I have mixed feelings about Wednesday night's execution of Troy Davis. It's been 22 years since Davis was convicted of killing an off-duty Savannah police officer who had come to the aid of a homeless man to stop his beating. The officer, Mark MacPhail, was shot in the face and heart.
No gun was ever found, but prosecutors say shell casings were linked to an earlier shooting for which Davis was convicted. Witnesses placed Davis at the crime scene and identified him as the shooter, but several of them recanted their accounts and some jurors have said they've changed their minds about his guilt. Those who recanted said the police had pressured them. How do we know they weren't pressured to recant?
Howard University students demonstrated against the execution. This is the same school that celebrated O.J. Simpson's acquittal. One man interviewed on TV said he knew Davis was innocent.
"How do you know?" asked the reporter.
The man seemed confused and said, "I just feel it."
I wish people concerned about the death of Troy Davis were at least as concerned about 53 million dead pre-born babies.
I'm Cal Thomas in Washington.
Publication date: September 23, 2011
