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Rules of law killed

Seventy-three years after Billie Holiday sang “Strange Fruit,” the state of Georgia remains in the practice of carrying out its own type of terrible mistakes.

The most primary, elemental thing to understand about a criminal trial, and one concept which differentiates it from a civil trial, is that in a criminal trial the state is required to “prove beyond a reasonable doubt” that the defendant is guilty. There was reasonable doubt. There was plenty of reasonable doubt.

In the end, Troy Davis was convicted on hearsay. That is taking the words of biased testimony (later recanted under oath) and using them to create a false reality. If that’s not terrifying, what is?

I am not suggesting anything radical. I am writing to point out that the basic rules of law were ignored. This should scare us all.

Brenda VanderWilde

Spokane Valley

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