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Politics & Government

Troy Davis' Sister Speaks Against CT Death Penalty

National civil rights leaders met in Stamford on Monday afternoon, the two-month anniversary of Troy Davis' execution in Georgia, to call for the repeal of the death penalty in Connecticut.

National civil rights leaders gathered at the on Monday afternoon — the two-month anniversary of Georgia’s execution of Troy Davis despite lingering questions over his innocence — to call for the repeal of Connecticut’s death penalty.

Among those speaking out were Benjamin Jealous, National NAACP President and Kim Davis, one of Troy Davis’ sisters, and Reverend Raphael Gamaliel Warnock of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, both of whom traveled from Georgia.

“Why am I here all the way from Georgia? I’m here because Martin Luther King was right — injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” Warnock said. “In these partisan times, I would emphasize that this is an issue that transcends party politics.”

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Jack Bryant, president of Stamford’s NAACP, introduced Kim Davis.

“I’m here on behalf of the Davis family,” she said. “We saw the flaws in the justice system. There are innocent people on death row right now…we must end the death penalty, there is no other way.”

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Connecticut reinstated the death penalty in 1973 and, while ten people are currently on death row, one execution has taken place since that reinstatement. The death penalty was recently abolished in several states, including New Jersey, New Mexico, and Illinois.

“We’re hopeful that we will get all the votes we need this time and that this state will realize Connecticut is better than the death penalty. A case like Troy Davis’ could happen here,” Jealous said. “It depends on us to be civil rights leaders, not civil rights laggers.”

Jealous believes that support for the death penalty is the lowest that it's been in decades, he credits this in part to the visibility of the Troy Davis case and the way his family has spoken out both during and after the process.

Reverend Kate Heichler of the and president of the also spoke against the death penalty, citing religious and moral reasons for her beliefs and the beliefs shared by many area religious leaders.

“We have an obligation to say, “This is not the way,””” Heichler said. “I want to be a people who seek justice in life-giving ways.”

Many speakers touched on the economic and racial disparities that they believe exist in the death penalty. They also asked the crowd to remember the case of James Tillman, the Connecticut man who spent close to 20 years in prison before DNA evidence proved him innocent in 2006.

“95% of the people on death row cannot afford a layer — capitol punishment is for people with no capitol,” Warnock said.

NAACP chapters around Connecticut have called for 2012 to be the year that the death penalty is abolished in Connecticut and are asking all those who support this effort to contact their legislators. State representative Gary Holder-Winfield, serving the 94th assembly district in New Haven, has been one of the strongest advocates of ending the death penalty in Connecticut.

“People say we can’t make mistakes, we’re human so we know that we can,” Holder-Winfield said. “I am Troy Davis and I will fight until I lose office or I die to abolish the death penalty.”

“Only when the death penalty is repealed can we guarantee that an innocent man won't be executed,” Bryant said.

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