Family, friends celebrate Troy Davis' life at funeral

[alp227]

Source: CNN

(CNN) -- It was inevitable that the fiery politics of the death penalty would punctuate Saturday's remembrance of Troy Anthony Davis.

His 20 years of claims of innocence on Georgia's death row earned him millions of supporters who believe the state wrongfully executed him on the night of September 21.

Saturday, Davis' family and closest friends gathered inside the Jonesville Baptist Church to celebrate his life.

A mass of flowers covered Davis' closed casket. Two photos flanked it -- one a color portrait of a young boy who grew up on the streets of Savannah's Cloverdale neighborhood and the other a black and white photo of a young man in a suit attending his murder trial.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/01/justice/troy-davis-funeral/index.html

[socialshockwave]

1. Too bad that the family of his victim can't celebrate Officer MacPhail's life. n/t

[DinahMoeHum]

2. They already had their celebration. . .

when Davis was executed.

[socialshockwave]

3. I don't enjoy celebrating a death. But they had their loved one taken from them

and seeing the man who did it die, for them, was a sort of relief, I'm sure. Doesn't make it right to celebrate - but it means they don't have to hear about it anymore.

[DinahMoeHum]

5. that is, IF he was the actual killer.

n/t

[liberation]

7. What is your fucking point exactly

that the person executed does not even have the right to a proper funeral and to be loved by his family?

[No Elephants]

19. I was wondering the same thing. Except funerals are not about the deceased's rights.

Apparently, this poster is upset that his family is having the kind of funeral they prefer to have for their loved one.

[24601]

11. I do believe in his guilt but hold that he's paid his debt and is now

square with the house. His family has every right to grieve - even families of dead terrorist assholes have the right to grieve their dead.

[auntAgonist]

4. Officer MacPhail's death was a tragedy. Are you 100% sure Troy Davis

was his killer?


aA

[No Elephants]

20. Regardless, Davis has been executed. This poster is now railing on his family for having

the kind of funeral they wanted to have.

[McCamy Taylor]

6. So any Black scapegoat will ease the pain? I thought that was the OLD south.

How will the family feel if evidence comes forward that the wrong man was executed for the crime? Pretty bad, I would think. Death added onto death.

[EFerrari]

8. Whose victim? If you have new information, you should contact GA immediately.

As it is, the man the Savannah PD framed was killed by the state and HIS life was celebrated today.

[No Elephants]

18. Huh? Are you saying the Officer's family could not celebrate his life at his funeral,

same as the Davis family is doing as to Davis?

If that was the case, whoever denied them the ability to mourn a loved one as they wished is one sick fuck, wouldn't you say?

Or, are you saying that Davis's family should not have the right to grieve Davis's death as they wish? If not, why not?

Or, is your problem that executiing Davis was not enough to satisfy you?

Or, did you just want to dominate the thread?

The kindest thing I can think of is that you just did not give your post a lot of thought.

[soryang]

9. Anyone with substantial jury trial experience knows the death..

...penalty is too final an outcome to entrust to such a fallible and untrustworthy process.

[buckrogers1965]

10. If it turns out this man was innocent...

What penalty will be applied to those who murdered him?

Shouldn't the congress that passed the death penalty law, the governor that signed the law, the governor that failed to pardon the innocent man, the judge, the jury, the prosecution, and all appeals court be tried for murder in the first degree?

I mean, if you believe that murderers deserve the death penalty, then that same penalty should apply if an innocent man is killed by the state. Fair is fair, right?

[rasputin1952]

12. I have always believed that if the individual who signed the Death Warrant...

would have to face the same penalty if an individual was proven innocent later...there would be no Death Penalty.

This case was particularly onerous since 7 of the 9 who testified recanted their testimony, that alone should have forced the pen to sign a stay of execution. It created enough reasonable doubt about this case to press for a new review.

The other thing that should hang over the heads of those that would use the DP, is that if they were wrong, and an innocent individual were executed, the perpetrator is most likely still out in society...perhaps just waiting to strike again.

It is terrible that anyone had to die, neither the incident nor the outcome should have happened.

[mvd]

13. Well said, ras!

How are you? This case is eerily similar to the case in John Grisham's The Confession. I wouldn't be surprised if Troy Davis is one day found certain to be innocent. :hi:

[rasputin1952]

15. Hanging in there...

:hi:

We have the "honk parade" up by Harvard about 11 AM tomorrow, but I've got to be up there early to help set up out Veterans for Peace site at the end of the route. This should be great fun, and a little less raucous than the BoA march on Friday, (that was fun too...until the arrests began...:( )

[mvd]

17. Have a fun time. See you on the boards

:hi:

[Mnemosyne]

14. I could not agree more, very well stated, rasputin. K&R.. n/t

[rasputin1952]

16. Thanks...

:hi:

[Mnemosyne]

24. Thank you for great thinking!

:hi:

[No Elephants]

21. It's not only the guy who signs the warrant. Someone pulls the switch or administers the injection.

[rasputin1952]

22. True, but w/o said warrant, those people would never have to do...

any of the things necessary to execute another.

I've sat on a few juries, (nothing like a capital case), it's an interesting process from the inside. But I'm glad we have a system that allows for appeals. Some juries whisk right through an "easy" case, others will deliberate on some points for hours or days. The key is "reasonable doubt". In this case, I believe, (from what I've seen and read), reasonable doubt existed.

We also have Jury Nullification, but unless one has the details, (most people never even heard of it), it's almost never put into practice. Essentially, a jury has the ability to nullify a law.

[No Elephants]

23. I said it was not only the warrant, meaning it was both the signer and the killer.

It takes both.

There's really no valid "but" about what I said.