PHOTOS, PAGE 1

       Editor and prime reporter is Doug Terry, a veteran television and radio reporter in   Washington, DC, (details below)

TROY DAVIS AND THE DEATH PENALTY IN GENERAL

No one should ever be put to death by our deeply flawed legal system. While the death penalty seems suitable in some outrageous, extreme situations and would have wide support, the fact is that the courts cannot guarantee the integrity of verdicts. Their insistence, and that of prosecutors, that the cases are solid is a way of insisting that all cases are fair and just. This is far from the case.

The first problem comes in hiring a lawyer for a defendant. Those accused, often with little money, are asked to do something they might have never done before, pick a highly qualified, diligent attorney to represent them. Often, they get the dregs of the attorney pool and are represented by incompetents. Yet, having been convicted, the courts look on the initial case as if it were a sin against the legal system to overturn the verdict. The entire power of the state is arrayed against the accused.

The next step often involves frequent cheating by the police and prosecutors. The DA in Dallas, Texas found so many tainted cases in the past that virtually all convictions had to be considered suspect. Police cheat in getting convictions not because they are of evil intent, but because they are aware that a conviction is difficult to obtain, so they weight the evidence when possible or when it appears to be required. Prosecutors cheat by withholding evidence from the defense. In the case of Troy Davis, there are widespread allegations of cheating in his original conviction.

There is simply no way to construct a process that is completely fair, which is what one must be in matters of life and death. The judicial bias in upholding the actions of lower courts is extremely strong, as those in the system work to defend it from criticism and weakening. Many people have been put to death in the name of proving the legal system is sound, when, in fact, their cases prove the opposite. It is time to stop this form of social madness.

Doug Terry

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