During the same week that George W. Bush commuted the sentence of "Scooter" Libby (whose nickname may prompt the people at Webster to add "One who scoots" to their definition of the word) claiming his sentence was "excessive" another man in Georgia has been sentenced to die in July for the murder of a police officer. This would not be so odd if in fact there was any physical evidence in the case and seven of the nine "witnesses" in the case had not recanted their testimony claiming they had been coerced by police to testify against him. One witness said he signed a statement without even reading it.
This might be considered excessive. It also might be called unjust, racist (the convicted man is black and the dead officer was white), or merely insane. In any case I have serious doubts that Bush knows about this case or if he does that he cares. Troy Davis is not a rich white man. He is not a friend of the President and he did not lie to cover up a crime committed by members of the Bush Administration. His life is forfeit.
So where is the press on this story? There is scant mention of Troy Davis. There is no furor over this. It does not fit into the template of what is "news" in this country. If Troy Davis was a blonde white woman this would not have even happened in the first place. Police do not coerce people to make false statements against blonde white women. In fact if you go after Duke University students because you are honestly mistaken you get disbarred.
No prosecutor ever lost his job for a false conviction of a black man in America.
One of the few stories out there is here.
