Vol. 72/No. 43      November 3, 2008

Dear Members of the Board of Pardons and Paroles:

On behalf of the Socialist Workers Party candidates in Georgia, I demand that you use your power to grant paroles, pardons, reprieves, remissions, commutations, and to restore civil and political rights to stop the execution of Troy Davis.

Davis’ trial was a police and prosecution organized frame-up. There was no physical evidence presented and the conviction was based entirely on eyewitness testimony. Since the trial, seven of the nine witnesses who identified Davis have recanted their testimony. Some of them have said they testified only because the police pressured them to do so. Several additional witnesses have come forward to state that Davis did not kill Mark Allen MacPhail. Had all of this been known to the jury, conviction is very unlikely.

After his conviction, Davis had no lawyer for five years because Georgia’s indigent defense system would not provide one for post-conviction appeals. This is the reason for the delay in the appeals process.

The refusal by the Supreme Court to hear Davis’ appeal demonstrates that the purpose of the death penalty and the “criminal justice system” is to intimidate workers. It has nothing to do with justice for workers. While the government continues to defend use of the death penalty, which a growing number of people worldwide condemn, even more workers are killed by police acting as judge, jury, and executioner in the street.

As the capitalist financial crisis deepens, the rulers in this country will shift more of the burden onto the backs of workers. Speedup will intensify and working conditions deteriorate, endangering more workers’ lives and safety on the job. Social services will be cut, unemployment will rise, and the bosses will press to further lower wages. The death penalty and legislation such as the Patriot Act, increasing police and border patrol, and the recent law expanding the police powers of surveillance are preparations to fight the working-class resistance that the rulers know will follow.

Once again, I demand that you stop the execution of Troy Davis!

Sincerely,
Eleanor García
SWP candidate for U.S. Senate from
Georgia
 
 
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