Troy Davis' attorneys seek police file - Petition charges file will prove Davis' innocence

Lawyers for Troy Anthony Davis want a federal judge to force prosecutors to turn over police files they say conceal evidence not produced in his trial in the 1989 slaying of off-duty Savannah police officer Mark Allen MacPhail.

Those files contain material "corroborating the evidence of his innocence to be introduced at the hearing in this matter," the defense petition filed in U.S. District Court Monday states.

They also argue the police files will support Davis' allegations that Sylvester "Red" Coles committed the crimes for which Davis was convicted.

The Georgia attorney general's office, which is handling the appeal, has until Feb. 12 to respond.

Davis, 38, remains on Georgia's death row at Jackson on his 1991 conviction and death sentence in Chatham County Superior Court in the MacPhail slaying.

The victim, 27, was working off-duty at the Greyhound Bus Terminal/Burger King on Oglethorpe Avenue early Aug. 19, 1989, when he was shot twice and killed. He was rushing to help a homeless man under attack over a beer.

After prolonged appeals, the U.S. Supreme Court in August sent Davis' case to U.S. District Court with instructions that a judge must take testimony and determine where any evidence not available at the original trial "clearly establishes (Davis') innocence."

Chief Judge William T. Moore Jr., who is handling the case, has not set a hearing date.

The filing is part of a back and forth with the state for information to be used at the hearing.

Davis' lawyers contend seven of nine state witnesses have recanted their testimony, creating sufficient doubt about the verdict that an innocent man may be executed.

They also claim to have nine new witnesses not heard at the 1st trial.

The state contends the new evidence is simply rehashed argument already repeatedly rejected by appellate courts.

Davis' appellate team is expanding its inquiry beyond the MacPhail slaying to include the attack on Larry Young in the parking lot to which MacPhail was responding, and the assault on Michael Cooper at a party in Cloverdale hours before.

Davis' convictions included charges stemming from those 2 attacks.

Coles, who was at the MacPhail shooting scene, was never charged. He and his attorney went to police to accuse Davis only after he learned police "were on his trail," the Davis petition stated.

His petition also includes arguments that "certain state witnesses lied at trial as the result of police pressure" and Davis' defense lawyers did not have the entire file at his trial.

Savannah-Chatham police have repeatedly denied access to the files made under the state Open Records Act, the petition states.

TROY DAVIS CASE: WHAT HAPPENED

Off-duty police officer Mark Allen MacPhail was shot twice with a .38-caliber pistol as he rushed to assist a homeless man being beaten in the parking lot of the Greyhound Bus Terminal/Burger King restaurant on Oglethorpe Avenue early on Aug. 19, 1989.

MacPhail never unholstered his weapon. No murder weapon was recovered.

Prosecutors said Davis, then 20, shot MacPhail once in the heart while he was standing, then a 2nd time in the face as he lay on the asphalt parking lot surface.

Witness testimony said the gunman smiled as he fired the second shot into the fallen officer.

Davis fled to Atlanta ahead of a massive manhunt, then surrendered to authorities on Aug. 23, 1989.

Lawyers for Davis contend 7 of the 9 witnesses who testified against the defendant have recanted their testimony, which the defense contends was coerced by police.

They said Davis was the victim of mistaken identity, blaming Sylvester "Red" Coles for the shooting. Coles was placed at the bus station where the fatal shooting occurred but was never charged.

Testimony had Coles running from the scene as MacPhail ran past him to the homeless victim.

Source: Savannah Morning News, January 28, 2010

Comments

Tennessee | Questions Raised About the Doctor Who Was Overseeing Tony Caruthers’ Execution

Mark Fowler, according to a deposition, had not placed a central line in a patient for more than a decade when he attempted to put one in Carruthers Around 11 a.m. Thursday morning in the execution chamber at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, a medical doctor stepped in and attempted to place a central IV line in Tony Carruthers’ chest. By that point, the prison staff had spent some 30 minutes trying unsuccessfully to insert a backup IV line that would allow them to proceed with the lethal injection. According to Carruthers’ attorney Maria DeLiberato, who was in the room, after asking a staff member to attempt inserting a line through Carruthers’ jugular vein, the doctor moved on to the central line, which is identified as the last resort in Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol .

EU GSP+ Reform: Will Brussels Finally Enforce Its Own Conditions on Pakistan?

The EU has tightened the rules governing GSP+ trade preferences, but Pakistan’s record raises a harder question: whether Brussels is prepared to suspend market access when a major beneficiary fails to demonstrate sustained compliance with human rights, labour and governance obligations. The European Union has formally adopted revised rules for its Generalised Scheme of Preferences, strengthening the conditions attached to preferential market access for developing countries. The new framework will apply from 1 January 2027 and is intended to tighten monitoring, widen the list of international conventions, and make suspension of benefits easier in cases of serious violations.

Florida executes Richard Knight

Man convicted of killing a woman and her 4-year-old daughter is executed in Florida A Florida man convicted of fatally stabbing his cousin’s girlfriend and the couple’s 4-year-old daughter was put to death Thursday evening, becoming the 7th person executed by the state this year. Richard Knight, 47, was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. following a 3-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. Knight was convicted of 2 counts of 1st-degree murder in the June 2002 killings of Odessia Stephens and her daughter, Hanessia Mullings. The curtain of the death chamber went up promptly at the scheduled 6:00 p.m. execution time. Knight was already strapped down with his arms extended and an IV line in place.

Iran executes Esma Zarei in Ardabil Prison after she gave birth in custody

Hengaw – Saturday, May 23, 2026. Iranian authorities have executed Esma Zarei, a 28-year-old Turkish woman from Parsabad in Ardabil Province, who had previously been sentenced to death on charges of “premeditated murder” in connection with the killing of her husband. She is the sixth woman executed in Iran since the beginning of 2026. According to information received by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Zarei was executed at dawn on Wednesday, May 20, 2026, in Ardabil Central Prison. She had been sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) after being convicted of her husband’s murder.

Tennessee fails to execute Tony Carruthers after IV difficulties. State won't try again for a year

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee officials on Thursday called off the lethal injection of Tony Carruthers, who was convicted of kidnapping and murdering three people in 1994, after his executioners tried and failed for over an hour to establish an intravenous line. Gov. Bill Lee announced soon afterward that the state would not try again for at least a year. In a written statement, the Tennessee Department of Corrections said medical personnel had quickly established a primary IV line but were unable to find a suitable vein for a backup line as required by the state’s execution protocol. Efforts to insert a central line also failed, and officials called off the execution.

Arizona executes Leroy McGill

Arizona executes inmate who set couple on fire in 'horrific attack' Arizona has executed Leroy McGill for setting 21-year-old Charles Perez and his 24-year-old girlfriend on fire. Perez died the next day and Perez survived with severe burn injuries. Arizona has executed a death row inmate for setting 2 people on fire more than 20 years ago, killing 1 of them and changing the other's life forever. The state executed Leroy McGill, 63, by lethal injection on Wednesday, May 20, for the 2002 murder of 21-year-old Charles Perez. McGill set Perez and his girlfriend on fire after they accused him of theft, court records say. Perez died of his injuries the next day while his girlfriend survived with severe burns.

20 Minutes to Death: Witness to the Last Execution in France

The following document is a firsthand account of the final moments of Hamida Djandoubi, a convicted murderer executed by guillotine at Marseille’s Baumettes Prison on September 10, 1977. The record—dated September 9—was written by Monique Mabelly, a judge appointed by the state to witness the proceedings. Djandoubi’s execution would ultimately be the last carried out in France before capital punishment was abolished in 1981. At the time, President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing—who had publicly voiced his "deep aversion to the death penalty" prior to his election—rejected Djandoubi’s appeal for clemency. Choosing to let "justice take its course," the President allowed the execution to proceed, just as he had in two previous cases during his term: Christian Ranucci , executed on July 28, 1976 and Jérôme Carrein , executed on June 23, 1977. Hamida Djandoubi , a Tunisian national, was sentenced to death for killing his former lover, Elisabeth Bousquet. He was execu...

Florida: The Daily Routine of Death Row Inmates

The breakfast carts rattle through the concrete prison at about 5:30 am and as they approach Death Row the first sounds of morning repeat the last sounds of night - remote controlled locks clanging open and clunking closed, electric gates whirring, heavy metal doors crashing shut, voices wailing, klaxons blaring. A maximum security prison has no soft or delicate sounds. At the end of each corridor of death row cells a guard opens a heavy door of steel bars and a prison trusty pushes a breakfast cart inside. The door closes behind him and when it locks a second door opens and admits the trusty to the wing. He steers his cart along the wing stopping at each cell to pass a tray of powdered eggs and lukewarm grits through a small slot on the bars. Food is prepared by prison staff and transported in insulated carts to the cells. The food carts are full of cockroaches, the food is often undercooked or just rotten and is served on Styrofoam plates with a plastic "spork" - fork/spoon...

Iraq: German schoolgirl, 17, turned jihadi bride escapes death penalty and is jailed for six years

GERMAN Jihadi bride Linda Wenzel has been jailed for six years in Baghdad for her role as an Islamic enforcer with terror group ISIS. Wenzel, 17, who last year sobbed on TV “I have ruined my life,” could have faced the death penalty. German media reported that a German embassy representative in Iraq was in court yesterday to witness her sentencing. She received five years for joining IS and one year for entering Iraq illegally. Wenzel was found in the rubble of IS stronghold Mosul back in the summer of 2017. Charges were laid against her and three other German women captured with her. Schoolgirl Wenzel fled to Turkey then into Syria last year from her hometown of Pulsnitz in eastern Germany after being groomed online by a Chechen IS fighter who she married. He was killed in the savage fighting for Mosul while she was employed by the terror group enforcing the strict Islamic dress code on women in the city. She burst into tears after her capture and said s...

Florida | Jury recommends death for Otto Lenke, judge to make final call

FORT PIERCE, Fla. — A St. Lucie County jury recommended the death penalty for Otto Lenke on Thursday in the penalty phase of his first-degree murder trial, though the final decision rests with the judge. Lenke, 66, a former Melbourne police officer and Indian River County firefighter , was convicted earlier this month of first-degree murder and first-degree arson in the Feb. 17, 2021, killing of Richard Benson at Fast Frank’s Custom Cycle Components, Benson’s motorcycle repair shop in Fort Pierce . Prosecutors said Lenke shot Benson multiple times inside the shop, then poured a flammable liquid on him and set him on fire while he was still alive. Surveillance video from the shop captured the attack.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog