Members and supporters of the Atlanta’s chapter of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty (CEDP) gathered at the WonderRoot Community Center Tuesday evening for live call-ins from long-time death row inmate Troy Davis, as well as Stanley Howard, who was just removed from death row. Several students from Emory and other local universities attended.

CEDP is a bottom-up, grassroots organization aiming to abolish capital punishment in the United States.

CEDP charges that the death penalty is racist, targets poor people, condemns the innocent to die, is cruel and does not effectively deter crime.

There are currently 3,400 people on death row in the United States, one out of 74 countries where capital punishment is legal.

The meeting began when Davis’ sister, Martina Correia, called him at a prison in Savannah, Ga.

He started off by thanking everyone who has supported him in his struggle again a crime that he said he did not commit.

On August 19, 1989, off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail was shot and killed outside a Burger King in Savannah after responding to a homeless man who was being harassed. Davis, who was 19 years old at the time and preparing to join the U.S. Marine Corps, was at the crime scene and pinned as the suspect.

Davis went to court and was found guilty and sent to death row in 1991.

During the course of the trial, the evidence against him was based solely on eyewitness testimony from nine prosecution witnesses, seven of whom have since recanted the statements they gave under allegedly questionable police interrogation tactics.

There was no weapon, DNA or other physical evidence to link Davis to the crime.
One CEDP member asked what it was like for Davis to have his death sentence read to him.

“You have to plan your own funeral: saying goodbye, your last meal, what to do with your body, who will be there to witness it,” Davis said.

Davis described in great detail what life is like on death row. In his cell, he can extend his arms wall-to-wall one way and a few feet from each wall the other way, and sleeps on a steel bed with a 2-inch mattress. Monday through Thursday, he is delivered lunch, which usually consists of one or two peanut butter sandwiches, half an apple and coleslaw. The heaters do not work well in the winter, he said, and the shower water is usually ice cold.

“Why spend thousands of dollars to keep us here and millions more to arrest people? Stop wasting taxpayers’ money,” Davis argued.

Correia added that ever since Newt Gingrich (’65C) removed funding for defending death row inmates, many have had to take up the expenses on their own.

“My lawyer’s first jury trial was my death penalty case. I couldn’t afford anything more,” Howard said.

Davis and Howard were then put on the phone with one another. Howard, who remains in prison in Illinois but recently fought his way off of death row, offered words of encouragement to Davis and CEDP members.

He described in detail his arrest in Chicago in November 1984, in which he compared the police tactics used against him to torture at Guantánamo Bay. Howard was arrested for the murder of Oliver Ridgell who was shot to death during an alleged armed robbery.

“The officers said they had something for a n----a like me, and after beating me for hours, put a bag over my mouth and tried to suffocate me until I decided to give in and sign the confession,” Howard said.

Howard insisted that what happened to him could have happened to any other innocent bystander.

“Innocent means innocent, and it could happen to anyone,” he said.

Goizueta Business School senior Isaac Johnson said the event was “powerful” and wishes more people who have strong feelings against the death penalty will have the chance to speak with Davis and Howard.

“These people are just like us,” Johnson said. “It made it less about the papers and cases and more about the fact that innocent people are dying at the hands of the state.”

— Asst. News Editor Molly Davis contributed reporting.

Contact Kelly Margard.