Atlanta Progressive News has, "Analysis: Joe Biden to Blame for Troy Davis' Fate?" It's written by Matthew Cardinale.
Davis, whose case has drawn international attention, is on death row for the convicted murder of a Savannah police officer. Davis’s family and attorneys have produced affidavits from 7 out of 9 witnesses recanting their statements at trial, implicating another man as guilty, and alleging police coercion as the reason for why these witnesses testified against Davis in the first place.
However, court after court continues to refuse to hear from the witnesses.
The two judges making up the majority decision on the panel quote former US Sen. Biden, as well as US Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA) in their 50 page explanation.
"The vast majority of us... want to and have been trying for years to change the old system to limit the time in which a petition can be filed and to limit the number of petitions that can be filed. So essentially you get one bite out of the apple," then-US Sen. Biden (D-DE) said, according to the 1995 Congressional Record.
"The proposal to limit inmates to one bite at the apple is sound in principle," US Sen. Kennedy had said.
The judges, in the recent decision against Davis, go on to write that the intent of US Congress is clear and unambiguous, and that they do not want to go against the wishes of Congress.
"A lot of Democrats particularly in the 90s were on the tough on crime bandwagon. It was to their advantage to tell the public we're tough on crime," Laura Moye, Southern Regional Deputy Director for Amnesty International USA, told Atlanta Progressive News.
Enacted in 1996, the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act , among other things, placed limits on the grounds upon which someone on death row could request a new federal hearing.
The AEDPA "tightened these limits by requiring successive petitioners to show both cause — or diligence — as well as a fundamental miscarriage of justice — or actual innocence," the majority judges noted.
The Eleventh Circuit opinion is here
The article also has this:
Amnesty International and Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty have set an emergency day of worldwide action for May 19, 2009, to include a demonstration at the Georgia Capitol.
Meanwhile, the federal appeals court issued a 30 day stay, which would be lifted on May 16, in which time Davis can appeal to the Supreme Court of the US.
Earlier coverage begins with this post. More on AEDPA is in this Wikipedia entry.
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