Death penalty opponents target eyewitness testimony
2:31 pm, February 15th, 2012
Georgia death penalty opponents, including two Democratic lawmakers and the director of a human rights law firm, will meet at the Capitol Thursday to push legislation that would exclude eyewitness testimony as a sole factor in seeking the death penalty.
The rally is closely tied to the September 2011 execution of Troy Davis, who was convicted of killing a Savannah police officer.
Davis’ attorneys and supporters argued that key eyewitnesses in the Davis case changed their statements, but appellate courts were not persuaded.
“In recent years, Georgians have become increasingly aware of just how unreliable eyewitness identification evidence is,” the coalition, known as Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said in a news release. “One hundred forty people have been exonerated from death rows across the country since 1973.”
Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty also includes human rights activists and religious leaders. The rally is scheduled for noon on Feb. 16 inside the Capitol rotunda.
Contributor: Kathleen Baydala Joyner in Legislature | subscribe to rss | 
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February 21st, 2012 at 2:59 pm
I have been out of town for the past week and don’t know: On the run-up to this rally against eyewitness testimony. did the Daily Report publish anything to point out that Davis’ conviction was not based solely on eyewitness testimony but on ballistics as well, and that the so-called recantation evidence conjured by Davis’ lawyers to undermine the trial testimony were themselves thoroughly discredited at a federal hearing given over to the exclusive purpose of allowing Davis to to establish the veracity of those “recantations”?
Spencer Lawton
February 23rd, 2012 at 10:45 am
In reviewing this article and the feedback so far, I first question the perception that the concept of updating the Capital Punishment State Code to require physical evidence as being some type of insidious attack by liberal groups against the cherished institution of Georgia of putting criminals to death. Or, some type of comeuppance by those liberal groups against the State for its case against Troy Davis and his subsequent execution. Maybe this is just a good idea regardless of the source.
What would be the concern with this proposed State Code update if it originated from Peace Officers and Prosecuting Attorneys, who want to have the validation under State Law that the execution practice is accurate and sure? Rather than caving in to public furor?
Also, what if the originator of this State Code update was only a reader of the US Constitution’s 14th amendment which states the hallowed American principle of “equal protection under the law?”
If it were one of these types of groups espousing a physical evidence requirement, would there be a need to bring up troubling cases like that of Troy Davis that we as Georgians still are trying to understand?
Again, maybe this is just a good idea regardless of the source.
Michael Henry
March 1st, 2012 at 1:28 am
It appears that Mr. Lawton is unaware of the increasing number of studies that continue to point out the unreliability of eyewitness testimony. It also appears that the execution of Troy Davis did not satisfy Mr. Lawton, as he keeps re-trying the case in any venue he can find.
Whether or not this proposal, which would require prosecutors to rely on more than simply eyewitness testimony in prosecuting capital cases, stems from Troy Davis’s execution is irrelevent. Requiring prosecutors in capital cases to present solid, reliable, state-of-the-art forensic evidence is an idea whose time has come.
And by the way, Mr. Lawton, your “ballistics” evidence in Mr. Davis’s case was on the verge of being challenged in court when the State of Georgia decided that finality was more important than making sure that the person being executed was, in actual fact, guilty.