originally by: The Nation
29th August 2011
Troy Davis was convicted of shooting and murdering a police officer in Savannah, Georgia, despite glaring holes in the prosecutions arguments. He is now on death row, with an execution date as early as September 11th.
He is one of thousands who face execution for crimes they may not have committed.
originally by: The Guardian
2nd September 2011
Police officers who carried out the raid in which the reggae star Smiley Culture allegedly stabbed himself to death are unlikely to face criminal charges, disciplinary action or be officially questioned, the Guardian has learned. The disclosure comes despite an admission by the Independent Police Complaints Commission that the operation at the singer’s home in Warlingham, Surrey, on 15 March was “not satisfactory” and that the actions of at least one officer have been criticised.
In a confidential letter to the singer’s family, Mike Franklin, commissioner of the IPCC, said: “The [IPCC] investigation has identified aspects of the operation which were not satisfactory, and criticisms have been made of some of the officer’s actions. However, these do not meet the threshold for misconduct under the police misconduct system.”
originally by: NYTimes.com
published: 20th August 2011
After nearly two decades in prison for the murder of three young boys, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr., commonly known as the West Memphis Three, stood up in a courtroom here on Friday, proclaimed their innocence even as they pleaded guilty, and, minutes later, walked out as free men.
The freeing of Mr. Echols, 36, was the highest-profile release of a death row inmate in recent memory. Mr. Baldwin, 34, and Mr. Misskelley, 36, had been serving life sentences.
In keeping with the tenor of this case since its first horrific hours, the circumstances of the release were bizarre, divisive and bewildering even to some of those who were directly involved.
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