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| Troy Davis |
A Chatham County judge on Tuesday signed a death warrant for Troy Anthony Davis, who was convicted of killing a Savannah police officer in 1989.
The warrant sets the execution between Sept. 21 and Sept. 28. The state Department of Corrections will set the actual date. Davis has been on death row for 19 years.
Davis' appeals are exhausted. He is expected to once again ask the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to grant him clemency. The board has previously denied that request.
Davis, 41, was convicted of killing off-duty police Officer Mark Allen MacPhail 21 years ago as MacPhail ran to the aid of a homeless man being pistol-whipped outside a Burger King.
The case has attracted international attention because a number of key prosecution witnesses either recanted or backed off their trial testimony. Other witnesses have come forward and said another man at the scene told them he was the actual killer.
In August, a federal judge emphatically rejected Davis' claims that he was wrongly convicted. In a 172-page order, U.S. District Judge William T. Moore Jr. said Davis failed to prove his innocence during an extraordinary hearing in June ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court.
MacPhail, 27 and a father of two, was gunned down before he could draw his weapon. After the killing, Sylvester "Redd" Coles went to the police with his lawyer and told them he and Davis were at the scene. At trial, he testified he was fleeing the scene when shots were fired, leaving Davis as the culprit. Coles denied being the triggerman.
At the June hearing, Davis' lawyers wanted to call witnesses who had given sworn statements that Coles had told them after the trial he was the actual killer. But Moore did not allow these witnesses to testify because Davis' lawyers did not subpoena Coles to testify. If they had, the judge said, he could have tested the validity of Coles' alleged confessions.
If Coles had in fact confessed to these witnesses, Moore suggested there could be an explanation --"he believed that his reputation as a dangerous individual would be enhanced if he took credit for murdering Officer MacPhail." Davis failed to prove the alleged confessions were truthful, Moore noted.
Of the seven witnesses Davis' legal team say recanted their trial testimony, "only one is a meaningful, credible recantation." The value of this recantation -- given by a jailhouse snitch who testified Davis told him he killed MacPhail -- is diminished because it was already clear the witness testified falsely at trial, the judge said.
Moore answered one question posed to him by the U.S. Supreme Court. He found that executing an innocent person would violate the Eighth Amendment's ban against cruel and unusual punishment.
"However, Mr. Davis is not innocent," the U.S. district judge wrote in August.
Chatham County Superior Court Judge Penny Freesemann signed the death warrant Tuesday.
Source:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September 6, 2011
Watch all episodes in the "A Life in the Balance: Examining the Troy Davis Case" four-part series from Amnesty International:
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGES GEORGIA BOARD OF PARDONS AND PAROLES TO COMMUTE TROY DAVIS DEATH SENTENCE
( Atlanta ) – Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) today urged the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to grant clemency to death-row inmate Troy Anthony Davis, whose execution date will be scheduled between September 21st and September 28th. Georgia usually tries to carry out executions on the earliest date of a warrant. The human rights organization maintains that proceeding with the execution would be unconscionable, especially as doubts about Davis’ guilt have never been erased.
“The Board stayed Davis’ execution in 2007, stating that capital punishment was not an option when doubts about guilt remained,” said Larry Cox, executive director for AIUSA. “Since then 2 more execution dates have come and gone, and there is still little clarity, much less proof, that Davis committed any crime. Amnesty International respectfully asks the Board to commute Davis’ sentence to life and prevent Georgia from making a catastrophic mistake.”
Since the launch of its February 2007 report, Where Is the Justice for Me? The Case of Troy Davis, Facing Execution in Georgia, Amnesty International has campaigned intensively for clemency for Davis. On April 12th Amnesty International issued an “Urgent Action” to its membership on his behalf. More than 300,000 signatures have been gathered for Davis since the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles last considered clemency. Following Davis’ evidentiary hearing last summer, former Congressman Bob Barr and former FBI director William Sessions renewed their support for the inmate, and Nobel laureates President Jimmy Carter, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Jose Ramos Horta have recently appealed to the board for clemency.
“It is because of cases like Troy Davis’ that support for the death penalty has dropped significantly in this country,” said Laura Moye, director of AIUSA’s Death Penalty Abolition Campaign. “The possibility of human error is far too high, and the chances of executing the innocent are far too real.”
Since 2007 New Mexico, New Jersey and Illinois have abolished the death penalty. When signing the abolitionist bills into law the three state governors all pointed to the risk of irrevocable error as a reason to support abolition. In the 20-plus years that Davis has been on death row, more than 90 prisoners have been released from death rows across the country on grounds of innocence. Each had been found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 3 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom and dignity are denied.
For more information please visit
www.amnestyusa.org/troydavis.
Source: Amnesty International USA, September 7, 2011
NAACP: Troy Davis to be Executed on September 21st
The state of Georgia has set Troy Davis's execution date for midnight on September 21st, just two weeks from today.
This is our justice system at its very worst, and we are alive to witness it. There is just too much doubt.
Even though seven out of nine witnesses have recanted their statements, a judge labeled his own ruling as "not ironclad" and the original prosecutor has voiced reservations about Davis's guilt, the state of Georgia is set to execute Troy anyway.
Time is running out, and this is truly Troy's last chance for life.
But through the frustration and the tears, there is one thing to remain focused on: We are now Troy Davis's only hope. And I know we won't let him down.
There are three steps you can take to help Troy:
1. Send a message of support to Troy as he fights for justice on what may be the final days of his life:
http://action.naacp.org/LettersOfSupport
2. Sign the name wall, if you haven't already. And if you have, send it to your friends and family. Each name means a more united front for justice:
http://action.naacp.org/Name-Wall
3. Make sure everyone knows about this injustice. Spread the word on
Facebook and
Twitter (using the hashtag #TooMuchDoubt) so that Troy Davis's story can be heard. We still have a chance to save his life, but only if people are willing to speak out against injustice.
Today, the state of Georgia has declared their intention to execute a man even though the majority of the people who put him on the row now say he is innocent and many implicate one of the other witnesses as the actual killer. Now that a date has been set, we cannot relent. We must redouble our efforts.
Thank you. Please act quickly and forward this message to all who believe the justice system defeats itself when it allows a man to be executed amid so much doubt.
Benjamin Todd Jealous
President and CEO
NAACP
Related articles:
Apr 13, 2011
Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis is facing the possibility of his fourth execution date in four years after the US Supreme Court dismissed his appeal on 28 March. Doubts persist about his guilt in the crime for which he was sentenced ...
Mar 31, 2011
Anti-death penalty activists criticized the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to reject without comment death row inmate Troy Davis' appeals seeking to delay his execution while he attempts to prove he was wrongfully convicted of ...
Mar 28, 2011
The US Supreme Court Monday rejected an appeal to death row inmate Troy Davis who is seeking a new trial after 7 of the 9 witnesses against him recanted their murder trial testimony. The Supreme Court rejected a request ...
Jan 25, 2011
Attorneys for Troy Anthony Davis are asking the US Supreme Court to overrule a federal judge who decided last year the Georgia death row inmate failed to clear his name after getting a rare chance to prove his innocence. ...
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