Troy Davis

Troy Davis, Tookie Williams, Wesley Cook - A Long road to the death house

CHICAGO, September 23, 2011—Troy Davis was executed in Georgia on Wednesday, as activists around the world proclaimed, “I am Troy Davis.” Their voices were passionate as they donned t-shirts emblazoned with support, carrying signs for him and opining on the Internet. 

As Davis was put to death, riot police were on hand to maintain order outside the prison. 

Davis was the international celebrity de jour, even though he was convicted of killing an off-duty police officer who intervened in a crime Davis was implicated in. 

Davis maintained his innocence to the very end, claiming that he did not “personally” kill the victim.   

It took 22 years from the day of the crime to determine his guilt, decide that death was the appropriate punishment, and then carry out that sentence.

There is something very wrong in our system of justice when it takes decades to make a final legal determination in a criminal case, capital or otherwise. Almost all criminal cases have an element of doubt, both during the trial and afterward. Guilt must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt, but justice is imperfect. We try to err on the side of innocence, and sometimes the guilty go free. Sometimes the innocent do not. 

If there is doubt, even years later, there may be little recourse.  

Consider Stanley “Tookie” Williams, who was executed in 2005 after twenty-six years in prison. Williams was convicted of brutal murders during the commission of armed robberies in 1979. He was a founding member of the notorious Los Angeles-based CRIPS street gang. At the time, there was international support for Williams and condemnation of his execution.   

Unlike Davis, Tookie Williams did not proclaim his innocence: He proclaimed his rehabilitation. Williams was willing to exchange a death sentence for a life of incarceration, but in the end he got to live for twenty-six years. During that time he claimed to earn redemption, and he received the accolaids of Hollywood and liberals around the worl.

Wesley Cook has been called a "death row superstar." Also known as Mumia Abu Jamal, Cook has been on death row for thirty years. He is the darling of international jet set activists.

Cook was convicted of murdering a Philadelphia police officer in 1981. His conviction has been upheld by every appeals court, including the United States Supreme Court, several times. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals vacated his death sentence, but remanded it for a new hearing. After 30 years, his sentence is still undetermined.

If convicted of a crime, you have multiple avenues to pursue appeals and challenge the sentence. The problem lies with the burden of proof. If the state has already proved its case, who has the burden of proof during the appeals process, and how high is that burden?

It gets fuzzy, as the Troy Davis case demonstrates. 

The appeals courts found that the burden of proof was on him to prove his innocence. He could not or would not do so - depending on who you believe - beyond a reasonable doubt. 

Capital crimes get a lot of publicity, especially as the execution date approaches. Activists use doubt as fact to push for their alleged victims. The problem is time and laziness. The activists and attorneys know few will read through decades of thousands of pages of transcripts. When execution is imminent, the urgency of now takes precedence over facts, evidence and truth.  

For almost forty years advocates for and against capital punishment have called for reforms in the appeals process. There is agreement that it is cruel and inhumane punishment to allow prisoners and families of victims to wallow in the uncertainty of whether justice will eventually prevail.   

These three cases, because of their celebrity status, highlight this problem. Why should it take so long to finalize a conviction or sentence? Why are so many appeals allowed for so many different reasons or on mere technicalities? The average capital case takes 14 years to resolve. That is too long. 

It’s time to revisit the capital punishment debate. Depending on whose figures you believe, between 60%-70% of the public are in favor of capital punishment. If people believe in capital punishment, there should be an effective, efficient, and expeditious system to guarantee that justice is meted out. These cases need to be finalized, one way or the other. 

Americans would be horrified if an innocent person were put to death or died behind bars after a life sentence. They would be equally shocked if a guilty man went free and it were later discovered he actually committed the heinous act he was tried for.   

There has to come a time for a final determination of innocence or guilt, to decide that a sentence of death is fair or unfair. State-sanctioned death is controversial on many fronts. If we are going to condemn people to death, the appeals process should be streamlined, just, and prioritized. 

There must be a better constitutional method to create an efficient and speedy appeals process. The current system is wash, rinse,and repeat over and over again. 

Hard and fast rules should be implemented that everyone must follow - appellate prosecutors, attorneys and judges. There must be limitations on the scope and nature of the appeals. Time lines and deadlines must be set in stone. There must be an end point. 

If we are to have a death penalty, it should not take decades to determine innocence or guilt, life or death. The victims, the accused, and their families should not be denied expeditious due process and justice. 

Wesley Cook’s case has taken on monumental mythical proportions, to the point that truth is no longer a primary concern. Cook and his enablers have created doubt bordering on fantasy and taken it to a high art form. He is considered a political prisoner and a hero.  

Tookie Williams became a legend due to his alleged rehabilitation and his anti-gang books for children. A doubt industry was created around him. The PR machine went all out before his execution. His victims have been forgotten through manipulative publicity. 

On the same day that Troy Davis was executed in Georgia, white supremacist Lawrence Russell Brewer went quietly to his own execution in Texas. His case took 13 years to resolve. 

Brewer, like Davis, stated he did not “personally” kill his victim. There were no mass international protests, no celebrities, no rending of garments, hair pulling, or expressions of extreme grief by supporters or anti-death penalty activists.   

There were no droves of protesters at the prison with signs proclaiming “I am Lawrence Russell Baker." No riot police were there to maintain order. Google Russell Lawrence Brewer or his victim, James Byrd. It appears that, even to the anti-death penalty crowd, some people are more worthy than others of death.