professor stack, who is troy davis? >>guest: i hope he will become a milestone in the march to the demise. i had a chance to talk to him and met family members and i think he was truly a strong person. i would call him a bill like figure who was at peace with himself and who i believe was innocent and wrongfully executed and i dedicate the book to troy and his family who taught me about love and loyalty and family and courage. >>host: walks us through the case he is a teenager teenager, african-american in savannah georgia and a murder takes place.

troy is in the wrong place at the wrong time but not the triggerman his trial hinged on nine eyewitness identification is seven of the doom recanted there is no saliva, and no blood for fingerprints or murder weapon. the people who identified him said at the time of the crime they were coerced to sign confessions and some could not read, a teen-ager's at the time, scared, cooperated with the police because they thought millhouse -- felt they had to and troy was

nailed in a ton there is the crime people in fear, anxiety, pressure is on the police to nail somebody quick and the pressure is on the prosecutor to convict that we need to make sure to get a right and in troy's case who i think is the actual corporate -- culprit be admitted and confessed to several people who testified in court that he committed the crime but those recantation were not taken as seriously as they should have and the appellate judge says why should we believe you now? realigning than my question is had to take the life of a man on a set of lies? >>host: what happened to

troy a. davis at the end? >> ironically he was executed september 21st 2011. i feature his sister in the back part of the book who is a courageous soul and martina moved of opinion in choice favor i don't think people would have known about him if not for her heard -- herculean efforts and there was a drumbeat to try to save him. it culminated on the last day when it looks like the supreme court would grant him another reprieve. he had for execution dates in his lifetime imagine the psychological torture involved there but also -- ultimately they said no.

his execution hour was pushed back about four hours and was executed at 11:00 p.m. >>host: what is the status of the death penalty in the west today? >> it is still viable and on the books but the federal death penalty is not used very much. the action to repeal or maintain the death penalty is taking place at the state level 17 states have repealed the death penalty. maryland is very close next week a bill will be introduced not only to abolish the death penalty but use the savings from what the state spends from the flood death penalty system to invesom the flood death penalty system to invest that in programs to support the

victim's loved ones and there is a big tie in with the money be spent on does not deter others were keep us any safer and the death penalty dividend to be put into helping the victim or police protection, going after criminals on the street we already got the guys on death row convicted. as if parole is not sufficient enough penalty. >> isn't it cheaper to put somebody on death row and execute? >>guest: that is a misconception that the expense involved not just the appeals but to get the

original verdict correct requires more trial preparation and security of the defendant, expert witnesses that is as the trial level then you continue on with security at every stage. this is the one issue the court system really wants to get right so appeals move on and on and when you compare the costs keeping somebody in prison for life the studies i have seen had $2 million to a capital case to proceed with the execution and that is when it is imposed often they are on death row or exonerated and not executed we still have to pay the price.

>> how many have been exonerated? >> 141 since 1976 when the u.s. supreme court removed the four year moratorium so that modern death penalty begins then and since that time people have been exonerated. >> gore declared not guilty? >> people think dna evidence came to the rescue but only 17 were based on dna most of it is erroneous eyewitness identification another person stepping forward for a variety of reasons but the irrefutable argument that

you cannot deny as long as we have the death penalty run the risk of executing the wrong person. >>host: are there any characteristics that shows this was wrong? >> there are a series of reasons for wrongful convictions the mistaken night and decided to vacation is the leading cause of wrongful convictions not just a capital case but all convictions police corruption prosecutorial overreaching underlying racism incompetent defense counsel and a variety of reasons that these categories fall into place

pretty much every case falls into those slots. >>host: why are you riding a book called "grave injustice"? >> to use my voice for change was a public defender and in those-- i saw mistakes made in the criminal-justice system and it just seems that communication is the vehicle to raise awareness and educate individuals to move public opinion in the direction of what i consider >> to use any of your cases? >> not that i worked on while in the public defender's office made it this far but i do rightabout cases i had as a chance to study the lawyers and

individuals involved, a family members, journalists members, journalists, they don't come from my personal experience per se but in depth knowledge. >> the dna technology is that beneficial to defendants? >> it can be when a fellow on my book is the first person exonerated from death row across the country. 1993 based on the and a. it came to him as he was reading a mystery novel as dna was used to nail convicts it ought to be able to be used to free people

and he knew this view was not a guilty party and convicted so he got the dna to prove he was not the perpetrator of the crime. >>host: what is the innocence project? >>guest: from the university of law school has come up with a variety of cases and techniques with the leading one been dna to support individuals to appeal to that organization i did not do in a. behalf to have a pretty thick skin because many people offer that claim but the staff go through case is pretty fairly to come up

with those they feel this guy did not do it. >>host: how do you feel about prosecutors? >> they have a tough job to do and we lived within a system that is adversarial in nature you have a prosecutor on the one hand and a defense attorney on the other both abiding by a people's ethical code is doing the best job they can in the adversarial system and somehow the truth should be merged in the center of what they do. our system has flaws the system everybody looks to and i hold no grudge against prosecutors but i do believe they do their best work and defense attorneys doing their best work for the

trees in the middle then the jury system trying to make sure things are done fairly. >>host: is there times when a prosecutor prosecuted somebody they think is innocent and they defend somebody they think is guilty? >> yes. sam mills that is a terrific prosecuting attorney in san antonio, texas. he has written about a case that he tried and prosecuted and has regretted bringing that case as a capital case ever since the execution then he tried to come to a davis rescue. he had supporters on both

sides conservative pate and liberal and his letter to the parole board in georgia stated i am not to a liberal. i am an accomplished prosecuting attorney and i thank you guys are about to make this a mistake that we made in texas. i do think there are journeys to look at cases to say i should not go in that direction but then defense attorneys handle guilty parties i am sure that happens as well you are trained to take on the role as advocate to do the best job i can on behalf of the defendants as if it was my life on the line does not my job to be judge and jury those rules are taken. even if someone did minutes

or confesses as a defense attorney you know, they're telling the truth may be they are covering up for chorister don't remember so both parties try to do the best they can, but given that every party in the system is human and humans make mistakes and those flaws could end up in the execution. >>host: richards fact is the author of "grave injustice" unearthing wrongful executions" published by potomac books books, what is the average time from conviction to being put to death? >> there is no average time it depends on the jurisdiction it is usually a matter of years or could be years in troy's case it was half the man's lifetime two decades in prison. it could be a few years or

much longer and the laundry gets the less likely and as feature into fact. >>host: richard stack american university professor thank you for your time. >>guest: thank you for having me. >> the sequester will reduce the grant by 5% that equates $22 billion distributed among the various licensees we have taken a 13 percent cut in funding over the last two years with the entire federal government sustain

the cuts we sustain the cuts the budget would be $500 billion of lee felt we have a sick the ticket contribution to deficit reduction within our own context. >> the election is over the president has been elected and congress is sworn in and we have basically what we had before we spend $4 billion to have a the president remains elected a panda house and senate remained the same effectively we have gridlock we have variations on the new terms like sequestered they call this note that never came to this note questor the fiscal cliff they thought you jump off of

now just the inability to find common ground so they go from crisis to crisis nothing in the election changed that and because we are divided the direction we should take is undecided and meanwhile the power of compounding is not our friend. the recovery is the weakest and has been in modern times, entitlement programs ever betty recognizes are literally unsustainable and growing in magnitude without change. our regulations are outdated, complex, costly and created way too much uncertainty. the education system does not help enough young people gain the power of knowledge to pursue their dreams as they see fit. the debt levels are way too high rising, not declining and tax policy has gotten too complicated and it punishes savings and success for our social and economic mobility that used to define

america, that we have been proud of for legitimate reasons to respective of where you start or work hard and play by the rules, that has diminished. among the developed countries of the world we're the least economically mobile. our country has changed which is so important to break through is not capable to solve these problems