A week after, is it safe to wonder if this was a case of 'Look Mom, the Emperor has no clothes'? -- Analysis of Troy Davis' execution

This is the Cracker Squire's first and only post on the Troy Davis frenzy.

Walter Jones tackles a tough one where, regardless of what you say and how you say it, you risk offending just about everyone. Walter, thanks for this story. It shows why you are one of the best.

Walter Jones does an excellent job of reporting and analysis in his article entitled "Analysis of Troy Davis' execution: A cause gone out of control" in The Georgia Times-Union:

Troy Davis, the inmate executed Wednesday night for the 1989 killing of an off-duty Savannah policeman, will be missed.

Seldom does one man serve the purposes of so many.

His attorneys argued that he served the Savannah police during the public clamoring to solve the murder of a hero.

More recently, he provided the face of wrongful executions to death penalty opponents. It helped to have a fuzzy photo from the Department of Corrections of a man in outdated glasses and a slightly goofy expression to make the impression that the heartless government was killing Steve Urkel.

Supporters had more recent photos and trial photos to choose from, but chose the one that made him seem the least street-wise.

His was the 29th execution in Georgia since the switch from electrocution to lethal injection, and many of those inmates before him also went to their deaths proclaiming their innocence, but officials for death penalty opposition groups admit privately that few were as sympathetic as Davis.

The NAACP hired a public relations firm. Amnesty International’s website greeted visitors seeking information about Davis with a pop-up screen requesting donations.

Entertainers and celebrities who want to be thought of as current and concerned found his cause one to tweet about and sign petitions or pen songs when few ever participated in death penalty protests about other executions.

In many respects, the news media made use of Davis as well. Granted, it was a legitimate story that someone else had already generated an audience for through social media and the Internet.

Why no attention?

But consider the execution of Roy Willard Blankenship in June, the 50th person Georgia has executed since 1973 when capital punishment became legal again. He was also the first person given a new cocktail of lethal drugs that his lawyers argued was unproven and therefore unconstitutional.

The fact that prosecutors say he was convicted of the death of a 78-year-old woman who died of a heart attack while he was raping her didn’t engender much sympathy. He was white, on drugs at the time and initially confessed but later recanted and claimed he had been stoned when he talked to police.

Only a dozen or so protesters showed up at the prison and just six journalists, not even filling every seat reserved for media observers. Individual TV networks had almost that many people assigned to the Davis case.

Yet, many of the reporters gave no indication in their reporting that they had read any of the court decisions in the multiple appeals that all went against Davis or even the transcript of the actual trial. Those who had read the court documents would have seen that the idea that seven of nine eyewitnesses recanted was a stretch.

Those same witnesses hedged during the trial about their identifications, and the jury heard their hesitancy and could have factored that into consideration. And the courts concluded that those who filed sworn statements backing away from aspects of their trial testimony did not offer material differences. None said it couldn’t have been Davis because “I saw someone else do it” or because he was in another town that night.

The stories also left out the fact that the same jury convicted Davis of another shooting the same night, although it was not fatal.

During the few minutes when Davis’ attorney, his preacher or the family of victim Mark MacPhail were before the media, many of the cameras zoomed in so close that their reporters could pretend they had an exclusive. They said, “So and So just told us,” or “Our station just talked to Such and Such ...” without viewers realizing two dozen other journalists were there, too, outside of view.

Media frenzy

Some media outlets took the other tack and interviewed other reporters instead of doing their own research.

The media frenzy peaked around 8 p.m. Wednesday when a cheer went up from protesters across the highway from the prison gates where the media was lined up. The reporters who had never covered an execution were baffled, some relying on Twitter to report incorrectly that the U.S. Supreme Court had issued a stay when instead the state merely halted procedures, as usual, until the court ruled.

On the other hand, there was some fine reporting by professionals who had done their research and were familiar with the procedures so they weren’t misled by the crowds.

For all those who will miss Troy Davis, there must be others who breathed a sigh of relief when he gave his last gasp. The morning after his death, the state announced the next execution would be Oct. 5 of a white man convicted of stabbing a woman 41 times he had been seen with shortly before the discovery of her body. It will likely be a quiet, unheralded affair compared to the Davis circus.

And Gov. Nathan Deal announced the appointment of Rep. James Mills, R-Gainesville, to the parole board. That not only gives Mills a six-figure income and job security for years while the governor rewards someone from his own city, but it also relieves House Speaker David Ralston of a bur under his saddle.

Mills had challenged Larry O’Neal for the majority leader’s post, and he’s remained focused on conservative social issues while the House leadership has sought a more pragmatic path.

All in all, Troy Davis’ passing was a big deal for many people, for many reasons. It will be a while before someone else comes along as useful for such varied purposes.