Troy Davis should not have been executed.
The 42-year-old Savanna, Georgia resident was put to death by lethal injection Sept. 21. Davis spent 22 years in a Georgia penitentiary after being convicted of killing an off-duty police officer in 1989.
Most of the evidence that tied the noose around Davis’ neck was based on eyewitness testimony.
Some ammunition casings also helped link Davis to the crimes, but were considered circumstantial evidence.
The real nail in the coffin was the witnesses’ testimonies.
The problem is that seven of the witnesses who told police they had seen Davis kill the cop have either recanted or changed their testimonies since the trial in 1991.
Witnesses said they felt like they were pressured by police to say Davis was the perpetrator of the crime.
One of the witnesses who recanted her statement, Dorothy Ferrell, said she was “pretty sure” Davis was the person who had shot the man.
In 2000 she said she never saw Davis shoot the policeman.
So, did he commit the heinous crime he was convicted of?
Who knows.
In the United States, criminals are only supposed to be convicted if they are guilty “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
But there is definitely some doubt regarding his guilt.
That’s the real problem.
Before Davis was executed, hundreds of people gathered around the prison, holding signs protesting his death.
Davis was given four stays of execution during his time in prison and appealed his case to the United States Supreme Court multiple times.
The justices refused to hear the case while Davis was alive.
In November, however, the Court will make a ruling on the reliability of eyewitness testimony in court with the case Perry v. New Hampshire.
It will be the first time the Court has ruled on this issue in 34 years.
Whatever the ruling it, it won’t help Davis.
In New Jersey, lawmakers have passed legislation requiring judges to explain to juries the flaws of eyewitness testimony. It should be noted that the state abolished the death penalty in 2007.
A Maryland law requires that prosecutors have DNA evidence against suspects to seek the death penalty.