July 2, 2009

Larry Chisolm: 'Reopen the Troy Davis Case'


The U.S. Supreme Court delayed a decision on whether to grant Troy Davis an appeal until after it returns from recess in September. The court's decision (or non-decision) should be taken as a good sign. It gives us hope that at least some Supreme Court Justices may finally be waking up to the strong claims of innocence in this case and want to take more time to weigh the facts.

Troy's case continues to inspire the support of millions of activists and countless leaders speaking on behalf of human rights, including former President Jimmy Carter and Archbishop Desmond TuTu.

Our activism has already put the U.S. Supreme Court and Georgia officials on the fence. Now we've got to do all we can these next couple of months to guarantee justice for Troy Davis!

Villagers, we must continue to beat the drums if we hope to get Troy Davis off death row. Davis currently has a final appeal before the US Supreme Court. If the Supreme Court rejects Troy's final appeal, his case returns to Savannah, Georgia, where a new District Attorney will have some life or death decisions to make. DA Larry Chisolm was elected in 2008 and campaigned on a platform to "increase the sense of fairness" in his office.

I ask all villagers to call on DA Chisolm to do everything in his power to prevent an execution, and urge him to reopen the case against Troy Davis, since most of the witnesses responsible for his conviction have now recanted.

Please take a moment to share your VILLAGER VOICE on this death penalty case down below.

4 comments:

Mac Daddy Tribute Blog said...

The death penalty is barbaric. It has no place in a civilized nation. It does not deter crime; and whether it provides some solace or "closure" for families is questionable. Once a person is dead, no punishment of the alleged perpetrator is going to bring that person back.

The decision to put a person to death is a finality that may not be warranted in a society where the poor (women and men), people of color are disproportionately represented in the system due to the racism and sexism within the law enforcement system itself. Therefore, the death penalty should be eliminated not only because it does not serve as a deterrent, does not necessarily provide closure and is barbaric. It is part of a system that oozes inequality and exploitation.

Unknown said...

MacDaddy - Strong words and commentary. I appreciate you for sharing your thoughts on the death penalty. I hope we hear from other villagers as well...

SjP said...

I just do not understand why the justice system is dragging its feet on Troy's case. But, I am hopefull that the SC will make a decision when it returns in September.

Unknown said...

Sojourner - My hope is that the delay at the Supreme Court is because one or more of them may be siding with Troy's side of this case. We can only hope ... and continue to put pressure on Larry Chisholm...