I've never been much of a fan of the death penalty. You can spout old adages about wrongs not making rights at the discussion, but what it really comes down to is that I don't believe the government ought to hold the power to kill its citizens. While there are plenty of trappings of process that go into the death of an alleged criminal, the act of execution is still, in essence, an example of the government exerting deadly power over a member of the state. And that doesn't sit right with me.

But even if your definition of justice falls more along the lines of "an eye for an eye", I think we can all agree that the death penalty should only be used when there's airtight evidence indicating guilt. You can always free a wrongfully imprisoned citizen. You can never reverse an execution. 

Yet we still see convicts on death row whose cases are full of holes. Some of them die for crimes they probably didn't commit. On Wednesday, September 21st, another likely innocent man will hit the death chamber--unless we can convince the right people that he should go free.

Troy Davis has been on death row for 20 years, ever since he was convicted of the murder of a police officer in Savannah, Georgia. He had always maintained his own innocence throughout the case. The witnesses who testified against him later confessed that they were harassed by law enforcement officials to declare Davis's guilt. Most of them have stated in sworn affidavits that their original testimonies were forced out of them by police. Most of them now admit that they have no reason to believe that Davis was at fault in the killing. The case seems to be one of misidentification--and brutal, illogical insistence upon that mistake.

There's still time to reverse Davis's fate. His execution date might be scheduled to occur in just a few days, but he has managed to secure a hearing with the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole on Monday, September 19th. That means he still has a chance of being exonerated--and still has a chance to avoid capital punishment for a crime he did not commit. 

There has never been any physical evidence of Davis's guilt. Now, there are no honest witnesses. What kind of a country are we living in if the justice system sees fit to execute innocent people for the crimes of others? 

Kim Davis, Troy's sister, has started a petition to stop her brother's execution. She's looking to record the names of 300,000 Americans who believe Troy's case has been managed illegally. If the Georgia Board sees such an outcry of popular support, they might just take it as a sign to grant Troy a pardon. Put your name down today to stop the killing of Troy Davis--who may have only days to live--and make it known that you won't stand for the US government using capital punishment in cases with this level of doubt and corruption evident.