I Am Troy Davis

I'm very disturbed and disappointed at the outcome of Troy Davis' case. It was all I could think about yesterday. I don't think it would have been so significant to me had I not TA'ed for a law in film class last semester. Yes, of all places, a law in film course was where I first learned the details of the US's innocent-until-proven guilty criminal justice model. If I hadn't been in that class, I would have read the Troy Davis case and probably even felt that he ought to die, so justice could be served for the victim and his family. But in that class, I heard a defense lawyer speak and one point he made really stuck with me. It was in response to a student asking him whether he felt guilty for defending people that he knew deep inside were probably guilty as hell. He reacted by saying that when it came to his job, the first thing he thought about were his twin sons. What if one day, sitting in that defendant's seat, was one of his sons? He would want his son to be tried in a justice system that sought to unconditionally protect the innocent, even if it meant letting a few guilty ones go. I had never thought about that before. What if someone was in the wrong place, at the wrong time and all the facts of the case were stacked against them? Maybe he's guilty? Maybe not? If I were that person and knew that I was truly innocent, I would find some comfort in knowing that proving my innocence was not an insurmountable task. I would have hope that even though the circumstances pointed toward guilt, there would be an opportunity within the system to clear my name.

Which is why I am so sorry that the justice system has failed Troy Davis. Because if it can fail him, it can fail anyone. Unless you have money, then you can reverse the situation and make guilt look like innocence. But many of us don't have that type of resource. If our justice system can let someone like Casey Anthony go due to lack of evidence to convict her, why weren't all these factors debunking Troy Davis' "guilt beyond a reasonable doubt" enough to save him?

Was It Really That Surprising?

I can't believe it. Once again, the American legal system amazes me with the hypocrisy it possesses. Like clockwork, everything seems to be flip-flopped to the point where guilt is innocence, justice is injustice, and the clearer things are supposed to be, the more people become blinded.

Just look at these variables and you can probably predict the outcome of future criminal cases:
Sex of defense
Race of defense
Socioeconomic status of defense
Jury selection process
If ever you hear the term, 'cannot be absolutely proven,' or some variant of it, raise an eyebrow.

Isn't the point of a functioning legal system to serve justice? In this entire process, no one seemed to think about Caylee Anthony.

Casey Anthony

I usually don't follow US news all that closely besides reading stories about politics here and there, but for some reason I've been incessantly updating myself about the Casey Anthony case. Besides being media fodder and constantly seeing it on the front page of so many news sites, the reason I've been so attracted to it is because it really makes me question the utility of our criminal justice system. I don't care, I'm going to say it. That woman is clearly and unequivocally guilty. Put her on the stand. She is going to implicate herself, I am sure, because she knows what she did. She was already inconsistent with her stories when she was arrested. It's hard to believe that not showing any remorse or distraught-ness after her daughter went missing can be equated with emotional trauma from her father allegedly sexually abusing her. Shouldn't 'innocent until proven guilty' be reserved for borderline cases? Even if she didn't murder her daughter herself, the level of negligence is beyond forgivable. And this is accepting the very questionable claim the defense put forth that the little girl drowned. Which I don't.

If our criminal 'justice' system allows a mother who would cold-bloodedly and unflinchingly murder her own helpless daughter to walk free, then I will be very, very disappointed.