As demonstrations break out around the world to protest the execution of Troy Davis tonight in Georgia, some conservatives have been less than concerned with the doubt surrounding his conviction. CNN contributor and Red State editor Erick Erickson wrote that Davis is noting more than a “cop killer who, 20 years later, defense attorneys and liberals are turning into a victim.” “The state maintained a finding of guilt. Time to execute him,” Erickson added on Twitter.
Davis was convicted of killing an off-duty police officer who was working as a security guard, but seven of the nine witnesses have since recanted and many experts say there is “too much doubt” to proceed with an execution.
But Fox News didn’t seem too concerned. Throughout the day, the network has overwhelmingly presented the prosecutions’ view, giving little airtime to the other side. Fox and Friends host Gretchen Carlson said Davis “murdered a police officer 22 years ago” and will soon “pay the ultimate price,” while host Bill Hemmer called Davis a “cop killer.” The network then interviewed the daughter of the victim, who is convinced of Davis’ guilt.
The first time Fox interviewed anybody with an alternative view, it was a “short segment” debate in which host Megyn Kelly repeatedly interrupted Amnesty International’s Laura Moye, and echoed former prosecutor Jeffrey Steinberger’s argument to such a degree that he said, “that’s exactly what I said!” Watch it:
As contrast, CNN and MSNBC have both run multiple full segments on the issue, devoting entire interviews to opponents of the execution.
Update
Conservative commentator Ann Coulter chimes in:
For decades, liberals tried persuading Americans to abolish the death penalty, using their usual argument: hysterical sobbing.
Only when the media began lying about innocent people being executed did support for the death penalty begin to waver, falling from 80 percent to about 60 percent in a little more than a decade. (Silver lining: That’s still more Americans than believe in man-made global warming.) [...]
Davis is the media’s current baby seal of death row.
Previous in TP Justice
By clicking and submitting a comment I acknowledge the ThinkProgress Privacy Policy and agree to the ThinkProgress Terms of Use. I understand that my comments are also being governed by Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, or Hotmail’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policies as applicable, which can be found here.