Is Troy Anthony Davis receiving justice?

Troy Anthony Davis is currently on death row for the murder of a police officer. However, the fairness of his trial must be challenged. Here are a few facts about Davis’ case:

1. There was no physical evidence against him and the weapon used in the crime was never found.
2. All but two of the state's non-police witnesses from the trial have recanted or contradicted their testimony.
3. Many of these witnesses have stated in sworn affidavits that they were pressured or coerced by police into testifying or signing statements against Troy Davis.
4. One of the two witnesses who has not recanted his testimony is Sylvester "Red" Coles – the principle alternative suspect, according to the defense, against whom there is new evidence implicating him as the gunman. Nine individuals have signed affidavits implicating Sylvester Coles. [*]

How can our courts put this man to death when the evidence is so conflicting, and affidavits have been signed as witnesses declare that their testimony was faulty and the courts should no longer stand by it? How much longer can we let a system like the death penalty exist? It is an inherently evil system which is fallible; yet kills the killers to show that killing is wrong. Possibly the starkest display of the imperfection of the US capital justice system is the reality that ever since the US Supreme Court permitted new death penalty laws in 1976, more than 100 individuals have been released from death rows around the country on the basis of innocence. The cases of citizens akin to Anthony Porter -- who came 48 hours from capital punishment in 1998 subsequent to more than 16 years on death row in Illinois prior to being proved guiltless by a group of journalism students who happened to study his case -- stand as an indictment of a flawed structure.[~]

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[*] Source
[~] Further reading on Troy Anthony Davis

The inhumanity of a flawed system

I have already written a about the death penalty in its relation to Judaism, but I feel the need to specifically address a certain point about the death penalty that many people use to try and justify such a brutal and inhumane system of judgment in this country. The death penalty in this country according to its supporters provides a so called “deterrent” which supposedly prevents even more people from killing others. This could not be further from the truth.

When someone is about to commit murder the punishment is in almost all cases completely outside of their minds at the time. People commit murders mainly in the heat of passion, under the sway of alcohol or drugs, or because they are mentally ill, giving little or no thought to the potential penalty of their actions. The few murderers who plan their crimes in advance for intend and expect to avoid punishment altogether by not getting caught. If they thought they would get caught then they would most likely not commit the crime in the first place. Therefore, the punishment has no bearing on people when they are committing the crime and overall probably deters very few if any murderers. The few if any murderers that may be deterred by the death penalty are not worth the innocent people that this far from flawless system kills. If a death penalty was ever to be active, it would be have to be majorly reformed to make sure that there is not even a 0.001% chance someone innocent could die. The Judaic system of capital punishment which required witnesses to actually view the crime when it occurred and warn the guilty party about the consequences is a perfect system which does not judge based on circumstantial evidence. As I wrote before:

A court which executed one man in seven years would be labeled a ‘destructive court’ (Makkot 7a), because it was understood, how serious of a task executing people was. On the rare occurrences that a Jewish court would actually administer a sentence of the death penalty, the court would even fast that day (Moed Katan 14b).

Therefore, I will agree with the great Rabbi, Maimonides, who wrote: "It is better and more satisfactory to acquit a thousand guilty persons than to put a single innocent one to death."

Oh and here is some recent news on the innocence of people trapped in this system:

Dwayne Allen Dail served 18 years in North Carolina prisons for a crime he always said he didn’t commit. On Tuesday, August 28, he was released from state custody after DNA testing proved that he was telling the truth all along. Dail’s attorneys at the North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence and county prosecutors jointly requested that a state judge dismiss the conviction and charges, and the judge pronounced Dail free in a hearing Tuesday morning. He is the 207th person nationwide exonerated through DNA testing.

"The science has proved that Mr. Dail is innocent," District Attorney Branny Vickory told reporters before Tuesday’s hearing. "He didn't do it. The evidence is so overwhelmingly strong, there's no need to wait." (SOURCE)

Capital punishment from a new perspective

Capital punishment needs to be looked at from a new perspective. If our great Sages would come back in time and see the system that is the ‘death penalty’ in this country today, what do you think they would say? In the time of the Sanhedrin, executions rarely if ever took place, because our Sages respected human life; no matter what. A court which executed one man in seven years would be labeled a ‘destructive court’ (Makkot 7a), because it was understood, how serious of a task executing people was. On the rare occurrences that a Jewish court would actually administer a sentence of the death penalty, the court would even fast that day (Moed Katan 14b). The stringency on witnesses was so high, that the death penalty under Jewish law could almost never be put into practice. Forty years prior to the destruction of the Second Beit Hamikdash in 70 C.E. the Sages refused to hear anymore capital cases! How do you think the Sages would view a capital punishment system with these statistics?

1. Innocence - For every seven executed individuals in this country, one man on death row is found innocent.

2. Economic class - The poor have less of a chance (many of our sages were poor), because many death row inmates were convicted while being protected by court-appointed lawyers who are frequently the worst-paid and most-inexperienced and least-skillful lawyers.

3. Prejudice - Serial killers such as the infamous Gary Ridgway in Seattle who admitted killing 48 prostitutes and runaways got life in prison. An "angel of death" nurse in NJ who admitted killing 17 people got life. Meanwhile, mentally ill and impoverished murderers who could not afford good lawyers and did not warrant much media attention were given the death penalty.

Lastly many people say it is a “deterrent” but we all know that is untrue. It is common sense that when someone decides they are going to take the life of another human being they are either (a) not thinking rationally, and therefore the consequences will not alter their decision to murder, or (b) do not think they will get caught, because is murdering someone worth getting the death penalty or life in prison? No one murders anyone if they believe they will be caught (maybe a very insignificant minority does), so therefore the consequences of their actions are irrelevant to them since they would not commit the crime if in a state of illogicality or under the belief they will never be caught.

Therefore, I suggest we review the death penalty and either heavily reform it, or abolish it.