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Troy Davis' casket is removed from a hearse on Friday, September 30 |
Family, activists and supporters who spent years trying to persuade judges and Georgia prison officials that Davis was innocent were unable to prevent his execution Sept. 21. But the crowd that filled Savannah's Jonesville Baptist Church on Saturday seemed less interested in pausing in remorse than showing a resolve to capitalize on the worldwide attention Davis' case brought to capital punishment in the U.S.
Benjamin Todd Jealous, national president of the NAACP, brought the crowd to its feet in a chant of "I am Troy Davis" — the slogan supporters used to paint Davis as an everyman forced to face the executioner by a faulty justice system. Jealous noted that Davis professed his innocence even in his final words.
"Troy's last words that night were he told us to keep fighting until his name is cleared in Georgia," Jealous said. "But most important, keep fighting until the death penalty is abolished and this can never be done to anyone else."
Source: ABC News, October 1, 2011
Family, friends celebrate Troy Davis' life at funeral
(CNN) -- It was inevitable that the fiery politics of the death penalty would punctuate Saturday's remembrance of Troy Anthony Davis.
His 20 years of claims of innocence on Georgia's death row earned him millions of supporters who believe the state wrongfully executed him on the night of September 21.
Saturday, Davis' family and closest friends gathered inside the Jonesville Baptist Church to celebrate his life.
A mass of flowers covered Davis' closed casket. Two photos flanked it -- one a color portrait of a young boy who grew up on the streets of Savannah's Cloverdale neighborhood and the other a black and white photo of a young man in a suit attending his murder trial.
Those in attendance repeatedly chanted: "I am Troy Davis," the slogan adopted in the campaign to spare his life and one that went viral on social media networks.
"Look at those last two lines of your program today," said Benjamin Jealous, president of the NAACP. "I am Troy Davis. And I am free."
Jealous and other friends and advocates for Davis, including his lawyer, Jason Ewart, voiced Davis' last words before he was put to death by lethal injection. That he was sorry for the family of police Officer Mark MacPhail, but that he was innocent.
"We're going to keep on fighting until his name is finally cleared and Georgia admits what it has done," Jealous said. "We're going to keep on fighting until the death penalty is abolished and this can never be done to anyone else."
MacPhail was shot in the early morning hours of August 19, 1989, in the parking lot of a Burger King just a few miles north of the church where Davis was memorialized. Davis was tried and convicted for MacPhail's murder and sent to death row in 1991.
But he and his family had always maintained that the jury convicted the wrong man.
The MacPhails said they lived in agony as legal proceedings dragged on year after year.
The case became controversial after several of the witnesses who testified against him at trial later said they were coerced to speak against Davis.
It was battled in many courtrooms before his execution. But in the end, Davis lost all his appeals.
"We are gathered here in a place of the most unjust execution of mankind," Ewart said. "Jesus was killed on the cross, not because he was guilty, but because we are.
"Many have spoken of Troy as a symbol," Ewart said. "He was the soul of something profound."
Ewart, a young antitrust lawyer signed onto defending Davis shortly after graduating from Emory University's law school in Atlanta.
"I met him seven years ago. When I met him I was young. I was green," he said. "From the very first conversation I had with Troy I knew he could be my older brother, my friend, and eventually, he became just that."
Raphael Warnock, pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, invoked the 1994 book that made Savannah famous.
"It's midnight in the garden of good and evil," he said. "But I am so glad God does his best work at midnight. When the adversary has our backs against the wall, that's when God does his best work.
"Strange things happen in Savannah, Georgia," he said. "This city of cobblestone streets and verdant town squares ... you have become the ground zero for the struggle to abolish the death penalty once and for all. Savannah, Georgia, the world is watching you."
Davis' mother, Virginia, died in April. She was not around to see the execution of her son, an act that would have surely been wretchedly painful to bear. Davis' sisters, Martina Correia and Kimberly Davis, attended the funeral Saturday, as did Correia's son De'Jaun Davis-Correia.
Davis-Correia, born prematurely, said his uncle Troy was afraid to hold him when he was first born. He weighed only 3 pounds, 8 ounces.
"He thought he would break me," Davis-Correia said.
But he grew into a strong young man, he said, through his uncle's guidance. He spoke of how Davis, from death row, used to help his nephew with homework, even put his tests and exams on his calendar. People tell him now that he's a little version of his uncle.
And that makes Davis-Correia, the nephew of an executed man, very proud. For all his life, his uncle lived 300 miles away, behind brick walls. But, he said, "It was always like he was home with us."
The funeral was open to the public, but Davis was to be buried Saturday with only his family at his graveside.
And then, just before people began streaming out of the church well into Saturday afternoon, a message recorded by Davis thanked his supporters all over the world for their efforts on his behalf.
"Everything we do today will clear the way for a better tomorrow," Davis said. "We can correct all the wrongs if we band together. Don't give up the fight."
The voice of the dead had filled the sanctuary.
Source: CNN, October 2, 2011
Ga. records show Troy Davis' final death row hours
After a long day of emotional goodbyes, Troy Davis knelt in his prison cell and began to pray 15 minutes before he was scheduled to die. Then, a guard spotted him doing something a bit more unexpected: He was sleeping.
Documents obtained by The Associated Press provide a glimpse into the last moments of Davis' life before he was executed Sept. 21 for the murder of an off-duty Savannah officer in 1989. At one point, Davis vowed to fast and refused several prison meals, but as the night dragged on he asked for food. And as his 7 p.m. scheduled execution came and went, guards caught Davis taking an hour-long nap.
Davis' execution for the murder of Mark MacPhail was the center of an international outcry from supporters who said he was the victim of mistaken identity. Prosecutors and MacPhail's family said they were certain Davis was guilty and that justice was served.
The documents were obtained through an Open Records request. Prison officials also provided an audio recording and transcript of his last words, which he used to again proclaim his innocence and urge his supporters to "continue to fight this fight."
Davis was notified of the execution date on Sept. 7, and a day later he was asked to make a last meal request. He scrawled a response in big letters: "None. Will Be Fasting!"
Prison logs show Davis awoke the day of his execution and refused his breakfast tray. He stayed in bed until about 7:50 a.m. when he was strip-searched and escorted to the shower. The first of his 28 visitors soon began to file in.
Davis turned down his lunch at noon and, after the last visitor left about 6 hours later, refused to eat an early dinner, requesting only the grape drink on the tray. Guards spotted him praying around 6:45 p.m., and by 7 p.m., when his execution was scheduled to begin, he was napping.
He awoke an hour later, called his attorney for an update on the status of his last-minute court appeals and asked the guards to bring in some food. He spent the next few hours on and off the phone with his lawyer awaiting news on his fate.
He likely heard that the Supreme Court denied his request for a last-minute stay shortly before guards came into the room at 10:28. A few minutes later, he was strapped to the gurney and execution witnesses started filing in. It was over at 11:08, when authorities pronounced him dead and cleared the death chamber.
Source: Associated Press, October 5, 2011
Troy Davis' Last Words Released By Georgia Department Of Corrections (AUDIO)
The Georgia Department of Corrections this week released an audio recording of the last words of Troy Davis, executed on Sept. 21 for the murder of Mark MacPhail, an off-duty Savannah police officer shot to death in 1989. Davis steadfastly maintained his innocence until the end and blamed another man for the killing.
The almost minute-and-a-half recording was provided in response to an open records request from the Associated Press.
Complete transcript of the recording:
Well, first of all I'd like to address the MacPhail family. I'd like to let you all know that despite the situation -- I know all of you still are convinced that I'm the person that killed your father, your son and your brother, but I am innocent. The incidents that happened that night was not my fault. I did not have a gun that night. I did not shoot your family member.
But I am so sorry for your loss. I really am -- sincerely.
All that I can ask is that each of you look deeper into this case, so that you really will finally see the truth.
I ask to my family and friends that you all continue to pray, that you all continue to forgive. Continue to fight this fight.
For those about to take my life, may God have mercy on all of your souls. God bless you all.
Click here to read the full article
Source: The Huffington Post, October 7, 2011
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