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Fairness issues surround capital punishment debate
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Written by Julie Garrick, Staff Writer
Troy Davis was an African-American man from Georgia sentenced to death after he was convicted of shooting and killing Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail on Aug. 19, 1989.
Years after Davis was found guilty of first degree murder, eye witnesses began recanting their testimony, and death penalty opponents such as Pope Benedict XVI and former President Jimmy Carter called upon the courts to grant Davis a new trial.
The week of Davis’s execution, hundreds of death penalty opponents protested, but on Sept. 21, 2011, Davis was executed by lethal injection after spending 20 years on death row. Davis’s final words were to the family of the victim:
“I’d like to let you all know, despite the situation — I know all of you are still convinced that I’m the person that killed your father, your son and your brother — but I am innocent. The incident that happened that night was not my fault. I did not have a gun that night. I did not shoot your family member. But I am so sorry for your loss. I really am — sincerely. All I can ask is that each of you look deeper into this case, so that you really will finally see the truth. I ask my family and friends that you all continue to pray, that you all continue to forgive. Continue to fight this fight. For those about to take my life, may God have mercy on all of your souls.”
Since 1976, 1,278 people have been executed in the United States. In North Carolina, the only crime punishable by death is first degree murder. To be a first degree murder case, premeditation and aggravating factors must be present.
“If you threw a bomb in the lobby of a hotel and killed a person, but the bomb could have killed several, that case would probably be a death penalty case because you put a bunch of different lives, realistically, in harm’s way,” Henderson County District Attorney Jeff Hunt said.
Sometimes in a death penalty case not only is the morality of the death penalty questioned, but whether or not racial bias is present.
The N.C. General Assembly has recently tried to repeal the Racial Justice Act. This act has the power to exonerate someone if evidence shows that there was racial bias during the sentencing. If there has been racial bias, the defendant can file for appropriate relief. “The Racial Justice Act specifically says that you’re not allowed to consider the facts in the case; you’re only allowed to look at the racial quotas, the percentages,” Hunt said.
A common argument against the death penalty is that the accused person who committed the murder may be mentally impaired. If the defendant’s IQ level is below 70, he or she is classified as mentally impaired.
“If your IQ is so low that it’s beneath the statutory level, then you are not subject to the death penalty. In North Carolina and many other states, we have the insanity rule, and that’s separate from the IQ issue. If you are so mentally ill that you’re insane and don’t know right from wrong and didn’t know you were committing a crime by killing someone, then that can certainly keep you from getting convicted,” Hunt said.
The controversy over whether the death penalty is a deterrent or a punishment is also ongoing. Those who say the death penalty is a deterrent believe that it prevents criminals from committing felonies that could result in the death penalty. Another controversy is over whether the death penalty saves money compared to life imprisonment. The average time on death row in North Carolina is about 18 years.
“Once you fill in all the protections we do, I don’t think it saves money. If you count all the levels of lawyer work after the conviction and after the person is on death row, most of that is paid by taxpayers. It probably does not become less expensive. It’s really expensive to go through all those processes over 18 years,” Hunt said.
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