I just try to call it how I see it. I don’t think the cause for ending the death penalty is well served by being dishonest about the facts of a given case. There were some stories I read that said there was “no” evidence tying Davis to the murder other than the witnesses; this turned out not to be true as other more objective articles mentioned the casings. We can debate whether or not the shell casings really tie Davis to the scene but don’t pretend that they were not there. Others tried to make this an issue about race. Was race a factor? I honestly don’t know one way or the other.

As to the Lawrence Brewer case, I honestly did not know his execution was coming up until the day before. Here’s an interesting article about the contrast between the two cases: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2011/09/troy-davis-lawrence-brewer-2-executions-2-very-different-reactions.html

The linked article quoted a tweet from someone asking –”Why no outrage among celebrities over the execution of racist lyncher Lawrence Russell Brewer?” I think the answer is very much in the question. While I oppose the death penalty in all cases, it would be foolish to treat each and every case as if they were the same. I don’t know that there have ever been any serious doubts about Brewer’s guilt concerning the dragging death of James Byrd Jr. Because of the lack of any serious doubts and being a white supremacist, Brewer isn’t a very sympathetic person to point to as a reason to end the death penalty (actually quite the opposite; in Brewer’s last words he said he probably would have done it all over again if he could go back).

It’s difficult enough to persuade people who shrug when bringing up cases where a likely innocent person was executed much less someone who was likely guilty and/or unrepentant.

Are you aware of any demonstrations at the execution of Lawrence Brewer? I’ve heard of none.