I know that many of you have worked your hearts out trying to halt the unjust execution of Troy Davis last night. If you cried when you heard the news of his death, you are not alone. The theory of capital punishment in the US is that the appeals and reviews are so exhaustive that the possibility of executing an innocent person is nil. If ever there was a case that disproves the theory, this is it. While we lack absolute proof that Troy was innocent, the preponderance of the evidence indicates that he was. The problem with the theory is that it fails to account for the party of death. The preponderance of the evidence did not matter to the Republicans who control the government of Georgia. This execution is America’s shame. Look at the company we keep! China, Iran, North Korea, Yemen and the United States lead the world in executions. It is long past time for America to join the civilized world and outlaw capital punishment.

Despite evidence that threw into question the veracity of Troy Davis’ conviction, pleas from a former president and the Pope, and even a last-minute review by the US Supreme Court on Wednesday night, Davis was executed by lethal ejection shortly after 11 p.m. on Wednesday evening in Georgia. Davis, whose case we wrote about in full detail here, was convicted on 1991 on charges that he murdered a Savannah police officer. Davis had put off eating his final meal in the expectation that he would be granted a stay of execution—as he had three times before in the past—but by Wednesday morning, he had exhausted all of his options, and a standing offer to submit to a polygraph test was rebuffed by the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles. The final lethal injection was delayed for more than three hours as the state waited to hear from the United States Supreme Court (which dismissed the appeal without dissent). By now, you probably know the facts: Of the nine witnesses to the murder, seven have since recanted, and in doing so alleged that they were coerced into identifying Davis. Police tainted the identification process by pointing out Davis’ face before he ever appeared in the lineup; new psychological research suggests that the officers went about identifying the suspect in exactly the wrong way. Ballistics evidence used to convict Davis has since been debunked. Another witness has since emerged as a plausible suspect in the murder trial. Three jurors on the case now say that if they knew then what they know now, they would not have voted to convict. Davis was quite possibly innocent, but that was hardly the point. As expressed by the popular Twitter hash-tag, the problem was simply that there was #TooMuchDoubt…

Inserted from <Mother Jones>

Davis maintained his innocence until the very end.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Such barbarity! My heart goes out to both Troy’s family, because of their loss, and the family of Officer MacPhail, because they may one day realize the horror that they called for and witnessed the death of the wrong man.

Sadly, there was no way Georgia could commit a murder without Rick Perry getting a taste of blood as well.

Lawrence Russell Brewer, one of two men sentenced to die in the 1998 Jasper dragging death of James Byrd Jr., is dead. His execution was set at 6 p.m. tonight. Officials pronounced him dead at 6:21 p.m. Several of Byrd’s family members, including two sisters and a niece, witnessed Brewer’s execution. Additionally, Brewer’s mother, father and brother were in attendance…

Inserted from <The Beaumont Enterprise>

Please don’t think I am trying to compare Brewer with Troy Davis. Brewer is one of three racists who beat Byrd up, urinated on him, chained his legs, and dragged him to death behind a pickup truck, because he was black. There is no doubt about his guilt. I have no sympathy for him whatsoever. Nevertheless, I maintain that his execution was also murder.

If we keep executing the Brewers, the risk is too high that we will execute another Troy Davis. Furthermore, to commit the ultimate act of violence against a defenseless person is the most hypocritical possible way to say that killing is wrong. Even Byrd’s family knows this, and they opposed the execution to their great credit.

Today, I’ll be talking to a man who spent over ten years on death row. I know this will give him nightmares. I can’t help thinking what a waste killing him would have been, because he has dedicated the rest of his life in prison to help others learn from his mistakes.