We're confronted with awful news every day. Soldiers in far away places being killed. Children being gunned down on the streets. Teenagers being mistaken for gang members and beaten within an inch of their lives.
I have become really, really good at blocking the sad noise out. Troy Davis and his story got to me.
Tonight I cry. I am shedding tears for a man I never met. I cry not because I believe he was innocent. I don't know that. What I do know is a very basic fact: In a criminal trial, the standard of proof is beyond a reasonable doubt.
Tonight a man was executed. There was doubt. There has been doubt for some time. Yet our government with all of its handy mechanisms to not allow this to happen, executed a man. They executed a man where there was reasonable doubt. And so I cry.
Tonight, my heart is broken.
Tonight, I let the sad noise in.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
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Was there doubt at the trial?
ReplyDelete@Anoymous - The conviction was based on witness testimony (most of which has be recanted), and there are reports of police coersion and tampering with the witnesses.
ReplyDelete@FA - I know this is a week old, and I'm sorry I didn't comment sooner. You know I was weeping along with you. It is a tragedy. :(