Questions of Innocence

As I read with shock that the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal of Georgia death row inmate Troy Anthony Davis [news story, Oct. 15], I was reminded of a case closer to home: that of Ronnie L. White in Prince George's County.

Mr. White, accused of slaying a police officer, appears to have been killed himself while in police custody. In Mr. Davis's case, the state execution of a man convicted of killing a police officer is again pending, set for Oct. 27.

What these two have in common, besides being black men implicated in the deaths of police officers, is that they may be innocent. Mr. Davis has proclaimed his innocence from the beginning but was convicted on testimony that seven out of nine witnesses have recanted; one of the remaining witnesses is alleged to have confessed to the killing. Barring a change of conscience by the Georgia Board of Paroles and Pardons, Mr. Davis will be put to death for the sake of "closure."

In Prince George's, Ronnie White never got a trial, which means that at the time of his death he was presumed innocent under the law. He may in fact have been innocent; another person could have been driving the car that killed Cpl. Richard S. Findley, just as someone other than Mr. Davis could have killed off-duty police officer Mark Allen MacPhail in Savannah. But now we may never know.

Whether a man is killed publicly by the government or privately by a self-appointed avenger, it doesn't bring closure, and it isn't justice.

HEATHER PANKL LIVINGSTON

Silver Spring