This past Sept. 21, a man named Lawrence Russell Brewer was executed in Texas. He went to his death without so much as a whimper of protest. Brewer went to his death without howls of protests from supporters, and without much media fanfare. About five hours later that same night, a man named Troy Anthony Davis was executed in Georgia. Davis went out whining about his innocence to the bitter end.

Davis had a plethora of supporters opposing his death sentence, among them Pope Benedict XVI, former President Jimmy Carter, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and its president and CEO, Benjamin Todd Jealous, National Action Network leader Al Sharpton and far too many bloggers, protesters and second-guessers of the jury’s verdict to count.