Post by thinkinkmesa on Sept 22, 2011 12:27:26 GMT -5
Troy Anthony Davis and Lawrence Russell Brewer: A Tale of Two Executions
The dual executions of Troy Anthony Davis and Lawrence Russell Brewer on Wednesday night raises pressing questions about why Black death row inmates face great disparities in capital punishment.
Wednesday night will be remembered by many not as just the night of Sept. 21, but as the night of two high profile executions.
The first was of Lawrence Russell Brewer, a white supremacist gang member sentenced to death for the 1998 murder of James Byrd Jr., a black man from East Texas. Byrd, 49, was chained to the back of a pickup truck and violently dragged to his death along a bumpy asphalt road in Jasper, Texas. It would be known as one of the most grisly hate crimes in modern history.
Brewer gave no final statement as he was executed on Wednesday night.
The second was of Troy Anthony Davis, who was executed for the 1989 murder of off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail in Savannah, Georgia. The case was contentious and widely reported, as Davis’s defense said that there was too much doubt over whether Davis actually committed the crime. Several witnesses who placed Davis at the crime scene and identified him as the shooter have recanted their accounts and some jurors have said they've changed their minds about his guilt. Others have claimed a man who was with Davis that night has told people he actually shot the officer. Davis, who maintained his innocence throughout, had garnered support from private citizens, celebrities and human rights agencies from around the world.
Two death row inmates executed on the same night—that is where the similarities end. Where the cases diverge is where a new set of questions beg to be answered about the role of race in capital punishment.
More;
www.bet.com/news/national/2011/09/21/a-tale-of-two-executions.html
The dual executions of Troy Anthony Davis and Lawrence Russell Brewer on Wednesday night raises pressing questions about why Black death row inmates face great disparities in capital punishment.
Wednesday night will be remembered by many not as just the night of Sept. 21, but as the night of two high profile executions.
The first was of Lawrence Russell Brewer, a white supremacist gang member sentenced to death for the 1998 murder of James Byrd Jr., a black man from East Texas. Byrd, 49, was chained to the back of a pickup truck and violently dragged to his death along a bumpy asphalt road in Jasper, Texas. It would be known as one of the most grisly hate crimes in modern history.
Brewer gave no final statement as he was executed on Wednesday night.
The second was of Troy Anthony Davis, who was executed for the 1989 murder of off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail in Savannah, Georgia. The case was contentious and widely reported, as Davis’s defense said that there was too much doubt over whether Davis actually committed the crime. Several witnesses who placed Davis at the crime scene and identified him as the shooter have recanted their accounts and some jurors have said they've changed their minds about his guilt. Others have claimed a man who was with Davis that night has told people he actually shot the officer. Davis, who maintained his innocence throughout, had garnered support from private citizens, celebrities and human rights agencies from around the world.
Two death row inmates executed on the same night—that is where the similarities end. Where the cases diverge is where a new set of questions beg to be answered about the role of race in capital punishment.
More;
www.bet.com/news/national/2011/09/21/a-tale-of-two-executions.html