DURHAM HERALD SUN: TROY DAVIS, KENNETH KAGONYERA AND ROBERT WILCOXSIN: LIFE AND DEATH LESSONS; POWERFUL EDITORIAL;

"They killed Troy Davis yesterday.

Or, rather, we did.

It doesn’t matter that Davis died in Jackson, Ga., while most of us were asleep. We killed him, because we are the state. We are the jurors and the voters who decided that death is the only answer to some crimes.

It doesn’t matter if we protested. We killed him, because we have not been strong enough, smart enough, resolute and loud and persistent and angry and humble enough.

So we killed Troy Davis yesterday, and we didn’t stay our hand despite the seven witnesses who recanted.

We convicted him when they testified that Davis was the man who smirked as he shot and killed off-duty police officer Mark McPhail.

When they said they could be mistaken, we said that we, like gods, could not.

Like gods, we carried the power of life and death lightly yesterday.

With it, we killed Troy Davis.

And with it, we freed Kenneth Kagonyera and Robert Wilcoxson III."

EDITORIAL: THE DURHAM HERALD SUN; Wikipedia informs us that the Durham Herlad Sun he Herald-Sun is a daily newspaper in Durham, North Carolina, published by the Paxton Media Group of Paducah, Kentucky.

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"Mark McPhail’s mother, that poor woman, said something terrible on Thursday," the Durham Herald Sun editorial published earlier today under the heading, "Life and death lessons," begins.

"“All the feelings of relief and peace I’ve been waiting for all these years, they will come later,” she said to a reporter from USA Today. “I certainly do want some peace” the editorial continues.

"Anneliese McPhail’s son was killed in a Burger King parking lot in 1991. Yesterday, the state of Georgia finally killed the man who had been convicted of his murder.

They killed Troy Davis yesterday.

Or, rather, we did.

It doesn’t matter that Davis died in Jackson, Ga., while most of us were asleep. We killed him, because we are the state. We are the jurors and the voters who decided that death is the only answer to some crimes.

It doesn’t matter if we protested. We killed him, because we have not been strong enough, smart enough, resolute and loud and persistent and angry and humble enough.

So we killed Troy Davis yesterday, and we didn’t stay our hand despite the seven witnesses who recanted.

We convicted him when they testified that Davis was the man who smirked as he shot and killed off-duty police officer Mark McPhail.

When they said they could be mistaken, we said that we, like gods, could not.

Like gods, we carried the power of life and death lightly yesterday.

With it, we killed Troy Davis.

And with it, we freed Kenneth Kagonyera and Robert Wilcoxson III.

Kogonyera and Wilcoxon also were accused of murder. A Buncombe County court accepted their guilty pleas and sent them to prison for shooting and killing Walter Bowman on Sept. 18, 2000.

They pleaded guilty, the men said, because they wanted to avoid life in prison or the risk of the death penalty. In April, North Carolina’s Innocence Inquiry Commission asked a three-judge panel to look at the DNA, depositions from investigators and other evidence in the case.

On Thursday, those judges exonerated Kogonyera and Wilcoxon.

No, we did.

And this is how we know it’s working.

North Carolina may have the only innocence commission in the nation, but we prefer to think of it as the first.

We haven’t been persistent enough, but we are persisting.

We haven’t been angry enough, but every time we are forced to kill someone like Troy Davis, we are getting angrier.

We haven’t been humble enough, but every time we are forced to free someone like Kenneth Kagonyera and Robert Wilcoxson, we are learning humility."

The story can be found at:

http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story/15647805/article-Life-and-death-lessons?instance=hs_editorials

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;