My thoughts on Mr. Troy Davis

I'm not even sure how to begin.

First of all, I'm going to say that I don't necessarily disagree with a death penalty. I don't. I have too many loved ones in professions where they put themselves out there in harm's way day in and day out to make sure *I* am safe. Police officers, military members, firemen (and women!), security guards, etc. And if someone is targeted for that reason alone (and it happens), it seems there has to be something more of a punishment on the books than"just" prison to perhaps deter someone from doing it.

That being said...

I don't know how to feel about this case. In case you think this is going to be a "it was the right thing to do, he deserved to die" post and are already on edge about it, let me assure you: it's not. I don't think it was the right thing to do. And I hope we can all learn from this and that Mr. Troy Davis can rest in peace (whether guilty or not) and I'm praying for comfort for his family.

So these are my thoughts then.

I am not going to say he was innocent or not. I don't know enough about the case (it happened the year I graduated from high school in a little rural Wisconsin town, miles away in geography and even more so in culture) except for what I've been reading up on it now. Whether he was guilty or not was not for me to say: it was those folks on the jury at the time who had to make the decision. And I cannot imagine where they are now and how they must be feeling about all of this right now too. Wonder if anyone's thought about that.

A couple of my problems are this: 1) people call it a racial thing. No, I'm not naive enough to not understand that the bias still exists and it sucks. But that jury was more black than white: 7-5, so I don't think that was the SOLE reason he got the conviction. I've read on my Twitter feeds that people feel that and that brings me to point 2) most people who are appalled or opposed have very little knowledge of this case at all. They see and hear what's in the media or on Wikipedia or any number of other sources and call foul. But how many actually study and read the history of the case and the facts before they did that? I appreciate getting behind a cause, but I think a lot of people may have gotten behind it based on other people's opinions instead of one they formed themselves.

That being said? There was way too much doubt in this case to put a man to death. Again: whether innocent or not, I don't understand why, say, a "life in prison" sentence couldn't have been an alternative now after doubts than upholding a death sentence. Folks: is it really such a reprieve to give "life in prison without parole" instead of death? Does that make that person's life so much better? In my opinion (as well a few convicts who have stated they preferred to die than to live their lives that way, year upon year without end), that could be a WORSE punishment to inflict on someone. The family of Officer MacPhail might have been okay with that sentence, had it been the one that came down at the time (and more on that later). And it at least also allows the possibility to research further in cases of innocence or doubt.

One of the problems we have is that the death sentence seems ridiculously arbitrary. A few years ago, another black man Brian Nichols (his race only a factor because of those who say this was a racist thing, nothing more), on trial for rape in this same state, who managed to get a hold of a deputy's gun and shot and killed not only the judge and deputy in the courtroom but others (in front of cameras and many witnesses), and also kidnapped and held another woman before finally surrendering. His sentence? Life in prison. So I ask, how can someone like this get that kind of sentence - when it was so much more clearly obvious he did do these things - than someone else, where there's doubt? I don't understand the discrepancy. How does this man live and another not?

People are speaking out about the family of Officer MacPhail and saying they were happy this justice was served. I want to cut them a little slack. I ask, if you think about it, you do too. It's still fresh for them, even after 20 years. If it were MY son, father, brother, friend who was killed? And the sentence that came down was life in prison? I think I would find peace with that over time and be okay. But the sentence that came down that day was death so I think I can understand how they couldn't find peace until it happened. They were grieving and didn't see the punishment fulfilled. I'm not saying it was the right punishment, but if it were me in those shoes having lost a loved one, I can understand how they might not have had the closure until now if the sentence rendered at the time didn't happen for a couple of decades. They're only humans, too, caught in this sad, sad tragedy. So I AM willing to give them allowances now for anything they say and feel until they can fully recover and move on as well. Let's not hate on them. They're victims too.

The one last thing I want to say is something I saw on a local news program, the NBC station 11Alive, this morning here in Atlanta. A local congressman said, "the people of Georgia put a possible innocent man to death last night." (I tried to find the link to post here, but cannot...so for the sake of transparency, I'm paraphrasing.) That is not true. I'm a person of Georgia for nearly 15 years now and as I admitted in the start of this post, I don't know much about the case other than what I've read in the past few months. But I do know that I had nothing to do with putting Mr. Davis to death. And I hope that most people will understand that.

And I wish this would have ended differently. Whether innocent or not? Only two people really know: Mr. Davis and God himself. And if he was innocent, in faith I believe he found welcoming arms in Heaven last night.