Troy Davis was just denied clemency by the Georgia state parole board. Scott Lemieux explains why this is such a travesty:
There is no physical evidence against Davis. The case relies entirely on eyewitness testimony, a highly unreliable form of evidence that is far more likely than any other source of evidence to lead to wrongful convictions. Moreover, 7 of the 9 eyewitnesses against him have recanted their testimony and claimed that their identifications were produced under the kind of high-pressure conditions that are especially likely to lead to erroneous identifications. We cannot be completely certain that Troy Davis is innocent, but we can be certain that if states can execute people based solely on inherently unreliable evidence innocent people will be executed. The state of Georgia is about to be responsible for an outrageous violation of human rights.
(Video via Alyssa Rosenberg)
The Dish 