The Loveshade Family Blog

In a hearing today for the convicted Troy Anthony Davis, a witness testified he saw Sylvester "Redd" Coles fire the shots that killed a Savannah, Georgia, police officer.  Benjamin Gordon was a primary witness for the defense, which said enough evidence was presented to get a new trial for the convicted Troy Davis.  Ultimately, a judge will make that decision.

Davis was convicted of the 1989 killing of Mark Allen MacPhail.  But according to Davis' attorneys, most of the witnesses against him recanted their testimony, some saying they were coerced by police.  "I was so scared I told them anything they wanted to hear," Jeffrey Sapp said on Wednesday.  Sapp testified that police told him, "Just say Troy told you. Just say Troy told you."

Kevin McQueen also said in the 1991 case that Davis admitted he killed MacPhail.  But in the hearing, McQueen said, "He never told me nothing like this. ... He never confessed to shooting anybody to me."

While Coles was named as a possible suspect in the killing, Savannah lead detective Greg Ramsey said Coles, who had been a witness against Davis, was not a suspect in the case.

The defense team did not call Coles to the stand nor all of the witnesses they said recanted their testimony.  They presented a possible case against Coles and their claim that police had focused on Davis as the suspect to the exclusion of others.

The U.S. Supreme Court had decided in August that a federal judge should hear evidence to see whether it "clearly establishes (Davis') innocence."  The defense is hoping that the judge will call for a new trial so evidence can be presented in court.

District Judge William T. Moore Jr., who listened to testimony Wednesday and Thursday, 23 and 24 June 2010, will announce his decision later.

LINKS

To see all our entries on Troy Anthony Davis, click on http://loveshade.org/blog-mt/mt-search.fcgi?IncludeBlogs=1&search=troy+anthony+davis

For more information on the hearing, see http://savannahnow.com/news/2010-06-25/troy-davis-hearing-ends-no-date-yet-decision-new-trial and http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/witnesses-helped-convict-man-death-row-now-recant/story?id=10995816 and http://www.wtvm.com/Global/story.asp?S=12760334 and http://www.wtoc.com/global/story.asp?s=12699354

To see more on Troy Anthony Davis, visit http://www.troyanthonydavis.org/

Updated 7 July 2010 and 29 June 2010.

Posted by The Loveshade Family at 11:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

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When American President Bill Clinton took the office in 1993, one of his primary goals was to quickly allow openly homosexual men and women to serve in the armed forces.  That didn't happen.  Because of tremendous resistance, the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) compromise was made.  With this, homosexuals could serve as long as they didn't say they were homosexual--and as long as no one else reported them.

Since 1994, the DADT has resulted in over 13,500 otherwise qualified men and women being fired from the military.  Some of these were trained in skills the Pentagon considers "mission critical." This means if no one has those skills on a particular mission, that mission will fail.

In a historic move, the U. S. House voted to repeal DADT.  According to the ACLU, the Senate Armed Services Committee voted in favor of repeal in 2010's defense authorization bill.

But of course many people will try to stop it.  Ironically, according to the New York Times the United States military has accepted known felons into its ranks, with some of them convicted of crimes including armed robbery, arson and burglary.  If a heterosexual who committed armed robbery can serve in the military, why can't a homosexual who's never even gotten a traffic ticket?

What can you do to end discrimination against gays and lesbians in the military?  You can easily send an email through this link in the ACLU website.

MORE LINKS AND CREDITS

  To see an earlier blog entry on this issue, click on http://loveshade.org/blog/2008/07/dont_ask_dont_tellgays_in_the.html

To see all our blogs dealing with homosexuality, click on http://www.loveshade.org/blog-mt/mt-search.fcgi?IncludeBlogs=1&search=homosexual

To see all our blogs dealing with the ACLU, click on http://www.loveshade.org/blog-mt/mt-search.fcgi?IncludeBlogs=1&search=ACLU

Photo by SPC James M. Myers shows the Graduating Class of 1980, West Point - the first class to admit women.  As a work of the U.S. federal government, it is in the public domain.  Image is as found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Class_of_1980.jpg

Posted by The Loveshade Family at 07:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

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Troy Anthony Davis, the man who's been on death row for 19 years based on no physical evidence, finally has a hearing scheduled.

On June 23, attorneys for both sides can begin presenting evidence.  Troy Davis was convicted of the 1989 murder of off-duty Savannah police officer Mark Allen MacPhail.  Since that time, seven of the nine witnesses against him recanted their testimony, and one of the remaining two was a possible suspect.  The defense says it has nine new witnesses in Davis' support.

Under current federal law, it is extremely difficult to get a person convicted of murder a new hearing.  According to several legal opinions, with the evidence now available Davis would very likely not have been convicted.  But the so-called Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) of 1996, which was championed by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, almost eliminated any chance for Davis.

You can see more on the coming hearing at http://savannahnow.com/latest-news/2010-05-03/troy-davis-hearing-rescheduled-june-23.  The hearing was originally set for June 30, but was rescheduled.

According to a July 11, 2007 article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, former FBI Director William Sessions, "The release of 124 death row inmates in the United States has made clear that the administration of the death penalty is not infallible."

Sessions also said, in regard to Troy Davis' case, "It would be intolerable to execute an innocent man. It would be equally intolerable to execute a man without his claims of innocence ever being considered by the courts or by the executive."

Anyone of us, at any time, could be arrested and tried and sentenced like Troy Anthony Davis.

To see all our entries on Troy Anthony Davis, click on http://loveshade.org/blog-mt/mt-search.fcgi?IncludeBlogs=1&search=troy+anthony+davis

For background see http://truthinjustice.org/troy-davis.htm

To see more on Troy Anthony Davis, visit http://www.troyanthonydavis.org/

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We are happy to learn that on altavista.com our website is currently in the top 30 sites out of over 200,000 for "troy anthony davis" and in the top 20 out of over 9 million for troy anthony davis (without quotes).  We like to hope we've made at least a small difference.  See http://www.altavista.com/web/results?itag=ody&kgs=1&kls=0&q=troy+anthony+davis&stq=10

Posted by The Loveshade Family at 03:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)

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