While we’re on justice let’s look at the case of Troy Davis, digressing slightly for a moment.
Nisha recently wrote about Iran’s execution of Delara Darabi, wondering why there wasn’t more coverage of the case by mainstream media. Darabi, a juvenile when the crime was perpetrated, having originally confessed to the crime, later recanted, saying she took the blame because her boyfriend said she couldn’t be prosecuted as a juvenile, was secretly executed with no notification to her lawyers, and this after being given a two month stay of execution.
That Iran’s policies are abhorrent is not in doubt. That it would be great if mainstream media covered significant human rights violations as voraciously as they cover celebrity non news, there is no question, yet it’s difficult to find enough outrage to lash out at at our media for not covering Iran’s injustices considering the poor job they do of covering our own, unless of course they involve the murder of a blond college student or the like.
The root of the injustice may be different, ours revolving around a system which favors Caucasians, or those of color with notoriety and ample resources to mount a decent defense, and Iran’s, currently revolving around Shi’a Islamic law, but since when does it matter what spawns the injustice. Our injustice is not more just than theirs. There seems to be little media market for either. It would be nice to see an increase in major media coverage of our own injustices, despite the market. Should that ever happen then they can tread into coverage of the injustices in the rest of the world. Possibly somewhere along the way they can make people care.
Until then it’s Indie media, as Nisha pointed out, and in some cases bloggers.
Let’s take Troy Davis for instance. Troy Davis, a man possibly wrongly accused and convicted of murder and scheduled to death. Mr. Davis is on death row in Georgia, scheduled for execution, his appeals denied, his stay, given after the denial of his last appeal, runs out May 15th. This for a crime that all along he never confessed to, has adamantly denied taking part in. A crime for which most witnesses have recanted their testimony, or admitted to being coerced into giving. A crime for which there is “no physical evidence, no weapon, no motive, no anything”.
Troy Davis – Finality Over Fairness
Talk Left has very little coverage of the case as of recently but I’m going to quote a comment from the last post I can find on it over there, the commenter is “sef” and the comment mimics much of what I have read while investigating this over the last few hours.
The stay order is simply brilliant in that it is written in such dense legalese as baffle lay readers and accessible enough for lawyers to know exactly what they are saying. Specifically, the panel’s order appears to read we think that Troy is likely innocent, we don’t want to live with the idea of executing a man who is more likely than not innocent, however, we also believe AEDPA doesn’t permit us to give him a new trial on his innocence claims.
Troy Davis’ stay of execution is set to expire on May 15. On May 19, groups and individuals all around the world will be organizing demonstrations, vigils, teach-ins or other public events to show the state of Georgia that the execution of Troy Davis would be an unacceptable travesty of justice. We need you to be as visible and as loud as possible!
For more information SJP): SJP is spearheading some blogger action regarding Troy Davis.
The links below are courtesy of SJP:
Innocence on Georgia’s Death Row
Listen to Troy tell his story
Shout out to a Kevin from A Slant Truth.
Wonderful post. I hadn’t read about any of these cases, and they are shocking.
Did you and Doug plan this? Synchronicity, sort of.
actonbell’s last blog post..Nothing to say Wednesday
If he didn’t plan it he would surely take credit for doing so anyway.
Yet another DP case… have they tried the “incompetent counsel” appeal yet?
sauerkraut’s last blog post..Levi Johnston sings to Bristol Palin
No that wasn’t the appeal.
Ya think part of the reason most of the print media are going out of business is that no one reads them because cable junk news is so prevalent. Baltimore Sun is probably going to end up an online publication only, that is if they don’t fold, no big loss they posted crap except in sports. I know it sucks we don’t hear about it but if we paid for real news we’d get real news. Maybe.
That case looks pretty bad for our system, at least what I read of it. Hadn’t heard of the girls case either. Thank god for independent news and bloggers, even as bad as some of them are.
I’m going to come back tomorrow and take that image and probably suck your source code for the links — to post it.
jake’s last blog post..This and That
I heard that about the Sun. No great loss.
I shall have to do a little more research into this case. Again, thanks to you, Miss Cooper, news most people would gloss over has taken hold as something I need to know more about. It’s the one thing I can count on coming here, I’m going to learn something new. Not only that, but I also come away with your very strong views on any subject you place here.
Thanks for shining a light again, Miss Cooper.
mojo shivers’s last blog post..I’m Gonna Sing So You Can Hear, I’m Gonna Sing Away Your Fear, I’m Gonna Rock You To Sleep, A Sound Of Trumpets
You see you prove my point, sort of though not to finality, that people do their own research.
A-bell, I could hardly have missed.
I have to admit, I get torn on whether it’s helpful to retry cases on blogs. On the one hand, it seems like a good thing to hear about possible injustices that the mainstream media skips over. But Cooper, you’re the only blogger I’ve seen write about these things with conditional modifiers. I keep thinking about the scene from To Kill A Mockingbird where the mob, assuming it has figured the crime out, comes to lynch the accused.
Doug’s last blog post..Positivism
The conditionals are usually in the footnotes, they are unreadable without a magnifier.
g’s last blog post..AH, Life
It’s always good to have a magnifier, i guess.
I think it’s excellent to bring things to the attention of those who think that justice actually is just. It is surely the case that most people do not qualify posts which are written based on emotion, it does however not make them baselessn and considering there are always things others have not heard of and possibly should be aware of I think there is no harm. The mob, well yes, there is much of that but but it is easy to go forward with much consideration and analysis which I do think most people do. Not all of course but more than you might suspect.
Or is that my idealism showing under my running shorts?
Oh Cooper I’m trying to lead a vain and shallow life and then there is you.…
This is a case i heard a lot about but not recently
pia’s last blog post..A cab ride and Random observations or something
Well, you will have to try harder. I know it’s difficult for those like you but I know several people who do lead vain and shallow life despite adversity.
Keep posting it, I don’t read it anywhere else. I think it’s a necessary function. The whole “people gathering in mobs” thing… I am going to give most people credit for being able to look into things before going crazy.
g’s last blog post..AH, Life
yea but you don’t rad much online except your Facebook anyway G.
In grad school I worked on a committee that investigated the death penalty in Illinois. 13 of 20 death row subjects studied were found to be innocent by DNA evidence. In most cases the DNA was in a file somewhere just waiting for testing but because the accused was too poor to hire a good lawyer the evidence was hidden away. Thankfully a moratorium was placed on all death penalties in Illinois.
Justice it is not.
The DP is society’s easy way out; keeps it from having to really think about most aspects involved in a crime.
sauerkraut’s last blog post..PhD = piled higher, deeper.
I think circumstance is never an excuse and it makes me angry that in this country the system is so faulty. Better than other places for sure but desperately in need of repair.
You are the most reasonable.….….younger person I know of on the web.
Keep doing what you do.
I appreciate the a = c only if b is (whatever it is) attitude.
Some think justice is always done, some know it’s not. Those knowing it is not either give a shit or not. Keep being one of those. That, and a lot of people don’t know of this stuff, and some of them would be outraged and investigate for themselves. This is what is important.
I’m not really a younger person at heart Jacob. And your not so old either. If I remember correctly and I usually do. By those you mean one who gives a shit? I wasn’t quite sure.
Thank you so much for this post. You have shown some important links between the two cases.
Zhana’s last blog post..Against the Execution of Troy Davis (How much is a Black man’s life worth?)
Much obliged for participating in this important call to action. I hope you will accept a token of my appreciation left at the old SjP’s for you. Just learned that MSM is being denied access to Troy.