Dear Kavita,

There is no way to express my disbelief and disappointment in the unjust ruling by our nation's so-called highest lawgivers. This is another example of just how far mankind's interpretations of what just laws are have departed from the just laws of a Divine Creator.

It seems that Divine Law would dictate that any errors made should be made on the side of mercy and not on the side of man's demand for blood and the appearance of political correctness.

There will come a time when each one of us will have to answer for any harm that we have done unto another. We will feel the pain that we have caused others. I surely would not want to be in the shoes of any of the judges who have refused mercy to Troy Davis. None of us is on this Earth for any great period of time. We have come from the Spiritual Realm and we will return to the Spiritual Realm.

The abused will occupy places far above those who have caused pain and injury. We are now in the world of illusion (for a brief time). Soon we will all enter the real world of Spirit where we will see things clearly.

As Troy said when he was taken to the Execution Room to view his place of so-called death, all he saw were butterflies. And the symbolism of this is that "Butterflies are free". Butterflies can fly high and go wherever they wish to go. This is real freedom. Troy is not afraid and he is way ahead of those who are ignorant of the truths that Troy accepts.

Love and Best Wishes,

"Betsy" S.

dear Kavita,
I will continue to hope for justice for Troy.

from Betsy's comment:
"Butterflies can fly high and go wherever they wish to go. This is real freedom. Troy is not afraid and he is way ahead of those who are ignorant of the truths that Troy accepts."

This is a beautiful symbol and expression of wisdom, Betsy. Thank you.

love,
~ Kate

justice? denied, again..

Good evening Kavita,

I just read your wonderful comment about today's decision. I read it earlier this morning and already posted two comments at Noble Losers thread and Open Thread. I thought about you immediately.

Ironically, today is also a day in which Christies in Paris was auctioning items of the Royal Family to potential buyers. Amongst those items was a letter from Antoinette to her sister protesting her own innocence. I had read some of the comments from the Parisians who had taken an interest in this case, and I even wrote Troy a note from the French site.

Justice is never served when there is reasonable doubt about a man's guilt or innocence, so I am at a loss for words when it comes to understanding the parole board's decision after they had specifically said that they would not execute him if there were any doubt at all.

Again, I cannot believe every news story written about this case, but a newspaper today did say that the Georgia parole board had had a closed hearing in which they had listened to each witness and to Troy Davis. What has convinced them that is he is guilty has not been stated to my satisfaction.

The amount of intimidation, the amount of confusion, and the emotional states of mind of each witness gives me cause for real concern. The only problem is that Troy's family has suffered enough for one lifetime, and a new trial would only mean a march through hell again, as that is all that court trials are essentially. Again, without new evidence, the Supreme Court probably realized there was no use to study this case any further.

My concern is that the Supreme Court's decision will impact the election...there is no doubt that this is a gift for Barack Obama. This will ignite a desire to redress a wrong and I suspect that it may bring more voters to the voting booth who truly care about justice.

The Georgia Board of Parole and Pardons should try to correct its own mistake by granting clemency to Troy, but pigheaded as they appear to be, it may be that another innocent man, like Jesus, like Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI, and others both famous and unknown, will go to his death.

My prayers go out to his family, and to the family of the slain police officer as well. It is true that in spirit, Troy will receive a just fate, but it is small consolation at this point for those who have struggled so hard for him.

Thank you, Kavita, for staying with this story to the end. It is not over yet!

Whatever role Troy is called upon to play in this Farce called Man, I know he will play it righTROYally and I will be ever grateful that he plays it for me, too.

Amen

A letter from Gautam Narula who met Troy Davis recently.

Dear Mr. Troy Davis,

When I came home from school yesterday, the first thing I did was ask my father if the U.S. Supreme Court had made a decision the case. When he said he didn’t know, I immediately raced to my computer and checked on the internet. When I saw the decision, my heart seemed to have frozen; something didn’t seem to be right- surely there must be some mistake. I went on to my email account, and to my horror my mother confirmed it in an email- the highest court in the land, the same court that had ruled on Brown vs. Board of Education, the same court that was to uphold justice in the first true democratic republic in the world, could not see that there was even the slightest chance that you were innocent, even the slightest chance that maybe Georgia was wrong. I immediately sent a message to Sahil telling him the news. Even as I write this, I am still in shock. But don’t think that I have given up. I submitted a letter to the editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. I signed Amnesty International’s new petition to the Georgia Board of Paroles; I have also told many of my friends, and two days ago I gave a speech on why the death penalty should be abolished (I have included it with this letter). I haven’t given up hope, because I know the truth- I know that you did not beat a homeless man, and you did not murder a police officer.

I have also been reading the books you sent me whenever I have the time. I do not know in what direction my spiritual journey will take me; whether it will lead to Christianity, like you, to Buddhism, like my namesake, Siddhartha Gautama, to Hinduism, like my ancestors, or perhaps to some other religion. In my world history class, we learned how the Persian emperor Cyrus the Great took the powerful city of Babylon without any bloodshed; I was amazed to find out that, according to the books that you gave me, the Bible predicted this event. I am still young and have much to learn, but the books you have sent me and the things you have told me will help me find the right path.

I just want you to remember not to despair, no matter how hopeless the situation is. You have empowered the minds of hundreds of thousands of people; you have changed me completely; less than two months ago, I was more or less unaware of the injustices in the world, of the travesties that exist within our very own country, of the struggles that every single Troy Davis around the world has to face. I am no longer content to sit and be ignorant of injustice, or apathetic, or to watch others fight it. I am longer content to be on the sidelines while there are lives to be saved and people to be helped. I am no longer content to be the person I used to be. I was not a bad person, but thanks to you, I am now a much better person. I know that you have impacted many others in the same way you have impacted me.

In spite of all that has happened, I still believe you will be saved. I don’t believe that God, fate, destiny, or whatever one wants to call it would put you so close to death multiple times just for it to all end here. Not all the doors are closed, and as long as there is a possibility, I am not afraid to believe. I will take that fishing trip that you promised me, Mr. Davis. I’ll just be watching though ;).
I remember that you told me that you were not afraid right before your execution because God had taken away all your fear, and He had lifted the burden off of you. Well, remember, should the unthinkable happen, the ones who did this to you will one day have to face the consequences of what they’ve done. The one was the real killer will one day have to come to terms with what he has done. He is the real prisoner. He will have to live with the fact that he has hurt a great many people. As you said, they can imprison your body, but not your spirit. Similarly, his body may be free, but his spirit will never be.

“They” by Gautam Narula

They said no, they said he did the crime,

They said go, finish him off this time.

They locked him up, they put him away,

They said yup, we’ll kill him one day.

When his family came, when they started to cry,

To them it was the same, they didn’t bat an eye

September 23rd, it was supposed to be the end

But God had heard, he helped his friend.

October 14th, we’re back to square one,

But they don’t realize, they still haven’t won.

As long as they kill, as long as people die,

No they never will, never will understand why.

They won’t know, why he is still strong,

They’ll say no, this must be wrong!

How can he be happy, how can he laugh as well?

He should be unhappy, locked in his cell!

But while they kill, and while they destroy,

They will never be half the man whose name is Troy.
Gautam Narula, 15

I'm from Atlanta. Activists, Davis' family, friends and supporters have done so much to bring attention to the travesty that has become this case.

The ruling only proves our nation is full of injustice and hypocrisy. It is a sad day for our country.

Dallas District Attorney Craig Watkins has been trying to clear innocent people through DNA analysis and so far 19 people have been exonerated. In many cases, their lives have been ruined by the false imprisonment, but he is trying to reverse this travesty. He is now training his prosecutors with respect to the unreliability of eye-witness identifications.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/us/12dna.html

It doesn't help Troy Davis, but it is a real start to clean things up around here.

How many of these cases make it to the SCOTUS so they have to "waste" their valueable time on them? When the death penalty is so controversial, how can they take so lightly the request to possibly exonerate an innocent man? How big an inconvenience to hold a new trial to examine the new facts that have surfaced? Oh, I forgot, we sanction torture in this country so why would Mr. Davis' life matter?

On the Georgia State Seal are the words, "Wisdom, Justice and Moderation". It is time that the definition of those words are put into practice in this state in general and in this case in particular.

I am a police officer and after reading the background on this case over the past several weeks, I have concluded that Troy Davis deserves a new trial. Any evidence provided by witnesses who later recant is bad evidence that casts reasonable doubt in favor of a defendant and has to be weighted as such.

Hi Kavita

This is shocking, to say the least. That's because just three days ago I went to the Amnesty International website to sign a petition and send a letter to overturn Troy's death penalty ruling.

This feels almost like a personal battle lost, for me - so I can well imagine what it must be like for you as one who has known and worked to help him in his hour of need. My heart goes out to his family. I can't even begin to imagine the kind of grief and sense of futile loss they must be grappling with at this time. As for you Kavita, I admire what you've chosen to do. There are so many others there that need your help. A quiet kudos to you.

Love
Tori Roy

Cruel enough to give him a last minute reprieve, and then rescind it, just like that.

Amnesty has an easy form for letters to the clemency board.

link:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/c.goJTI0OvElH/b.953489/k.B86E/Action_Center_Home/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx

Thank you every one for your thoughts. Troy Davis has a new execution date-October 27. I sent him copies of comments by all of you on the blogs I've written on intent and elsewhere today by overnight delivery.
Spencer, I wish Spencer Lawton, the prosecuting DA in the case who has had several allegations of misconduct against him(one of the cases which was made into the movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by Clint Eastwood was thrown out because of that) was like you.
I wish the Georgia Parole Board had a conscience and sense of fair play..I wish Troy could get those 20 years of his life back, and I wish Mark MacPhail was alive to tell who it was that shot him..but except for a Presidential Pardon and complete change of heart by the Parole Board, the chances of Troy not being executed are very bleak.

I know however that in his 40 years Troy Davis has impacted so many lives in a way many people don't achieve in a life time. He has changed the way I look at the death penalty and injustice completely.

His sister Martina who was undergoing chemotherapy today having battled stage 4 breast cancer for over 7 years, was still trying to think what would be the next step. She is still not willing to give up. She has redefined the word courage for me and he has redefined what faith means.

I wish the MacPhails had had the opportunity to meet this family. You just have a gut instinct and you just know the truth when you look into a man's eyes..
I continue to pray to a higher power and I hope to continue to expose such injustices in the screwed up judicial system in the Southern States when it comes to the death penalty.
We all have to die some day-but Troy has taught me what it means to really live, and be able to reach out and touch so many lives-in spite of all the shackles that bind him.
And for that I will be always be grateful.

dear Kavita,
Thank you for sending Troy the emails of hope, care and love.

You are special.
~ Kate

Please go to my website and see the latest action needed. They have an email address for Troy at the prison where they are forwarding emails to Martina. You can write to Troy or Martina at troyanthonydavis@yahoo.com. There are no guarantees they will forward everything, but you never know.

Hello All
I spoke with Troy today and he asked that you send the emails if you wish to write to him to my email address kavita@kavitachhibber.com. He will be in touch with me on phone and I can read out the emails to him and he will respond. Evidently he does not get all the emails sent to him on the address I gave above.