Texas Executes Lawrence Brewer

Lawrence Russell Brewer, 44, was executed last night in Texas for the hate crime murder of James Byrd Jr., in 1998.

Brewer, a white supremacist gang member, chained Byrd, a black man, to the back of a pickup truck and pulled him along a bumpy asphalt road to his death. 

When asked if he had any final words, Brewer replied: "No. I have no final statement." He was pronounced dead at 6:21pm. 

Alongside Brewer, John William King was also sent to death row. His conviction and death sentence are still under appeal. Shawn Berry was also convicted for the crime, and was sentenced to life in prison.

Georgia Executes Troy Davis

Last night, Troy Davis, 42, was executed in Georgia by lethal injection for the murder of a Savannah police officer 22 years ago.

Davis' execution was delayed by several hours when the Supreme Court reviewed but then declined to act on a petition for a stay of execution from his lawyers.

Davis, who has always claimed his innocence, was led into the death chamber shortly before 11pm. He was pronounced dead at 11:08. In his final statement, Davis told the family of the victim that they had the wrong man, saying:
"I did not kill your son, father, brother. All I can ask is that you look deeper into this case so you really can finally see the truth."
He also told his supporters and family to "keep the faith" and asked God to bless, and have mercy on, the souls of the prison personnel.

Troy Davis scheduled for execution tonight - take action!

Troy Davis, who is potentially innocent (see earlier posts for details) is scheduled to be executed in Georgia tonight. I wish I'd done more campaigning about this earlier but it's my first week at university and I'm a little overwhelmed. For what it's worth - every little helps, after all - you can sign a petition here asking for the execution to be stopped. You can sign it even if you're outside the US like me (click 'not in USA' in the 'state' section).

Fingers crossed. My prayers are with Davis tonight.

p.s. If you want to comment, please do so respectfully. This is a human life we're talking about, no matter what value you put on that. I'm sick of disrespectful comments. If you have something bad to say, say it somewhere else. 


- SM