Dead Nation Walking (CommonDreams)

Published on Wednesday, July 18, 2007 by CommonDreams.org
Dead Nation Walking
by Olga Bonfiglio

Yesterday’s 90-day stay of execution for 38-year-old Troy Anthony Davis has once again focused our nation’s attention on the issue of capital punishment.

Davis, an African American from Savannah, Georgia, has been on death row for more than 15 years for a 1991 murder of white police officer Mark Allen McPhail. Despite his claim that he did not commit the murder, Davis was convicted through witness testimony because authorities could find neither physical evidence nor a murder weapon. Seven of the nine witnesses against him have renounced their testimonies, which they said had been coerced by police. Meanwhile, nine other witnesses have pointed to another man who committed the murder.

If his sentence is commuted, Davis will be the 230th person granted clemency from death row for humanitarian reasons since 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center statistics (http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=126&scid=13 ). Humanitarian reasons include doubts about the defendant’s guilt or conclusions of the governor regarding the death penalty process.

The issue of the death penalty gained particular notice through the work of Sister Helen Prejean, the New Orleans nun made famous by her book, Dead Man Walking, which was later made into a film (1995) and an opera (2000). The former teacher of 25 years serendipitously began her new ministry by agreeing to be a pen pal for Patrick Sonnier, a prisoner on death row. Later, as his spiritual director, Sister Helen discovered that even convicted murderers need not die alone or without dignity. Her witness of Sonnier’s death deeply moved her:

“I was stunned and traumatized,” said Sister Helen. “I kept asking myself, ‘Did I see that? Did they really kill him?’ It was done in the middle of the night, and I felt as though everyone else was asleep and I was the only one awake. That’s what motivated me to be a witness about this process and speak out against it.”

Sister Helen has become a crusader against the death penalty in the United States and throughout the world. She joined the Moratorium Campaign (http://www.moratoriumcampaign.org) to stimulate U.S. citizens’ discussion on the death penalty and to advocate for its elimination. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/18/2596/

http://www.troyanthonydavis.org /
"This Stay could be terminated at any time that the BPP feels they have sufficient evidence to make a decision. Even if they commute Troy's death sentence their only choice will be to commute it to Life Without Parole.

The only chance to have Troy released is to succeed with the appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court. Please take action now and send this online letter to the Board of Pardons and Parole...."

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