Then a word from Chris Hayes:

On the other side of the issue we have several people and institutions who feel that Troy Davis needs to be executed later today. This includes various courts to which his appeal was brought, the Georgia State parole board, and the family of the slain police officer, who say they need Troy to die in order to close the book and have some peace.

Yes, indeed, “justice” is being done here because that is how the justice system works. It is a system, and it has its checks and balances and its way of going slowly enough that it is more fair than it otherwise might be, and so on and so forth. But, it is also a biased system and a very imperfect system. The bias in the system is beyond the need for argument … it is established fact. The imperfection in the system is easily demonstrated. These are two of the most important reasons, among a half dozen or so reasons, that the death penalty should be eliminated in the United States. You can’t have a system in which reasonable doubt matters and appeal is possible, in which nefarious or subconscious bias or imperfection in the process is acknowledged, in which you also kill the defendant at some point along the way.

It is especially poignant to see that two young white middle class Americans will be released from an Iranian jail about the same time Troy will take the needle. Not that Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal should not be released or that they have anything to do with it. It is poignant for another reason. If you were an Iranian government official looking at the Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal case, the assumption that these to guys are spies would be natural. As a person who has traveled a fair amount in or near bellicose regions, and actually met spies along the way (I even spent a bit of time in prison with a spy in the Eastern Congo) I was never closed to the idea, while in the mean time virtually every American hearing of their fate simply knew that the were innocent of these charges. Young American men hiking on the border of a hostile state could not possibly be spies! Meanwhile, in downtown Savannah Georgia, if the police pick up a young black male for some crime or another, there are a lot of people who will assume he is guilty. Or, worse, not care if he is guilty. It’s the inner city. Young black males are the criminals. A crime was committed. Close enough.

Notice that in the first paragraph above I did not say that I was certain that Troy Davis is innocent. I didn’t say that because I couldn’t care less. It is not relevant to the present situation. What is relevant is that had he been given a fair trail … if our criminal justice system worked for him the same way it is supposed to work for everyone … he would not have been convicted then, and he certainly would not be slated to die tonight. I’m sure he’s guilty of something. But so are you, dear reader. And so am I. The difference between Tory Davis and you and me is that he is receiving justice in a system of justice that is broken, and we are, at the moment, being ignored. I don’t dream much, and I rarely have nightmares, but when I do they are always one of two recurring themes. One of those themes is that I’ve been sentenced to death. I did actually find myself in front of a makeshift firing squad once, and I think the dreams started after that. It is a very very bad feeling in real life or in a nightmare. I don’t think I’ll be sleeping tonight.

Murder is the responsibility of the state. No one else is allowed to do it. When the state does it, it should do so more reluctantly than it seems to like, and more carefully than it seems to do.

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Asha, I want to thank you for reminding me to think about this today.