aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Cynthia Tucker on Troy Davis
In studying cases of innocent people who have been wrongly convicted, University of Virginia law professor Brandon L. Garrett has concluded that erroneous identifications by eyewitnesses are, by far, the leading cause, occurring 79 percent of the time. (Garrett examined 200 cases of people later exonerated by DNA evidence.) All six of the Georgia men who have been exonerated by DNA evidence were convicted because of faulty eyewitness testimony.
But, in Davis’ case, there is more than just the 11th-hour remorse of prosecution witnesses who now say they were pressured by police or influenced by news reports. There is also the genuine regret of a woman who saw something important that night but withheld the information from police.
Tonya Johnson now says she was sitting on the porch when she saw a man running from the direction of the Burger King. She watched as he hid two guns behind the screen door of the abandoned apartment next door. She says he returned later, panicked and sweaty, and asked her: “Is he dead?”
When police questioned her, she never mentioned the man. She was afraid of him and afraid of the police, as well. “They weren’t nice,” she told the AJC. “You did all you could to avoid them.” But now she believes her silence may have helped to send an innocent man to death row.
MacPhail was cut down doing his duty; he left a multitude, including two young children, to mourn his loss. But, as deeply as they have been wounded, it could hardly help them - or us - for the state to take the life of another innocent man. If Georgia insists on putting someone to death for MacPhail’s murder, it ought to make sure it has the right man.
LATER: The state Board of Pardons and Paroles will hold another clemency hearing on August 9 to listen to 14 witnesses. Fax the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles on Troy’s behalf. The number is (404) 651-8502. Or via Amnesty International here.
