"Strange Fruit Hanging in the Poplar Trees"by: Granite GnomeThu Sep 22, 2011 at 02:12:09 AM EDT |
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( - promoted by William Tucker) At 11:08pm on September 21, 2011, the State of Georgia executed Troy Davis for a murder he in all likelihood did not commit. Despite no physical evidence linking him to the crime, and despite the fact that 7 out of 9 witnesses recanted their testimony, the long arm of the law put this man to death. This was a miscarriage of justice of the highest order and at all levels of government. I am deeply troubled and angered by this, as I am sure many in the Granite State are. But there is something we can do in our corner of world to ensure something like this doesn't happen again. We must work to abolish the death penalty in New Hampshire, and we must nominate a Democratic gubernatorial candidate who is opposed to the death penalty. I understand this is a sensitive issue, and I don't pretend to have the first clue about the pain of the families of murder victims. But as Former State Rep. Renny Cushing put it, "filling another coffin will not bring our loved ones back." If a person is wrongfully convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, they can at least be let out of jail. But if someone is wrongfully executed, that is a mistake that cannot be undone or made right. In a world with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, we don't need the death penalty to protect the public. We should do what 16 other states and 137 countries have done and abolish the death penalty. The stakes are just too high. |