Troy Davis was executed by the state of Georgia on September 21.. Journalist Jon Lewis was present at the execution and told media waiting outside the prison that Davis was “defiant until the very end, defending his innocence until the end”.
Davis was convicted of killing off duty Georgia police officer Mark MacPhail in 1989. He was sentenced to death.
Amnesty USA said: "The case against [Troy Davis] consisted entirely of witness testimony which contained inconsistencies even at the time of the trial. Since then, all but two of the state’s non-police witnesses from the trial have recanted or contradicted their testimony."
Lewis said that moments before Davis’ death by lethal injection, he was asked by the warden if he would like to make a statement. Davis, strapped to a gurney, raised his head and said he wished to address the family of the man he is accused and convicted of killing.
He told them that he was not personally responsible for what happened that night in 1989, that he didn’t have a gun, and that he hoped they would continue to dig deeper to discover the truth.
He told the MacPhail family that he did not kill their son, brother, father.
Davis said to the prison wardens about to execute him, “may God have mercy on your souls, may God bless your souls”.
Visit Amnesty International to pledge your support to fight the death penalty:
"Not in my name.
"While a majority of the world -- more than 65% of all countries -- has abolished the death penalty in law or practice, the United States remains one of the top countries responsible for executing people.
"Not In My Name.
"Officials continue to allow this deeply-flawed, extremely arbitrary and severely-biased (both economically and racially) system to run rampant without checks, balances or concern for moral decency.
"Not In My Name.
"Guilty or innocent every person is a human being with human rights. Executions are always wrong.
"I won't stand for it.
THE DEATH PENALTY MUST BE ABOLISHED. I take this pledge because human rights and human lives are on the line."
[Reprinted from www.kateausburn.com .]
Troy Davis' last letter
I want to thank all of you for your efforts and dedication to Human Rights and Human Kindness, in the past year I have experienced such emotion, joy, sadness and never ending faith. It is because of all of you that I am alive today, as I look at my sister Martina I am marveled by the love she has for me and of course I worry about her and her health, but as she tells me she is the eldest and she will not back down from this fight to save my life and prove to the world that I am innocent of this terrible crime.
As I look at my mail from across the globe, from places I have never ever dreamed I would know about and people speaking languages and expressing cultures and religions I could only hope to one day see first hand. I am humbled by the emotion that fills my heart with overwhelming, overflowing Joy. I can’t even explain the insurgence of emotion I feel when I try to express the strength I draw from you all, it compounds my faith and it shows me yet again that this is not a case about the death penalty, this is not a case about Troy Davis, this is a case about Justice and the Human Spirit to see Justice prevail.
I cannot answer all of your letters but I do read them all, I cannot see you all but I can imagine your faces, I cannot hear you speak but your letters take me to the far reaches of the world, I cannot touch you physically but I feel your warmth everyday I exist.
So Thank you and remember I am in a place where execution can only destroy your physical form but because of my faith in God, my family and all of you I have been spiritually free for some time and no matter what happens in the days, weeks to come, this Movement to end the death penalty, to seek true justice, to expose a system that fails to protect the innocent must be accelerated. There are so many more Troy Davis’. This fight to end the death penalty is not won or lost through me but through our strength to move forward and save every innocent person in captivity around the globe. We need to dismantle this Unjust system city by city, state by state and country by country.
I can’t wait to Stand with you, no matter if that is in physical or spiritual form, I will one day be announcing,
“I AM TROY DAVIS, and I AM FREE!”
Never Stop Fighting for Justice and We will Win!
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