), and generates a massive amount of controversy. I just simply do not see a point to it anymore. I'm fine with its philosophical underpinnings, but the way the system is set up it is not really a fairly applied punishment. Basically if, subjectively, a jury decides you need an example made of you then you win the DP lottery. You're then one of like 3500-4000 dudes who get to live on death row indefinitely (and if you're on death row in states like Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, California which only vaguely have the DP you're essentially going to die of natural causes in any case.)

I also don't really buy that this guy had any particularly strong problems with his case. He was convicted based on the testimony of many eyewitnesses, later some of those witnesses recanted--however those recantations were reviewed by many, many layers of appellate courts. He was even given a brand new evidentiary hearing at the district court level awhile back and the judge there did not find those recantations credible. Essentially every judge from Georgia state court up through the SCOTUS said "yeah, the recantations aren't credible." That probably means there was something highly fishy about the testimony they were given that "exonerated" this guy. Meaning reasonable doubt was met, and that means he was legally and rightfully eligible for whatever sentence existed under statute at the time--in this case execution was one of those sentences.

The Duane Buck case was a lot more compelling. In his case you had a state psychologist who said at his sentencing hearing that Buck was more dangerous because he was black--essentially making him a witness whose testimony seriously injured Buck's rights with his testimony. Something like five other death row inmates in Texas had that same racist psychologist testify at their sentencing hearing. What happened with those five? They said, "yeah, this tainted the sentencing hearing, so they get new ones." All five got brand new sentencing hearings during which they could have been spared death, in all five they were sentenced to death again. For whatever reason Buck has been denied a new sentencing hearing of his own. No one doubts what the outcome would be, but many (myself included) feel the justice system needs to at least try to work the same for everyone, and when you have six people on death row in the exact same situation, and you deal with 5 of them in one way and 1 of them in a different way, it injures one's sense of equal treatment before the law. In Buck's case it is truly just a legal concern, though, Buck killed his girlfriend and injured another person in the process--the person he tried to kill along with his girlfriend personally knew Buck and testified that it was Buck that attacked and killed him and that attacked and killed Buck's girlfriend--his guilt is essentially unquestioned factually.

[Neil]

Justice has been served.

[CountDeMoney]

Well Euros, if it makes you feel any better, I'd have swapped this guy out to give Mumia the needle ASfuckingAP instead.

[OttoVonBismarck]

Well Euros, if it makes you feel any better, I'd have swapped this guy out to give Mumia the needle ASfuckingAP instead.

What will be really interesting is 50 years from now when I'm half senile in a nursing home (being optimistic, I'll probably just be dead) Europe will be governed by sharia law and they'll be beheading teenage girls for holding hands with a boy in public; but I'm sure Marti (or rather the Marti of that era, as the real Marti will have long since died from HIV) will still call us the barbarians.