Plea for the victim from sister
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/CRIME/08/17/georgia.scotus.troy.davis/art.davis.courtesy.jpg caption="Troy Davis has always maintained his innocence in the 1989 killing of Officer Mark MacPhail."]
Joe Johnson
Athens Banner-Herald
Kathy MacPhail-McQuary will travel from her home in Oconee County this week to place a wreath on the spot in Savannah where her police officer brother was murdered 20 years ago.
Although Mark Allen MacPhail's killer was convicted and sentenced to death, her wounds have not healed in the two decades that have passed.
They have festered, in fact, as she's watched a movement grow to gain clemency or a new trial for Troy Anthony Davis, who has been on death row for 18 years for killing her brother after he stopped Davis and another man from pistol-whipping a homeless man.
Former President Jimmy Carter has advocated on Davis' behalf, along with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Amnesty International, the ACLU – and even the pope.
The NAACP mounted an "I Am Troy" campaign to free the man the civil rights group says is innocent yet condemned to death. On Thursday, the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network will hold its annual summer conference in Atlanta, focusing on the Davis case.
"Every time someone reads a newspaper article, they will see a little bit written about Mark," MacPhail-McQuary said. "They don't see him as the victim because everything else is all about poor, poor Troy Davis.
"They don't know the facts, they haven't seen the evidence," she said. "I have friends in Athens who want to know why they never hear anything about Mark's story."
MacPhail was both thoughtful and sensitive; he could be serious yet act the clown, his sister says.
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Filed under: Crime & Punishment |
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Upon reviewing a majority of the data presented - preceding and in the 20 years following the conviction of Troy Davis for murdering police officer Mark Allen MacPhail - I am pleased that, once again, I feel proud to be a U.S. citizen. Most of the witnesses who had identified Mr. Davis as the murderer have now changed their testimony, saying their testimony, prior to T. Davis' conviction, was based on the police response they would receive if their testimony did not condemn T. Davis. The supreme court also questions this conviction now, showing the honorable value of U.S. tenets & rules of justice. I so strongly hope the correct murderer is apprehended &* Troy Davis is released.
Sincerely, Alice B.Rasher
He is innocent. The people who testified against Troy Johnson changed their testimony. They confessed they lied but they want to kill Troy anyway. I am wondering your government is claiming the leadership in believing on human rights but close eyes on killing innocent American. If you are not in the position to save the life of your own citizens is better to admit the defeat on you claiming fight. All this nonsense is so disturbing.
I feel for the victim's family and I can easily see where they would want this to conclude. While it takes a little more time, albeit time their brother wasn't given, making sure that the correct man is punished is important. If the "new" evidence is faulty or suspect, then I doubt there will be much delay in the end at all.