Troy Davis Story: His Last Words Spark Twitter Outcry
In the wake of Troy Davis’s execution, the public has been taking to Twitter to cry injustice and to rail against the death penalty. In his last words, the convict maintained his innocence and asked God to “have mercy” on the souls of the prison staff.
Davis died from legal injection at 11:08 p.m. Wednesday after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a last-minute appeal by his lawyer. The 42-year-old was convicted of the 1989 murder of police officer Mark MacPhail and sentenced to the death penalty. His lawyer filed the eleventh-hour appeal claiming that the ballistic testing linking his client to the murder was flawed.
“Let you know, despite the situation you are in, I'm not the one who personally killed your son, your father, your brother. I am innocent,” Davis told the slayed policeman’s family.
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“The incident that happened that night is not my fault. I did not have a gun. All I can ask ... is that you look deeper into this case so that you really can finally see the truth.”
Davis also asked his “family and friends to continue to fight this fight.”
He also directed his final words to the prison staff: “For those about to take my life, may God have mercy on your souls. May God bless your soul.”
These words, in which he affirmed his innocence in his final moments, have caused much public upheaval concerning the death penalty’s potential for killing an innocent man.
“The execution of Troy Davis is a watershed moment for capital punishment in America,” tweeted The Atlantic Magazine.
CBS’s Andrew Cohen tweeted, “The legacy of execution in an imperfect world.”
The last words launched the public into a massive state of outrage. Over a dozen protesters were arrested in front of the White House yesterday evening.
“I have never seen a case where there is so much significant doubt,” said Amnesty International executive director Larry Cox.
Post execution, the battle between Davis’s guilt and innocence continues, and the outrage becomes hotter and heavier.
Alec Baldwin tweeted: “Davis is dead, does that make you happier?” and “you don’t want to kill an innocent man.”
Although the execution was intended to put the case to its final rest, critics contend that taking another life does not achieve peace, but rather continued questioning.
“Davis’ last words score with the shaky evidence against him, and any rational person must accept that there’s a decent chance the state of Georgia just executed an innocent man. We’ll never know. And herein lies the problem with the death penalty,” according to Death and Taxes Magazine.
To those supporting Davis’s innocence, his last words twisted the knife even more, reinstating his innocence moments before his execution.
“The end result is as much a desecration of God's creation as any brutal murder," said The National Catholic Reporter.
Davis’s case has remained a hot topic of public opinion for the past 22 years, gaining high profile momentum from celebrities and human rights organizations like Amnesty International.
Now America, once again, must reflect on its position concerning capital punishment.
Former president Jimmy Carter said that he hopes this "tragedy will spur us as a nation toward the total rejection of capital punishment."
