In Memoriam: Martina Davis Correia

Today we mourn the passing of Martina Davis Correia, sister of Troy Anthony Davis and tireless fighter of the death penalty. Martina died this Thursday at the age of 44 after a long fight with breast cancer and a 22 year battle to free her brother Troy from death row until his execution by lethal injection this past September.

Martina was unflagging in her efforts to clear her brother Troy's name and resolute in her commitment to end the unjust capital punishment system in the U.S. Curt Goering, chief operating officer of Amnesty International USA, said of Martina,

“Our hearts are breaking over the loss of this extraordinary woman. She fought to save her brother’s life with courage, strength and determination, every step of the way. She was a powerful example of how one person can make a difference as she led the fight for justice for Troy Davis, even as she endured her own decade-long battle with cancer.

"She was a tenacious fighter, a graceful inspiration to activists everywhere, and a true hero of the movement for human rights. At this sorrowful time, we at Amnesty International offer our profound sympathy to her family.”

Martina gave us much to work for. After the passing of her brother on September 21, 2011, Martina pledged to continue the fight against capital punishment and refused to see his death as a failure. She said,

"I want people to know that we didn't fail. As long as we keep hammering away at this thing, as long as we refuse to give up, we haven't failed. We'll be doing what Troy would have wanted us to do."

Laura Moye, Death Penalty Abolition Campaign coordinator for Amnesty International USA was with Martina during her last moments in the hospital. In a statement she made to Atlanta Progressive News, Moye said of Martina,

“She was a true champion and hero for human rights in the U.S. and beyond. She changed all of us and she changed this world. We know her spirit is very strong and is going to continue to be a force for changing this world for the better."

We absolutely cannot let the passing of Troy and now, the passing of Martina, to be in vain. We will mourn them both and we will remember the hardships of their family over these past few months and years. We will remember and we will be thankful for their commitment to ending this unjust system of state-sanctioned murder. We will do these things and we will also pick up the torch that both Troy and Martina carried and we will work just as tirelessly as they did to end capital punishment. We must make Martina proud and honor her name by continuing the work that she felt so passionately about.

Photo: World Coalition Against the Death Penalty/Wikimedia

Article also published at The Progressive Playbook.

Two Months

It's been two months since Troy Davis was executed by the state of Georgia and yet I still find it hard to believe that we allowed it to happen. Yes, we allowed it to happen. Sure, we signed petitions, made phone calls, sent emails and some of us did even more. We wrote letters to the editors of our local newspapers. We tweeted, talked to our friends, wore our "I AM TROY DAVIS" shirts. We watched Amy Goodman reporting live from the protest site near the death house. We held our collective breath and then dared to hope again when word came that something was happening at the Supreme Court. When we heard that the execution had not been stayed and that the execution, no, the murder, of Troy Davis was actually going to happen, we were horrified -- not surprised really, but horrified still.

This past weekend I gathered with friends and colleagues who dedicate their lives to abolitioning the death penalty. It was great to see them and yet I felt distant, almost numb. Is Troy really dead? Being with my fellow abolitionists felt surreal. Last time we were all together, Troy was still alive and we were hopeful.

We did a post mortem of the campaign to save Troy. Post mortem - I never realized what a chilling phrase that is. We listened as those who were there that night told their stories. I am so proud of their work and humbled to be among them. We learned from each other, made plans and pledged to continue the fight.

But when I returned to my room each night, I cried. I am still so overwhelmed by sadness and disbelief. How did we let this happen? How is it, that as a country, we still cling to the hope that executing a human being will make things better? How long will we believe in the false promise of closure? What is the source of our lust for revenge? What is it going to take to end the killing? How on earth can the agents of our government be such cold-blooded killers?

I have so many questions tonight and so much sorrow in my heart. I know we tried to stop the execution of Troy Anthony Davis. It wasn't enough. We have to do better. We have to demand that our legislators change the laws that give a state the right to commit murder in our names. We have to talk to our county commissioners and tell them that spending one penny in an attempt to commit murder is wrong and that we will not tolerate it any longer. We have to go to court when the sentence of death is sought. We have to be there to watch, to take notes and to look into the eyes of those who would kill in our names. We have to show the prosecutors and judges and jurors that they do not do their work in a vacuum. We have to educate ourselves on how this insanity can still happen in the United States of America and, most of all, we have to stop the killing. We have to stop it now. We cannot let this continue. We are all Troy Davis.

Moving Forward

Although it has been happening painfully and slowly, the U.S. is beginning to show promise as capital punishment is becoming less and less favorable throughout the country. A New York Times editorial from Oct. 14, The Death Penalty's De Facto Abolition, highlighted this positive move forward as the United States struggles to catch up with the rest of the world with regards to the death penalty.

"From their annual high points since the penalty was reinstated 35 years ago, the number executed has dropped by half, and the number sentenced to death has dropped by almost two-thirds. Sixteen states don’t allow the penalty, and eight of the states that do have not carried out an execution in 12 years or more."

We still have far to go, however. As many people are aware, September marked a very dark day for the U.S., when Georgia decided to execute Troy Anthony Davis, a man who spent many years on death row and was finally killed on September 21, 2011, despite too much doubt about his case. On that same day, Lawrence Brewer, a man convicted of the most henious of hate crimes whose guilt was not under question, was also executed in Texas, marking the 475 execution in the state since 1976 when the death penalty was re-instated.

In Pennsylvania, we have a lot of work to do as well. Pennsylvania currently has 219 people on death row, and, while PA has only executed 3 individuals since 1976, the death penalty remains a wildly expensive, and racially/socio-economically unbalanced program.

We can take so much, however, from such travesties as the Troy Davis case, just as Troy himself did when he stated to Amnesty International,

"The struggle for justice doesn't end with me. This struggle is for all the Troy Davises who came before me and all the ones who will come after me. I'm in good spirits and I'm prayerful and at peace. But I will not stop fighting until I've taken my last breath."

Troy and his family never stopped fighting and Troy's sister, Martina Correia, vowed even after his death to continue the fight against capital punishment in ALL cases. We all, across the planet, fought hard to save Troy's life and we will continue that fight even in the face of adversity. We will continue to fight for those whose guilt is questioned, like Troy, and even for those, like Lawrence Brewer, whose guilt is clear and whose motives are abhorrent. We will fight for those who have clearly been wronged by the justice system and we will fight for the racist murderer. We will fight for them because we know that no one has the right to take the life of another. Continue this good fight. End the death penalty in Pennsylvania and end the death penalty in the United States.

The Fight Continues

I watched dumbfounded last night as the state of Georgia and the U.S. Supreme Court decided to murder Troy Davis at 11:08 p.m. It is disgusting, it is disappointing, and yes, it is even discouraging to see that all of the work that so many people did to try to save Troy ended with his death. Yet, it is important that we all remember the words that Troy himself said,

he struggle for justice doesn't end with me. This struggle is for all the Troy Davises who came before me and all the ones who will come after me. I'm in good spirits and I'm prayerful and at peace. But I will not stop fighting until I've taken my last breath."

We need to take a lesson from Troy today and understand that while we may not have been able to spare Troy last night, while the government may have ignored our cries to spare him and to end these unjust, state-sanctioned murders, while it may seem bleak and hopeless now, we must not stop our fight to end the death penalty in the United States. We must, as Troy said, not stop fighting until we take our last breath. We must not let Troy's death be in vain. Today, as we mourn Troy's death we must also be revitalized, and know that the fight is not over, and, if nothing else can come of this, there is at least fuel to our fire to end capital punishment in this country. Troy will not die for nothing. When the day comes that the government finally listens to our cries and sees that the death penalty is arbitrary, racially skewed, and socio-economically skewed, and when they decide to put a moratorium on the death penalty, then we will thank Troy for the terrible sacrifice that he made so bravely in the name of justice.

Don't give up the fight. Stand tall against the death penalty and do not be discouraged. Today, our thoughts are with Troy's family in mourning. Tomorrow, our thoughts will be focused on ending this injustice in our country.

Troy Davis: Ten reasons why he should not be executed

From Ed Pilkington at The Guardian.

In 2007 the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, the body which has the final say in the state on whether executions should go ahead, made a solemn promise. Troy Davis, the prisoner who is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 7pm local time on Wednesday, would never be put to death unless there was "no doubt" about his guilt.
Here are 10 reasons why the board – which decided on Tuesday to allow the execution to go ahead – has failed to deliver on its promise and why a man who is very possibly innocent will be killed in the name of American justice.
1. Of the nine witnesses who appeared at Davis's 1991 trial who said they had seen Davis beating up a homeless man in a dispute over a bottle of beer and then shooting to death a police officer, Mark MacPhail, who was acting as a good samaritan, seven have since recanted their evidence.
2. One of those who recanted, Antoine Williams, subsequently revealed they had no idea who shot the officer and that they were illiterate – meaning they could not read the police statements that they had signed at the time of the murder in 1989. Others said they had falsely testified that they had overheard Davis confess to the murder.
3. Many of those who retracted their evidence said that they had been cajoled by police into testifying against Davis. Some said they had been threatened with being put on trial themselves if they did not co-operate.
4. Of the two of the nine key witnesses who have not changed their story publicly, one has kept silent for the past 20 years and refuses to talk, and the other is Sylvester Coles. Coles was the man who first came forward to police and implicated Davis as the killer. But over the past 20 years evidence has grown that Coles himself may be the gunman and that he was fingering Davis to save his own skin.
5. In total, nine people have come forward with evidence that implicates Coles. Most recently, on Monday the George Board of Pardons and Paroles heard from Quiana Glover who told the panel that in June 2009 she had heard Coles, who had been drinking heavily, confess to the murder of MacPhail.
6. Apart from the witness evidence, most of which has since been cast into doubt, there was no forensic evidence gathered that links Davis to the killing.
7. In particular, there is no DNA evidence of any sort. The human rights group the Constitution Project points out that three-quarters of those prisoners who have been exonerated and declared innocent in the US were convicted at least in part on the basis of faulty eyewitness testimony.
8. No gun was ever found connected to the murder. Coles later admitted that he owned the same type of .38-calibre gun that had delivered the fatal bullets, but that he had given it away to another man earlier on the night of the shooting.
9. Higher courts in the US have repeatedly refused to grant Davis a retrial on the grounds that he had failed to "prove his innocence". His supporters counter that where the ultimate penalty is at stake, it should be for the courts to be beyond any reasonable doubt of his guilt.
10. Even if you set aside the issue of Davis's innocence or guilt, the manner of his execution tonight is cruel and unnatural. If the execution goes ahead as expected, it would be the fourth scheduled execution date for this prisoner. In 2008 he was given a stay just 90 minutes before he was set to die. Experts in death row say such multiple experiences with imminent death is tantamount to torture.

Article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/21/troy-davis-10-reasons?newsfeed=true

UPDATE on Troy Davis

Just a few quick updates on Troy Davis:

A defense attorney for Troy Davis, Stephen Marsh, said today that Georgia Department of Corrections have denied his request to administer a polygraph test to Davis. Why the request was denied is still not known. Davis is still scheduled to be executed this evening, September 21, 2011, at 7 p.m.

The list of supporters for Davis has grown, as even supporters of the death penalty urge the George Board of Pardons and Paroles to reconsider their decision to not grant Davis clemency. William Sessions, former head of the FBI under Reagan, the Pope, Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, Former President Jimmy Carter, and Georgia Supreme Court Justice Norman Fletcher have already made their support for Davis known. Additionally, former Georgia Congressman Bob Barr has stated that while he supports the death penalty, there is simply TOO MUCH DOUBT to execute Troy Davis. Also, Mark White, former governor of Texas who preside over the executions of 19 people during his time in office has also shown his support for Davis saying he should not be executed.

Clearly, the huge push by human rights groups and other groups across the country have been working, as the phone lines for the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles have been busy throughout the day. I urge all of you to continue calling and emailing the Board to reconsider and grant Davis clemency. Call them at: 404-656-5651 or email: clemency_information@pap.state.ga.us OR webmaster@pap.state.ga.us. Or contact Judge Freesemann at pfreesemann@chathamcounty.org.

Keep up the campaign!

Troy Davis and our "Justice" system

I am dumbfounded at the decision today by the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to NOT allow Troy Davis clemency. His execution is set for tomorrow, September 21, 2011, and it seems his chances for yet another stay of execution are slimming, despite the intense attention Davis's situation has received over the past few weeks.

In an amazing display of the ways in which social media can motivate scores of people, groups such as Amnesty International, anti-death penalty groups, and other human rights and religious organizations have managed to gather over 1million signatures to be taken to the Board to petition them to spare Davis's life. Unfortunately, despite these signatures and the cries of such individuals as Former President Jimmy Carter, Georgia Supreme Court Justice Norman Fletcher, and Pope Benedict XVI, the Board has decided to allow what is effectively a state-sanctioned lynching.

It was a failure in the justice system that put Davis here. As Nation reporter, Dave Zirin, puts it in his article "Tomorrow, Georgia Murders Troy Davis," he says that while Davis has maintained his innocence from day one, "He was the wrong color, in the wrong place, at the wrong time, with the wrong bank account and the wrong legal team, so he was thrown into the death house with little fanfare." After all, death penalty cases are, more often than not, racially and socio-economically skewed, with more death sentences being handed out when the victim is white, the person on trial is a minority, and the person has little finances for decent legal council. And it is a gross miscarriage of justice that keeps Davis on death row, as the evidence for his innocence mounts.

But Davis's innocence is really not the issue here. What does matter is that there is simply too much doubt of the man's guilt for him to be executed. Davis's conviction is for the 1989 killing of Savannah, Georgia officer, Mike MacPhail. Davis was put in jail because of nine eye-witness testimonies that placed him at the shooting, seven of which have since recanted their testimonies entirely. One jury member that convicted Davis even stepped forward to the Board and told them she would not have convicted him, given what she knows now. Additionally, three jurors have signed affidavits saying the same thing. Aside from eye-witness testimonies, there was and is no evidence linking Davis to the murder.

For Davis, the options are slimming. Quickly. The Supreme Court could intervene in the case or the Board could withdraw its death warrant, after all, they permitted a stay of execution three times previously. What is likely is that regardless of the outcome of this particular case, the American people are beginning to lose faith in the justice system and its flaws are becoming more and more apparent. As Troy sits in his cell, waiting out what may be his final hours, the conversation on the death penalty in America seems to be changing. Perhaps this will lead to a final moratorium on state-sanctioned murder in the United States. I just hope that Troy Davis's life isn't lost before that happens.

Troy Davis' Execution Day set

After more than 20 years on death row and countless pleas of his innocence, Troy Davis' day of execution has been set for September 21, 2011 by the Georgia prison system.

Davis was convicted in the 1989 killing of Savannah, Georgia, police officer Mark MacPhail. Throughout his time on death row, Davis has maintained his innocence. Four times, the Georgia prison system has set a date for his execution and four times it has been prevented. Davis' conviction was based on the eye-witness testimonies of nine individuals; seven of which have since recanted or changed their testimony.

Of all the arguments against the death penalty, perhaps the most compelling is the fact that innocent people have been executed before, and innocent people can be executed again. Now, with Troy Davis' execution imminent, it is of the utmost importance that we speak up against the horrible injustice that is the death penalty.

His execution has been stopped before and it can be stopped again. Here is what you can do to help:

1. Sign this Amnesty International Petition and oppose the death penalty for Troy Davis : http://bit.ly/mR9VSQ


2. Rally with others around the country. Sign up with Amnesty International: http://bit.ly/rniZoM


3. Spread the word on your Facebook and Twitter. Use the hash tag #TooMuchDoubt