Troy Davis makes final appeal before execution

[Rascalking]

A person wounds someone with a gun, does he get shot by the court in return? A person rapes someone, is he raped in return? A person damages property, does his property get damaged by the courts? A person threatens, harasses… is he threatened or harassed by officers of the court? The death penalty is not only wrong - it is uniquely wrong. All other punishment meted out by the justice system (that I can think of), is on par with our level of civilization and human development EXCEPT the death penalty.

Funny you mention all that. Think about this-if you got the punishment you applied to people you hurt-wouldn’t there be alot less crime? Yup.
Ande being a “Christian” doesn’t mean you have to embrace the evil aspects of our soceity.

 

[seekerz]

We kidnap people to show kidnapping is wrong. We steal from people to show stealing is wrong.

Really? Where? Placing a person in jail in not kidnapping and having a thief make restitution is not the same as going into his house and taking bread out of his children’s mouth to pay back the store he robbed from. We have him pay back (if applicable) but we also feed his kids if they are destitute. That’s the kind of civilization we are.

 

[seekerz]

Funny you mention all that. Think about this-if you got the punishment you applied to people you hurt-wouldn’t there be alot less crime? Yup.

You should ask that question of the state of Texas: they execute hundreds…one would expect by now it would be no more than one or two, seeing as how the death penalty is such a deterrent.

 

[Rascalking]

You should ask that question of the state of Texas: they execute hundreds…one would expect by now it would be no more than one or two, seeing as how the death penalty is such a deterrent.

Woo-hoo! God bless Texas!

 

[SamH]

But, remember. He was found guilty, and in Georgia and the Southern death penalty states, they NEVER make mistakes, never sentence a man to death erroneously, never have to release a man who has spent a dozen or more years on death row because evidence was found exonerating him. A sentence of Guilty ALWAYS means that the fellow did the crime.

The parole board denied Davis clemency twice upon reviewing the case and an evidentiary hearing was held in federal court where Davis attorneys were allowed to present all the “new” evidense they had. But the federal judge ruled that Davis had not proved his innocence.

 

[Rich_Olszewski]

Woo-hoo! God bless Texas!

Glad there’s someone who can say that.

 

[Rascalking]

Glad there’s someone who can say that.

Now now Rich! You’ve said people on the right don’t have a sense of humor-don’t fall into the same trap!

 

[Rich_Olszewski]

Now now Rich! You’ve said people on the right don’t have a sense of humor-don’t fall into the same trap!

Ouch! Got me there!

 

[Rascalking]

Ouch! Got me there!

See? I did the impossible. **I got Rich to admit he was wrong! **

(and I’m totally playing everyone! Thank you Rich for having a sense of humor!)

 

[SamH]

Glad there’s someone who can say that.

You can say God Bless Arkansas but people will ask you “Why?”

 

[ProVobis]

Pope Benedict XVI, former US President Jimmy Carter and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton are among those who have backed Davis, who has always maintained he is innocent.

So is the Pope wrong?

 

[Rich_Olszewski]

You can say God Bless Arkansas but people will ask you “Why?”

And, that would include Arkansans asking that!

 

[Rich_Olszewski]

So is the Pope wrong?

Compared to the enlightened State of Georgia, apparently so.

 

[SamH]

So is the Pope wrong?

Not at all.

In 2007 a U.S. envoy for Pope Benedict XVI sent a letter urging state officials to consider the special circumstances in the case. The state and the federal justice system have given the case special consideration - several times. The result of their consideration is not the answer that the Pope might have hoped for.

 

[seekerz]

Woo-hoo! God bless Texas!

I would add to that: God have mercy…

 

[Ridgerunner]

As a Christian I am called to a justice that respects God as the ultimate arbiter of life and death and also to a justice that is intricately bound to mercy. Both because it is the merciful thing to do, and because the state has no right to a man’s life, execution should be avoided even when the person has committed murder.

A person wounds someone with a gun, does he get shot by the court in return? A person rapes someone, is he raped in return? A person damages property, does his property get damaged by the courts? A person threatens, harasses… is he threatened or harassed by officers of the court? The death penalty is not only wrong - it is uniquely wrong. All other punishment meted out by the justice system (that I can think of), is on par with our level of civilization and human development EXCEPT the death penalty.

I see where Lawrence Brewer, one of the men who dragged that black man to death some years ago behind a pickup truck, is set for execution within a week. One supposes your argument would apply to him as well. Interesting, though, that I have yet to see pleas for clemency for him, either here or in the media.

Well, I guess Robert Byrd’s son did.

 

[Rich_Olszewski]

I see where Lawrence Brewer, one of the men who dragged that black man to death some years ago behind a pickup truck, is set for execution within a week. One supposes your argument would apply to him as well. Interesting, though, that I have yet to see pleas for clemency for him, either here or in the media.

There should be.

 

[Tsuwano]

I just heard the mother of the victim ask that the criminal get his just desserts. I beg other posters to remember that. It’s easy to arrogantly lecture someone on the need to forgive and hold hands. We have no right to say that to this poor woman…

Yes, but from what I understand, Troy Davis may not in fact be the criminal responsible for the murder of this woman’s son. If justice is to be done, it can’t be done by executing a man who may be innocent. I also beg to differ as to whether we have a right to encourage this woman to forgive the killer of her son. I believe our faith and our witness to the mercy and forgiveness offered by Jesus Christ do give us the right to encourage others to forgive. This right does not come from arrogance, but from the knowledge that we, who are sinners, are also forgiven.

 

[Ridgerunner]

There should be.

Well, then you can do it here. Perhaps your argument would persuade.

Mr. Brewer joined a white supremacy group in prison. For reasons unclear to me, he and some of his prison buddies decided to kill a black man as, it appears, some kind of lesson for the black community near where he lived. So, they chained a handicapped black man to the back of their pickup truck and dragged him for miles, leaving body parts, including his head, strewn for miles.

they then dumped what was left of his body in front of a black cemetery and went to a barbecue party together. There is nothing I have seen to indicate that he ever repented the act.

Okay, Rich, with that background, the floor is yours.

 

[Tsuwano]

I see where Lawrence Brewer, one of the men who dragged that black man to death some years ago behind a pickup truck, is set for execution within a week. One supposes your argument would apply to him as well. Interesting, though, that I have yet to see pleas for clemency for him, either here or in the media.

Well, I guess Robert Byrd’s son did.

Very well, then. I personally call for clemency for Mr.Lawrence Brewer. I pray that he will not be put to death by anyone in my name. I support Mr. Brewer’s continued incarceration for his crime, but I do not support the death penalty for any person.