The Chico News & Review publishes the editorial, "Innocent on death row."
Earlier this month two North Carolina men who had served 30 years in prison, one on death row, were exonerated when it was shown they were innocent victims of a broken justice system.
In an ironic twist, it turns out that 20 years ago Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia cited the death-row inmate, Henry Lee McCollum, as someone eminently deserving of being executed for his brutal crime—a crime we now know he didn’t commit.
"Ending the Penalty of Death," is commentary by Laura Finley at CounterPunch.
Almost three years ago, the state of Georgia likely executed an innocent man. Despite no physical evidence connecting Troy Davis to the August 19, 1989 murder of police officer Mark MacPhail in Savannah, Georgia, despite the fact that numerous witnesses implicated Sylvester “Redd” Coles, who was the individual to accuse Davis of the murder, despite the fact that police never seriously investigated Coles as a suspect, and despite the fact that seven of nine state trial witnesses later recanted or changed their stories, the state of Georgia went ahead with the execution of Troy Davis on September 21, 2011…the International Day of Peace, no less. While there are so many issues with the death penalty, in light of the upcoming anniversary of Georgia’s murder of Troy Davis, I am focusing this piece on issues of innocence, which are, of course, generally coupled with police and prosecutorial failings.
Related posts are in the editorial and OpEd category index. You can also jump to news of the North Carolina exonerations and the execution of Troy Davis.
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