One night in America, the death penalty was hard at work, and two men — Troy Davis and Lawrence Russell Brewer — were put to death by the state. Can one act be right, and the other be wrong?
Troy Davis was sentenced to death, scheduled to be executed by the state of Georgia last night at 7:00 PM. The U.S. Supreme Court intervened just moments before the killing was to be committed, and placed a delay on his execution. For all of three-and-a-half hours. While America focused on Troy Davis via Twitter and Facebook and Google+ and news outlets large and small, the state of Texas was busy executing Lawrence Russell Brewer for the murder of James Byrd, Jr. If the name James Byrd, Jr. sounds vaguely familiar, it should. Aside from being dragged to his death thirteen years ago by Lawrence Russell Brewer, a white supremacist, his name is forever emblazoned on the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which President Obama signed into law 23 months ago.
Map of Death Penalty State statutes in the United States *Blue: No current death penalty statute *Orange: Death penalty statute declared unconstitutional (New York Court of Appeals declared statute unconstitutional June 24, 2004) *Yellow: No one executed since 1976 *Red: Has performed execution since 1976 Note: New Mexico's death penalty statute was repealed on March 18, 2009 but did not apply to inmates on death row at the time of the repeal when there were two death row inmates.
“There is no outcry about the Brewer execution, unlike the Troy Davis case, even from people who traditionally oppose the death penalty,” wrote veteran reporter Mary Mapes Wednesday at The Huffington Post. “Governor Rick Perry received no pleas for mercy on Brewer’s behalf.”
“Jimmy Carter hasn’t said a word.
“There hasn’t been a peep from the Pope.
“The silence seems richly deserved. Brewer was convicted in a horrifying case, the 1999 racist dragging death of James Byrd in Jasper, Texas. I covered the trial and the unremittingly cruel details of the crime were beyond imagining. Byrd was killed by three yahoos simply for the fun of it, simply because he was black, simply because they were drunk, simply because.
“Now Brewer, who is unapologetic, unsympathetic, unblinkingly stupid, hateful and vile will be put to death for the same reason — simply because.”
Hours before Governor Rick Perry’s Texas execution machine added another notch to his belt — Brewer was number 236 under the Evangelical Christian’s watch — a grand jury in Mississippi charged a nineteen-year old with a hate crime murder, making him eligible for the death penalty too. Deryl Dedmon, Jr., who, too, can be described as a white supremacist, reportedly got drunk with seven friends one night back in July, and at one point said, “let’s go fuck with some niggers,” and proceeded to drive around in a pickup truck until they found one. Whom they attacked, and beat. (Is this sounding familiar?) And when that was done, Dedmon, 18 years-old at the time, reportedly got in his truck and drove over the 49-year old black man, repeatedly, until he was dead, and probably after. James Craig Anderson’s only crime was that he was out at night after his shift at the auto plant trying to retrieve the keys he had locked in his car. Dedmon’s act was recorded by a local surveillance camera, Dedmon’s lawyer is claiming it was an “accident.”
Last year, there were 46 death penalty executions in America. 64% of Americans support the death penalty, although when asked about life in prison in lieu of the death penalty, that number drops to 46%. Michigan constitutionally prohibits the death penalty, and it is also prohibited in Alaska, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.
There are an estimated 3200 prisoners on death row, awaiting fate, at any given moment in America. Odds are that at any given moment in America, at least one of them is innocent. California, which has executed 13 since 1976, — among the fewest — has the most awaiting death: 721. And we all know Texas, which has executed 474 since 1976, and has another 321 awaiting death.
On Twitter last night, passion, and prediction poured out from all sides. Blogger and TV producer-writer Rod McCullom tweeted, “It’s over. #TroyDavis has been executed. I’m sure there will be lots of applause at 2morrow’s #GOP debate,” as he informed us, “USA Rank in Executions in 2010 = #5 (1) China (2) Iran (3) North Korea (4) Yemen (5) USA (6) Saudi Arabia (7) Libya (8) Syria.”
From the Left, comments flew, like, “I find it truly bizarre that the radical right believes the government can’t be trusted w/ taxes, yet they trust them with the death penalty,” and from the Right, (clearly missing the point,) “Still wondering why there’s no similar outrage over the white dude who is being executed tonight in TX.”
And then, of course, there was Ann Coulter, cheering Georgia’s intravenous hangmen on, tweeting,
NEW COLUMN POSTED! — COP-KILLER IS MEDIA’S LATEST BABY SEAL — WWW​.ANNCOULTER​.COM
then,
ONE TROY DAVIS FLAME-​BROILED, PLEASE –
then,
HOLD THE PICKLE, HOLD THE LETTUCE. FRYING KILLERS WON’T UPSET US.
And then, there were the tweets that reminded us, as author Chris Stedman wrote, “Tonight, we are all #TroyDavis. And we are all the executioners.”
(Image)