Vol. 74/No. 35 September 20, 2010
Davis, who is Black, has been on death row for 19 years. Three attempts by state authorities to execute him have been stayed due to widespread international support for Davis.
At a June 23 and 24 evidentiary hearing for Davis the judge heard from several of the seven prosecution witnesses who recanted their testimony at the original trial. Three have told how they were coerced by police to finger Troy Davis. Others have said they could identify another man as the one who killed the officer.
In his ruling, however, Moore said Davis failed to prove his innocence, stating, while “new evidence casts some additional, minimal doubt on his conviction, it is largely smoke and mirrors.”
“This decision is a blow to the presumption of innocence, an important democratic gain for working people,” said a socialist campaign news release. “Putting the burden of proof on the accuser, not the accused, is a fundamental democratic conquest that the working class must defend.”
“Having to prove your innocence beyond a reasonable doubt in order to get off death row and receive a new trial—a virtually impossible task—is a travesty of justice faced by many working-class prisoners, especially Blacks, Latinos, and Asians,” said the SWP statement.
It also pointed out that the protections against the state that working people have won over centuries, such as the presumption of innocence, Miranda rights, defendants’ rights of appeal, the Bill of Rights, and other amendments to the Constitution, are under attack. “Davis’s case is a powerful illustration of how the death penalty is a class-biased and racist weapon used by the rulers against working people,” the socialist candidates said.
The candidates pledged to continue fighting with others for freedom for Troy Davis, for the abolition of the death penalty, and for defense of workers rights.
Related articles:
September protest to back Black farmers
Justice Dept. drops probe of fifty killings by Klan
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