Death Row Inmate Troy Davis Executed in Georgia
Death row inmate Troy Davis was executed by lethal injection Wednesday night after the U.S. Supreme Court denied a request for a stay in the high-profile case that drew global attention and led hundreds to protest. Davis is shown here in a handout photo from the Georgia Department of Corrections. REUTERS/Ho New

Troy Anthony Davis is slated for execution on Wednesday and I'm wondering why we still think it's okay for Georgia or any other state to kill a man.

Sure, the mother of the cop Davis killed says the execution of Davis will give her some peace. But she admits she'll never have closure from the 1989 killing, when Davis gunned down her son, officer Mark MacPhail, who left a wife and two then-young children behind.

A mother never gets over the death of a child, after all -- much less one that comes at the hands of an armed killer who fired for no good reason. So we have to ask what good it does for Georgia to now get blood on its hands by killing Davis. The officer's mother may get some peace, as she says, but nothing will bring back her son, or ease so many years of pain -- not even execution.

There's also the issue surrounding the case that has drawn so much international attention, what some Davis' stay advocates claim is a conviction based upon flimsy evidence. Since his 1991 conviction, seven of nine witnesses against Davis have recanted or contradicted their testimony.

Consider also that no physical evidence was presented during trial linking Davis to the killing. No physical evidence, witnesses changing or recanting -- you do the math.

We can't play judge and jury years later as citizens, of course. We can, however, speak out about what's right and what's wrong, and killing a person is never right. Regardless of the crime. Lock them up and throw away the key, perhaps -- but murder?

Especially when the case is fuzzy, like that of Davis.

If the execution is carried out Wednesday as scheduled and Davis is killed yet he was an innocent man, then that makes the state of Georgia guilty of an immoral act.

We should have moved beyond the death penalty years ago. Crime deserves punishment, especially murder with life sentences. But once Davis is killed, there's no going back -- even if he was innocent. Also, history has long shown that two wrongs don't make a right.

Killing Troy Davis will be a big mistake.