Omniquity

Further to my earlier post on the death penalty, a case in point:

http://fieldnotes.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/09/21/7880191-two-versions-of-justice-in-troy-davis-case

Seven of the nine witnesses who testified against Davis later recanted or changed their statements. Several claimed police coercion. One of those witnesses, Jeffrey Sapp, said, “I got tired of them harassing me… I told them that Troy told me he did it, but it wasn’t true… I didn’t want to have any more problems with the cops, so I testified against Troy.”  Davis’ defense also claims a lack of physical evidence. The murder weapon was never recovered.  All of it was presented during previous appeals and attempts at a retrial. Those attempts failed.

I’m mystified how the police or prosecutors can look at this case and feel good about themselves or the jobs they are doing. This is not justice, it is the state wielding its ultimate power to satisfy some primal urge for revenge-any revenge. Shameful.

Coincidentally, if ever there were a case to be made for the death penalty, this would be it:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44613428/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts

A horrible, horrifying, remorseless crime. Did he “deserve” the death penalty? In some cosmic sense, probably yes. But there are equally horrible criminals who committed equally horrifying crimes who are not facing the death penalty. When a penalty so severe, so uncorrectable, so final, is administered so randomly, it cannot be seen as just.

(Source: tumblr.com)

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