Justice in a Needle

It is a moment of Kafkaesque realization to be in prison as the news drones on and on about a condemned inmate, mere moments from death, awaiting word of any last minute reprieve.  I experienced that realization – again – the other night as our building watched the circus that became Georgia inmate Troy Davis’s last day.

I don’t know if Troy Davis was guilty of the crime of killing an off-duty Savannah police officer.  His guilt or innocence is of little consequence to the absolutely appalling atmosphere that grew around his case.  Here’s what I do know:  a white off-duty Savannah police officer was gunned down coming to the aid of a homeless man being attacked in a parking lot.  That deceased police officer left children who grew up without their dad.  He left a grieving mother who simply wanted justice.

I also know Troy Davis spent over 20 years on Georgia’s death row.  I know nine chief prosecution witnesses recanted their testimony and claimed they were coerced.  I know Troy Davis lost every appeal and still the U.S. Supreme Court ordered a Federal Judge to review the case in its entirety due to numerous, significant questions about the conduct of the prosecution in the case.  I know the Federal Court – after months of review and providing a painstakingly detailed analysis of the case in a multi-hundred page opinion, concluded “Davis did not meet the burden of proving he was innocent” (in a twist of the law, after convicted it is up to the “guilty” to prove they are in fact innocent).

And I know religious leaders from Pope Benedict to Bishop Tutu spoke out against the imposition of the death sentence on moral grounds.

And yet, on Tuesday night, I watched as the circus came to town; the schizophrenic push to execute or stay execution so unique and troubling to America.  And, I was disgusted.  America has lost its moral framework.

Regardless of what you believe about the morality of capital punishment, can you honestly justify strapping a man on a death gurney at 6:00 pm and leaving him strapped down for five hours, until 11:00 pm, when the United States Supreme Court finally refused to issue a stay of execution?  Does that sound humane?  Does that validate this society’s alleged belief in the sanctity of life?  Does it pass Constitutional muster under the 8^th Amendment’s prohibition to cruel and unusual punishment?  More importantly, is America a better country having executed Troy Davis, a man who uttered as his last words “You are killing an innocent man.  May God have mercy on your souls.”

An interesting expression, “May God have mercy on your soul”.  They utter that at every execution.  Fact is, God has mercy for us.  No matter what we’ve done God stands ready to show us mercy, grace and forgiveness.  And what do we do as salvaged, forgiven people?  We set a legalistic standard.  We hold the Troy Davis’ of the world accountable for their crimes while we muddle through our lives sinning and conniving and being unmerciful.

May God have mercy on our souls.  The African American poet Langston Hughes wrote “O let America be America again.  The America that never was.”  This nation was founded on an ethos that God ordained freedom and dignity for all men.  And every time we witness the disconnect between that fundamental ideal with the reality of a legalistic, revenge motivated society, we realize God’s ordination is nothing but a pipe dream.

As I wrote earlier, I don’t know if Troy Davis was guilty or not.  I do know his execution is a stain on this country.  America is not the land it can be as long as capital punishment is imposed.  It’s time for mercy and justice to roll down like a stream over this land.  As I sit in this trash heap of America’s love affair with punishment I can only pray “May God have mercy on all of us.”