It would not occur to most people to think about the semantic legal difference between “procedural” and “substantive.” But in Florida, it’s a question of life or death. Depending on how the courts eventually answer that question, prisoners could be put to death under a law that was passed after they committed their crimes. That is not justice. Our federal and state constitutions both prohibit .
who are innocent. what role is that and the publicity as we just said, six people exonerated out of death row. what role does innocence play in this debate? innocence is i think really changing it in a very profound way. because it s not just the 154 death row exonerations or the six last year. but when you look at the 336 post-conviction dna exonerations, when you look at the noninondna and dna exonerat which is are over 1500, people begin to realize that they can t trust the state to get it right and there are provide found issues of doubt about whether somebody is really guilty of some of these crimes. and that makes a huge difference in the way people think about the ultimate punishment. and sister helen, six states have abolished the death penalty
and more time doing paperwork. ink from chase. so you can. this is a man named david keaton. mr. keaton is from florida. he was convicted in 1971 of murdering an off duty sheriff and he was sentenced to death. but he was not executed. he was actually released two years later when the real murderer got convicted. david keaton did not do it. after the exoneration of david keaton, the next two death row exonerations in america were also from florida. wi willburt lee and freddy pitts on
mr. keaton is from florida. he was convicted in 1971 of murdering an off-duty sheriff and he was sentenced to death. but he was not executed. he was actually released two years later when the real murderer got convicted. david keaton did not do it. after the exoneration of david keaton, the next two death row exonerations in america were also from florida. wilbert lee and freddy pitts on death row for 12 years but released and pardoned after somebody else confessed. florida leads the nation in exonerating death row prisoners. going back and saying we know we ve been planning to kill you, but now we believe you are innocent. good thing we didn t go too fast. florida is number one in that in the nation. it s not just the total number of exonerations that makes florida so impressive. for every three prisoners florida has killed, florida has said to another prisoner, actually, we messed up in your case. 3-1. for every three they have killed, they have said to one, we messed up in your case
didn t recant his testimony and maintained it was davis. it s a messy case. what s made it messy is recan tagss came out ten years after the fact. why do you think this case i was sort of struck by, first of all, how powerful the movement to sort of save troy davis was but also how galvanizing it was. why do you think this case captured people s imagination or attention? clearly, the possibility of his innocence. i think that was very compelling to people, especially after we ve seen 138 death row exonerations in this country, you know, since 1976. that s a huge number. we have this resistance, people really resist being told there are innocent people on death row, troy davis is innocent although we exonerated all of these people. that s a big part of it. full disclosure, i ve been an activist against the death penalty. something i ve worked on as an activist for years. troy davis s case encapsulated