Troy Davis 的死刑被執行了，應該是近期聚焦最多的新聞。
好巧不巧，剛好昨天蘋果的頭條也是跟死刑相關的話題。(王老頭)
同樣也是極具爭議性。
到底是正義獲得伸張，還是永遠的含雪沉冤？
美國永遠大聲疾呼要別的國家重視人權，
但歧視等問題卻比別人來的嚴重？
事已至此，只希望這不是個遺憾的決定。
Troy Davis被指控殺害一名警官，但全案罪證不足，
使他三度與死神擦身而過，但最終還是逃不過死刑判決。
死刑的議題又再度燃燒。
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原文連結：
The Murder of Troy Davis
Sep 22, 2011 12:40 AM EDT
Troy Davis was executed Wednesday night in Georgia after the Supreme Court denied a last-minute plea for a stay, but serious concerns about his guilt remain, says Mansfield Frazier.
即使抗辯到最後一刻，最高法院仍然駁回了。
星期三晚上Troy Davis在喬治亞州被處決，
但對這個事件的關注並沒有因此而落幕。
Never mind the fact that during the 17th century, when the public hanging of pickpockets drew throngs to cities in England, pockets in the crowd were being picked as the trap door was being sprung … thus disproving the canard that the death penalty prevents crime; never mind the fact that the region of this country with the highest execution rate—the South—also has the highest murder rate; and never mind the fact that the Death Penalty Center’s website states that blacks who kill whites are 16.4 times as likely to be executed as whites who kill blacks … state-sanctioned murder in this country is obviously as American as apple pie.
在英國17世紀時，不必太在意事實是什麼。
扒手被公開絞刑吊死，吸引了大批民眾，
但錢包還是門戶大開，持續被偷……
這剛好駁斥了死刑能抑制犯罪的說法。
而現在美國南部，也別太在意高居首位的死行執行率，還有謀殺率。
別在意死刑資訊中心網站上所顯示的，
黑人殺白人判死刑的機率大約是白人殺死黑人的16.4倍……
國家認可的謀殺就像蘋果派一樣，是這個國家不可分割的一部分。
The controversial execution of Troy Anthony Davis took place late Wednesday night after the U.S. Supreme Court considered and then denied a last-minute delay of execution filed by Davis’s attorneys as they pleaded for time to prepare another appeal. His execution had been stayed three previous times.
縱使一直努力申請延遲執行，經過最高法院的考量與駁回，
Troy Anthony Davis充滿爭議的死刑判決，還是在星期三晚間執行了。
Davis的律師以準備再上訴為理由，申請延遲執行，
之前三次以這個理由申請都獲准。
After again maintaining his innocence, Davis uttered his last words to his executioners: “For those who are about to take my life, may God have mercy on your souls … may God bless your souls.” He was pronounced dead at 11:08 p.m.
再次申明自己無罪，Davis對劊子手說：
對那些即將奪走我生命的人，希望上帝赦免你們的靈魂，希望上帝保佑你的靈魂。
The TV screen has been filled with live images of hundreds of anxious, emotional Davis supporters massed across the street from the prison, which had been cordoned off by a line of law enforcement officers clad in full riot gear. Thousands of other supporters gathered in cities around the world. If there were pro-death penalty advocates present at the prison, they were not shown by the TV cameras.
電視螢附上充斥著焦慮的身影，
Davis的支持者情緒激憤的湧入通往監獄的道路上，
但卻被鎮暴武裝的警官們隔離在外。
數千名的支持者在各地聚集，就算有贊成死刑的人在監獄出現，
也不會出現在電視上。
In 1991, Davis was convicted of the 1989 killing of Savannah, Ga., police officer Mark MacPhail. There was no conclusive forensic evidence to tie him to the crime, and of the nine witnesses who said they saw Davis pull the trigger, seven have since recanted. A number of them now say police coerced them into giving false testimony on the witness stand, and of the two who have not recanted, one is a man other witnesses have identified as the real killer.
1991年，Davis因1989年薩凡納警官Mark MacPhail的謀殺案而定罪。
根本沒有確切的法理證據能確信他犯下罪刑，
而九個宣稱看到Davis扣下板機的證人，七個人後來撤銷了聲明。
其中有一部分的人說警方強迫他們在證人席上講錯誤的證言。
而剩下沒有翻供的兩個人當中，
有一個被其他證人指證說他才是真正的兇手。
Davis’s supporters have steadfastly maintained that the recanting of sworn testimony, coupled with the lack of physical evidence in the case, raised serious doubts as to his guilt, and death-penalty opponents will undoubtedly seize on the fact that an irreparable mistake might have been made when the state took his life.
Davis的支持者堅決的認為反覆的證詞加上薄弱的實體證據，
高度讓人懷疑他是否真的犯下罪行，
反對死刑的也認為一但這個錯誤造成，
他被死刑奪走的生命將永遠無法回復。
More than 1 million individuals from around the world signed petitions in support of the condemned man, and organizations such as Amnesty International and the NAACP had taken up his cause over the years. Additionally, a host of prominent civic, religious, and political leaders, including former President Jimmy Carter, Pope Benedict XVI, the Rev. Al Sharpton, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and former FBI director and judge William S. Sessions, all called upon the court to grant Davis a new trial, or at the very least an evidentiary hearing—to no avail.
的世界各地簽下請願書來支持他的人超過一百萬，
像國際特赦組織、有色人種協進會等組織也和他一起面對了許多年的官司。
此外，很多傑出的公民、宗教人士、政治領袖、
還包含前總統卡特、教宗本篤十六世、夏普頓牧師(黑人民運領袖)、
前南非總主教屠圖、前FBI主任及法官William S. Sessions，
這些人都希望法院能重新審判這個案件，或至少能舉辦一場聽證會，
但最終都無效。
More than any other execution in recent memory—perhaps with the exception of Mumia Abu Jamal, who sits on death row in a Pennsylvania prison—the Davis case effectively held a mirror up to the American psyche and revealed a nation deeply divided over the death penalty. Remarkably, the issue of race had not reared its ugly head in the case, since seven of the original jury members were African-Americans. But three of them said they would not have voted to convict Davis if they knew back then what they know today.
在近期的記憶裡，沒有比這案件影響更大的了，
能比擬的大概只有等帶著被處刑的阿部．賈邁爾(黑人記者、被控殺害警察)。
Davis的案件是美國人的心理狀態的照妖鏡，
也揭示大眾對死刑議題的極度對立。
幸好，種族議題沒有過度延燒，陪審團成員中有七名是非裔美國人。
但其中三人說他們假如他們當初知道的跟今天一樣多，
他們不會定Davis的罪。
The fact that MacPhail was a police officer could have played a role in the state’s steely determination to put Davis to death, but death-penalty opponents maintain that the process is inherently flawed in all cases, if for no other reason than that few poor or middle-income people can afford the hundreds of thousands of dollars required to put on an adequate death-penalty defense. The state, they maintain, has unlimited resources that tip the scales of justice in prosecutors’ favor.
(被害者)MacPhail是個警官，
而這件事或許是影響該州決心要將Davis處死的重要因素，
但反對死刑的人堅稱判決過程根本荒腔走板，
如果沒有其他原因，
一些窮人或是不富裕的人根本不可能負擔死刑的抗辯訴訟費用。
而州政府擁有無限的資源，
好讓正義的天平能調整成檢察官喜歡的樣子。
Both sides in the Davis case laid claim to the same mantra: justice. The family of the slain officer sent a message out of the death chamber before the execution that after 22 years they deserved justice, while Davis’s supporters said they wanted his life spared for the same reason: justice. But both sides could not have been right.
Davis案件的正反兩方都緊抓住一個相同的議題：正義。
在死刑執行的前，被害人的家屬發表了這樣的聲明，
表示距案發22年後他們終於得到正義。
而Davis的支持者卻希望Davis可免除一死，理由同樣是為了正義。
但兩方之中，總有一方是錯的。
Perhaps the most important voices in this life and death matter—the voices of experience—weighed in Wednesday morning. Six retired, formerly high-ranking corrections officials, including Dr. Allen Ault, the retired director of the Georgia Department of Corrections and former warden of the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison, sent a letter to Georgia corrections officials and Gov. Nathan Deal asking them to urge the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to reconsider the decision they made Tuesday, Sept. 20, to deny Davis clemency.
在這事件當中最中要的，或許是來自經驗的聲音。
六位已退休的前高階官員寄了一封信到喬治亞州政府，
其中還包括了Allen Ault，他是前喬治亞州的監獄官員，
也曾掌管過Davis所待的監獄。
信中希望州長以及特赦及假釋委員會能重新考慮。
They cited serious concerns about his guilt:
他們在信中提出對Davis罪刑的關切：
“Like few others in this country, we understand that you have a job to do in carrying out the lawful orders of the judiciary. We also understand, from our own personal experiences, the awful lifelong repercussions that come from participating in the execution of prisoners. While most of the prisoners whose executions we participated in accepted responsibility for the crimes for which they were punished, some of us have also executed prisoners who maintained their innocence until the end. It is those cases that are most haunting to an executioner.
就像在這國家中其他少數人一樣，我們了解你必須為了司法而工作。
從我們自身的經驗也能理解參與死刑所帶來長遠的影響。
縱使絕大多數被處(死)刑的犯人都自認為是替他的罪行負起責任，
但也有些許犯人堅稱自己的清白直到生命最後一刻。
這是所有處刑人一輩子都揮之不去的。
“We write to you today with the overwhelming concern that an innocent person could be executed in Georgia tonight. We know the legal process has exhausted itself in the case of Troy Anthony Davis, and yet, doubt about his guilt remains. This very fact will have an irreversible and damaging impact on your staff. Living with the nightmares is something that we know from experience. No one has the right to ask a public servant to take on a lifelong sentence of nagging doubt, and for some of us, shame and guilt. Should our justice system be causing so much harm to so many people when there is an alternative?
今日這封信就是為了一個很可能是清白的囚犯所寫，
他可能今晚就會在喬治亞州行刑。
我們知道Davis在這個案件當中所有的法律手段都用盡了，
但他的犯罪與否仍然存有疑問，
這件事將會對你的同僚造成無法抹滅的影響。
活在噩夢與恐懼中是我們都體會過的事。
沒人有權利要求公職人員承受這種畢生的影響，但我們就是如此。
我們的司法系統是否在還有替代選項的時候就造成這麼大的傷害呢？
“We urge you to ask the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to reconsider their decision. Should that fail, we urge you to unburden yourselves and your staff from the pain of participating in such a questionable execution to the extent possible by allowing any personnel so inclined to opt-out of activities related to the execution of Troy Anthony Davis. Further, we urge you to provide appropriate counseling to personnel who do choose to perform their job functions related to the execution. If we may be of assistance to you moving forward, please do not hesitate to call upon any of us.”
我們懇求你向假釋及特赦委員會重新考慮他們的決定。
如果失敗了，希望你與你的同僚都能放下心理壓力，
不要因參與這種疑點重重得案子而感到痛苦，
盡可能的嘗試各種方法來幫助Davis。
也希望你能提供恰當的協助與諮詢，好讓相關同僚能夠得到幫助。
如果有我們可以提供協助的地方，希望您不要客氣。
In addition to Allen Ault, the letter was signed by Terry Collins, retired director, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (Full disclosure: Collins and I partner in a nonprofit program in which we go into prisons and other venues around the state and give seminars on prisoner reentry); Ron McAndrew, retired warden, Florida State Prison; Dennis O’Neill, retired warden, Florida State Prison; Reginald Wilkinson, retired director, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction; and Jeanne Woodford, retired warden, San Quentin State Prison.
除了Allen Ault，這封信由許多監獄工作退休者共同簽署。
Their letter failed to persuade the Supreme Court, but these are the voices of reason and experience we all should be listening to and heeding in America as the death-penalty debate moves forward—as it no doubt will.
這封信並沒有達成預期的效力，但這是充滿理性與經驗的聲音。
我們都應該從中得到提醒，死刑應該在毫無任何疑問之下執行。
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