Austin, Texas “Energizing!” “Empowering!” “Sad!” “Inspiring!” These were just some of the reactions to the 24th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty held at the Texas Capitol in Austin, Texas, Nov. 11. The annual marches and rallies began in 2000 when George W. Bush was governor of Texas. They…
finds 81% saying yes, it was up close to 90%. now 19% of viewers saying no when answering should the death penalty be abolished across the country. so as you can imagine, it strikes a chord when you ask people out there, thomas, especially when it comes to capital punishment. all right. thank you very much. we ll ask everybody to continue weighing in on the pulse especially now. we have joining us jeremy sheetz. jeremy was in nebraska in 1997 convicted of murder and put on death row four years later. he was released after his sentence was vacated. sheetz became the first person released from nebraska s death row in 88 years. it is nice to have you with us. i know you worked with the group witness to innocence. their slogan empowering the exonerated to end the death penalty. what s your reaction to the legislature s vote in nebraska? well really i m ecstatic. i mean this is an amazing opportunity for the rest of the country to kind of step back and look at what s going on here. th
continuing to say i m guilty. the statement you referred to was made by adam barnett. arrested in 1992 for the rape and murder of 17-year-old kenyata bush. the same victim in the alleged case again you that you were put on death row for. when you think about the impact that what nebraska is doing could have on other states you work with the group called witness to innocence. what s your message to other states that carry the death penalty? well, if you have the death penalty, there s always going to be human error. there will always be human error. rather somebody throughout the process is overzealous, they believe they re doing the right thing, sometimes they do it on purpose. whatever the reasons are, there s always going to be mistakes made. and as long as you have the death penalty, there will be innocent blood on your hands. jeremy sheets, we appreciate your insight. thanks for joining us today. thank you. thank you very much. this story is really one you need to see.
nyu law professor kenji yoshino. barry shekt, co-director of the innocence project and the man in the photo. kurt bloods worth, an advocacy director at witness to innocence. i want to start with you. tell me a little bit about how your story turned into your work. well, in 1984, i was accused of a brutal crime that happened in maryland. a long story short, after two years on death row thanks to people like barry here, we submitted for the dna testing. i was freed. it took another ten years to from pressure from barry and i and others to do a dna testing. this was all based on a guy described as 6 5 , bushy mustache, tan skin. in the end he was only 5 6 and 160 pounds. but i have been i had
davis got the death penalty for the murder of a savannah police officer back in 1989, no dna evidence ever linked davis to the crime. most of the witnesses who testified against him recanted. but the man who prosecuted davis stands by his case. there are two troy davis cases. there is the legal case. the case in court. and the public relations case. we have consistently won the case as it s been presented in court. we have consistently lost the case as it s been presented in the public realm on tv and else where. prominent figures from former president jimmy carter to pope benedict have asked georgia to spare davis s life because of doubts about his guilt. president obama and benjamin netanyahu are going to discuss mahmood abbas is set to declare palestine a state. president obama will personally press abbas to work for state hood through negotiations with israel. the two meet later this afternoon, and just a few moments ago, president obama spoke to the general assem