Parole board says it won’t reconsider Davis’ execution

The state parole board should reconsider its decision to deny clemency to Troy Anthony Davis and those hired to carry out his death by lethal injection should call in sick, advocates for Davis said Monday.

Davis, sentenced to death for killing a Savannah police officer in 1989, is scheduled to be put to death on Tuesday at 7 p.m. The state Board of Pardons and Paroles on Monday said it would not reconsider its Sept. 12 decision to deny clemency to Davis.

Two hours before the parole board released its statement, death-penalty opponents and members of clergy called for a halt to Davis’ execution, saying there is too much doubt as to whether he fired the fatal shots. Seven of nine key prosecution witnesses who implicated Davis in the killing have since recanted their testimony.

The turn-about of testimony has attracted international attention to the case, with requests for clemency from Pope Benedict XVI and former President Jimmy Carter.

“Justice and due process deserve a real chance in Georgia, Raphael Warnock, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, said at a press conference Monday outside the Capitol.

Because of the doubts as to Davis’ guilt, it would not be an error to re-sentence him to life in prison, Warnock said. “If you execute an innocent man, you will irretrievably err and leave the blood of Troy Davis on all of our hands.”

Edward DuBose, president of the Georgia state conference of the NAACP, implored the parole board to reconsider.

“Troy Anthony Davis is an innocent man and Georgia is on watch by the world,” he said. “This is a modern-day lynching if it’s allowed to go forward.”

But an hour after the news conference ended, the parole board declined the request.

Because of Davis’ claims of innocence, the board stopped Davis’ execution last year. In the meantime, it has spent more than a year studying and considering the case, board spokeswoman Scheree Lipscomb said.

This includes hearing from every witness presented by Davis’ lawyers, retesting evidence and interviewing Davis himself, she said.

“After an exhaustive review of all available information regarding the Troy Davis case and after considering all possible reasons for granting clemency, the board has determined that clemency is not warranted,” Lipscomb said.

Lipscomb said the parole board does not generally comment on capital cases it was considered for clemency. “However, the Troy Davis case has received such extensive publicity that the board has decided to make an exception,” she said.

Sara Totonchi, chair of Georgian for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, on Monday called on those carrying out Davis’ execution to call in sick or go on strike.

“We call for a general strike or sick-out by all but a skeletal staff of the Georgia Diagnostic Prison on Sept. 23,” she said. “If you work on that day, you will enable the prison to carry out the execution of an innocent man.”

Davis’ last chance for a stay of his execution appears to rest with the U.S. Supreme Court. After the Georgia Supreme Court, by a 4-3 vote, denied Davis’ bid for a new hearing on the recantation evidence, his lawyers appealed to the nation’s highest court.

Before Davis’ execution was set for Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court said it would meet on Sept. 29 to decide whether to hear Davis’ appeal. Because the court scheduled that meeting six days after the execution, Davis’ lawyers are now asking the courts for a delay of Tuesday’s execution.

“We’re asking any judge we can to give us a stay,” Jason Ewart, one of Davis’ lawyers, said. “We were hopeful that somebody will take a look at this and say, ‘this is going too fast.’

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Monday, September 22, 2008