Georgia death row inmate presses innocence

One by one, 9 witnesses took the stand against Troy Davis to say he was the man who gunned down an off-duty Savannah police officer.

In 1991, their testimony helped send the Georgia man to death row. However, in the years since, 7 of the 9 have recanted their testimony and his attorneys claim others say another man pulled the trigger.

A roster of big-name supporters, including former President Jimmy Carter and South Africa Archbishop Desmond Tutu, have taken up his cause. They insist that the 39-year-old Davis, who is set to be executed Tuesday night, deserves a new trial.

Last-minute appeals from condemned inmates are nothing unusual. However, experts say so much attention is being lavished on Davis because the case hinges on the most fundamental question in the criminal justice system: "Did he do it?"

Appeals usually try to expose legal technicalities, not actual claims of innocence, said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Washington D.C.-based Death Penalty Information Center, which opposes capital punishment.

"To say 'I didn't do it' is an unusual claim at this late hour, especially when it's supported by evidence," Dieter said.

Davis' only hope for a reprieve lies with the U.S. Supreme Court after the state high court by a 6-1 vote rejected his stay request Monday.

Supporters say the doubts merit a new trial. The courts have consistently disagreed.

A divided Georgia Supreme Court has already rejected his request for a new trial by a 4-3 vote. The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles has turned down his bid for clemency.

In a sign of the intense publicity surrounding the case, the normally reticent parole board said in a statement Monday that the 5-member panel has spent more than a year studying the voluminous trial record after temporarily halting Davis' execution last year.

"After an exhaustive review of all available information ... the Board has determined that clemency is not warranted," the statement said.

Twenty-two inmates have been executed an average of about one a week since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in April that lethal injection was constitutional. That decision ended a 7-month de facto moratorium on executions throughout the country.

None of the other cases have attracted this kind of international attention.

Besides Carter and Tutu, Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr and Pope Benedict XVI also have urged officials to reconsider. The Rev. Al Sharpton prayed with Davis Saturday night.

Amnesty International has taken up the cause, helping organize rallies as far away as Paris.

Davis was convicted of the 1989 murder of 27-year-old officer Mark MacPhail, who was working off-duty as a security guard at a bus station.

MacPhail had rushed to help a homeless man who had been pistol-whipped at a nearby parking lot, and when he approached Davis and two other men, he was shot in the face and the chest.

Witnesses identified Davis as the shooter, and at the trial, prosecutors said he wore a "smirk on his face" as he fired the gun, according to records. Jurors convicted and sentenced him.

But Davis' lawyers say new evidence could exonerate their client and prove that he was a victim of mistaken identity.

Besides those who have recanted their testimony, 3 others who did not testify have said another man, Sylvester "Red" Coles confessed to the killing.

Coles testified against Davis at his trial. He refused to talk about the case when contacted by The Associated Press during a 2007 Chatham County court appearance on an unrelated traffic charge, and he has no listed phone number.

Prosecutors have labeled the witness statements "suspect," and say the case is closed.

In April, the state high court said the evidence was not enough to force a new trial. The court cannot disregard the jury's original verdict, Justice Harold Melton wrote for the majority.

On Monday, with Davis' execution about 36 hours away, protesters gathered outside the state Capitol in Atlanta. They called on prison guards and medical personnel to refuse to participate in the execution.

3 protesters camped out in the office of Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue on Monday, although he was not in the state Capitol and has no power to commute Davis' sentence,

"This man is innocent," said Marvin Morgan, a minister at the First Congregational United Church in Atlanta. "We're seeking to have the governor do something extraordinary to save this man's life."

(source: Associated Press)