Troy Davis Executed Despite Protest from the Public

“I am innocent. The incident that happened that night is not my fault. I did not have a gun. All I can ask … is that you look deeper into this case so that you really can finally see the truth,” said Troy Anthony Davis, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
Troy Anthony Davis was an American man convicted of at the age of 19, and executed almost 24 years later for the August 19, 1989, murder of police officer Mark MacPhail in Savannah, Georgia. “Witnesses placed Davis at the crime scene and identified him as the shooter, but several of them had recanted their accounts and changed their minds about his guilt,” said Brianne Carter and Jennifer Donelan, of ABC7 News.
Davis pleaded not guilty at his trial and maintained his innocence until his execution. Many people fought for Davis’ innocence, but not a single court thought so.
Davis’ execution had been stopped three times since 2007, but on September 21, 2011, the 42-year-old ran out of options. International Busniess Times Staff Reporter, reported that, “The lethal injection was given at about 10:53 p.m. (Georgia time) and Davis was declared dead 15 minutes later, at 11:08 p.m.”
“Justice has been served for Officer Mark MacPhail and his family,” said State Attorney General Sam Olens.
Sophomore Ronnie Portis wonders how can our justice system, which is supposed to be, “The best in the world,” put to death a man that they are not even sure committed this crime?
Before David’s execution, he asked his family and friends to “continue to fight this fight.” He wants his family to prove that he was truly innocent, even though he will not be able to physically be there.
“For those about to take my life,” Davis lastly told prison officials, “May God have mercy on your souls. May God bless your souls”.
In his final words, Davis addressed the MacPhail family and said, “I’m not the one who personally killed your son, your father, your brother.”
“The eighth amendment says that they can’t do any cruel punishments,” said Freshmen Antonia Berenbaum, “Which means that no matter what the crime is, they can’t execute anyone”.
So how did the MacPhail family feel as they were witnessing something they had been waiting years for?
“I will grieve for the Davis family because now they’re going to understand our pain and our hurt,” said MacPhail’s widow, Joan MacPhail-Harris. “My prayers go out to them. I have been praying for them all these years. And I pray there will be some peace along the way for them.”
“I’m kind of numb. I can’t believe that it’s really happened,” MacPhail’s mother, Anneliese MacPhail, said in a telephone interview from her home. “All the feelings of relief and peace I’ve been waiting for all these years, they will come later. I certainly do want some peace.”
Sophomore Jordan Smith hopes that Davis’s death was not just to make the MacPhail family feel better, because either way.
“Their family member was never coming back,” he said.
In Davis’ case, no gun, surveillance footage or DNA evidence was found to connect Davis to the crime. “Such incredibly flawed eyewitness testimony should never be the basis for an execution,” [Davis attorney Stephen] Marsh said. “To execute someone under these circumstances would be unconscionable.”