Sentenced to life by an Alabama all-white jury and decade of denial of Sixth Amendment rights highlights the need for reform of nation’s criminal justice system
October 17, 2017
BALTIMORE – The NAACP has issued the following statement regarding the life sentence of Kharon Davis issued today in Dothan, Alabama:
“The NAACP is profoundly disappointed with Houston County Circuit Judge Kevin Moulton’s decision to sentence Kharon Davis to life in prison. Judge Moulton’s decision follows a trial that was filled with injustices and irregularities.
After awaiting trial for ten years, much of which time he was kept in solitary confinement and denied visitation from his mother, family, and friends, Mr. Davis was convicted of a charge lesser than the original one of capital murder. The NAACP has remained consistent in its objections to the denial of Mr. Davis Sixth Amendment rights as well as the inappropriateness and unprofessionalism displayed by the Dothan criminal justice system regarding his right to a quick and fair trial.
Despite being held in a city with a 33 percent black population, the court managed to assemble an all-white jury, and several witnesses recanted their original statements and alleged that prosecutors threatened and coerced them into statements.
The judge may indeed don a black robe, but this brand of justice recalls and revives an uglier period in not just Alabama’s, but America’s past, when African Americans were routinely denied due process. The racial makeup of the jury, the excessively long wait for a trial, the refusal of a change of venue, witnesses alleging threats and tampering and changing their testimonies – all are familiar.
The NAACP has not taken a stand on Mr. Davis’s guilt or innocence but only on ensuring that he gets the fair and impartial review to which the Constitution entitles him. The NAACP became involved in the case several years ago due to the obvious violation of Davis’ Sixth Amendment rights.
We will continue, along with our Alabama State Conference and Dothan Branch, to monitor the appeal process to ensure that our justice system works the same for each person regardless of social standing or the color of their skin.”
