Georgia: Judge must decide whether Troy Davis proved innocence in cop killing

Condemned inmate Troy Anthony Davis (left) got his day in court to present new evidence he contends proves he did not kill an off-duty policeman 21 years ago. After hearing all the evidence, a federal judge now must decide whether Davis should be spared from execution.

In closing arguments Thursday, a member of Davis' legal team contended police rushed to judgment and got the wrong man in the killing. But a state attorney countered that Davis had fallen far short of producing enough new evidence to convince anyone that he did not gun down Savannah police Officer Mark Allen MacPhail as he ran to the aid of a homeless man being pistol-whipped.

At the close of the extraordinary two-day hearing ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. District Judge William T. Moore Jr. did not issue an immediate ruling. He instructed attorneys to file legal briefs by July 7 and said he would rule as promptly as possible.

Earlier Thursday, however, Moore handed Davis' legal team a huge blow by ruling out testimony from a number of witnesses who were going to say that Sylvester "Redd" Coles told them he, not Davis, shot and killed MacPhail.

Davis has fought for a decade to get a court hearing to present his new evidence. But Moore's ruling, and decisions this week by Davis' legal team not to call a number of key prosecution witnesses who testified at the 1991 trial, ultimately may mean Davis cannot clear a difficult legal threshold set by the nation's highest court.

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a stunning ruling last August granting Davis his hearing, said Moore must decide whether new evidence "clearly establishes" Davis' innocence.

Davis attorney Jason Ewart told Moore that any reasonable juror would not convict Davis today after hearing the new evidence presented this week. That includes the recantations of 4 prosecution witnesses who earlier had testified they either saw Davis kill MacPhail or said Davis told them he did it. Those witnesses now say they were threatened and coerced into giving false testimony.

Ewart also expressed confidence in Benjamin Gordon, a relative of Coles', who testified for the first time Wednesday that he witnessed Coles gun down MacPhail.

Beth Burton, the lead attorney for the state, argued that there remains overwhelming evidence of Davis' guilt. She then ticked off the names of at least five prosecution witnesses who were not called this week, saying their testimony against Davis remains unchallenged.

"This was their case," Burton told Moore. "The standard is extremely high. ... They have not met it."

For much of Thursday, state attorneys called current and former Savannah police officers who investigated the murder case and the two lead prosecutors. "Absolutely not," former Chatham County District Attorney Spencer Lawton said resolutely when asked if he asked witnesses to give perjured testimony against Davis.

Lt. Gregory Ramsey, the lead detective, testified he carried out a "very meticulous and careful" investigation.

"I was in no rush just to pick the first guy we got our hands on," Ramsey said of Davis. "I wanted the right guy."

The 28-year law enforcement veteran added, "I'd rather the right guy get away a hundred times" than charge the wrong person.

Ramsey said that a number of witnesses gave "strikingly similar descriptions on how the shooter was dressed." For the most part, he said, witnesses told police the shooter was wearing a white T-shirt and dark pants, which other witnesses said Davis was wearing that evening.

Ramsey and other investigators steadfastly maintained they did not coerce or threaten witnesses to try to pin the murder on Davis. "You're trying to seek their honest responses and get to the bottom of the issue," Ramsey said. "You don't suggest to them. You want to know what they had heard or seen."

Davis' lawyers, dating back to the 1991 trial, have contended that Coles was the real triggerman. Coles was at the Burger King parking lot with Davis the night MacPhail was killed and was seen earlier with a revolver. Coles, who has denied killing MacPhail, was the first witness to come forward to police and implicate Davis in the killing.

Davis' lawyers did not call Coles to the stand this week, and Moore made them pay for it. He ruled out testimony by a number of witnesses who would have said Coles told them he killed MacPhail, on the grounds it was inadmissible hearsay. Moore told Davis' lawyers they could have gotten around that by calling Coles to the stand and giving him the chance to rebut that testimony.

"Here's one of the most critical witnesses to Davis' defense," Moore said. "Mr. Coles is available to testify and you don't call him. Mr. Coles should have been called by you."

Philip Horton, one of Davis' lawyers, said the legal team tried unsuccessfully to serve Cole with a subpoena on Wednesday, soon after Moore said he might not give any weight to hearsay evidence. Too late, Moore shot back, noting the hearing had been set months in advance.

Moore made his ruling with Quianna Glover, a Savannah woman, seated a few feet away on the witness stand. In a signed affidavit, Glover has said Coles told her a year ago he killed MacPhail. "This [expletive] is killing me," Coles told her, according to Glover's affidavit. But Glover stepped down from the witness stand without testifying after Moore's decision.

Source: Atlanta Journal Constitution, June 24, 2010

Deepening Doubt About Troy Davis' Guilt Following Historic Evidentiary Hearing in Georgia

States' Case "Thin and Tainted," Says Amnesty International

At the close of the Troy Davis evidentiary hearing, Anne Emanuel, legal analyst for Amnesty International USA, released the following statement:

"Given the evidence that emerged from the two-day hearing it is clear that the state's case against Troy Davis is thin and tainted. Today's hearing underscores the deepening doubt that has plagued this case. It is difficult to imagine that a jury would convict Davis today after hearing 4 of the witnesses who convicted Davis 19 years ago testify in open court before a judge that they lied. One eyewitness testified for the 1st time that he saw his relative, the alternative suspect, Sylvester "Redd" Coles, shoot police officer Mark Allen MacPhail in 1989."

Source: Amnesty International, June 24, 2010

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Florida executes Dominick Occhicone

Florida executes 2 men in a day. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has made Florida's death chamber the nation’s busiest at the end of his final term. STARKE, Fla. — Florida on Tuesday became the first state in nearly a decade to carry out two executions in a single day, the last an 80-year-old man who was the second-oldest inmate known to receive a lethal injection in modern U.S. history. Hours earlier, the state executed a former police officer convicted of killing a young girl.

Two Executions In Six Hours: Florida Set For Historical Double Execution Tuesday

Florida is preparing to execute two death row inmates on Tuesday, July 28, in an action that would mark the state’s first double execution in more than 60 years. Former police officer James Duckett, 68, is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 12 p.m., followed six hours later by 80-year-old Dominick Occhicone at 6 p.m. If carried out, these will mark the 39th and 40th executions under Gov. Ron DeSantis and the 11th and 12th in the state since the beginning of 2026. In response, Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP) has launched petition and letter-writing efforts asking DeSantis to halt both procedures. The group has organized two public vigils outside Florida State Prison in Raiford, set for 11 a.m. and 5 p.m., contingent on whether stays are issued.

Florida | 49 years on death row, killer of Bonita Springs teen learns death date

A Fort Myers man on death row for nearly five decades learned his execution date as Gov. Ron DeSantis signed his order Thursday, July 30. Harold Gene Lucas, then 24, shot and killed his 16-year-old girlfriend, Anthia Jill Piper in Bonita Springs on August 14, 1976. Lucas was 24 when he was charged in Piper's shooting death at her parents' home on Aug. 14, 1976. The execution is set for Sept. 1 in a state that has accelerated its pace under DeSantis the past two years, with a record of 19 executions in 2025. Piper was shot seven times by Lucas, who claimed to be intoxicated.

Florida executes James Duckett

Double execution: 1st of 2 inmates is put to death in Florida Florida has executed James Duckett, a 68-year-old former cop convicted of killing an 11-year-old girl in 1987. The state is set to execute an 80-year-old man 6 hours later for a 1986 murder. Florida carried out the 1st double execution in more than 60 years, executing former police officer James Duckett and later scheduling the execution of 80‑year‑old Dominick Occhicone, amid Governor Ron DeSantis’s aggressive push to increase death penalties in the state. Florida has put to death the 1st of 2 inmates in the state's 1st double execution in more than 60 years amid an aggressive death penalty push by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Florida | Former warden recalls botched electrocution that left him battling PTSD for 13 years and turned him into an abolitionist

Ron McAndrew anticipated it would be just another standard execution. He had been assigned to carry out the death of Cuban refugee Pedro Medina via electric chair within the confines of Florida State Prison. Fifteen years had passed since Medina's conviction for the murder of 52-year-old Dorothy James, and McAndrew's responsibility was to oversee the administration of lethal electrical currents to his brain. Having already supervised two previous executions using the identical procedure and raised in a community that strongly supported capital punishment, he expected a swift conclusion with justice delivered.

Iran erects iron gallows in Isfahan protest square

An iron gallows has been erected in an Isfahan square where protests erupted in January. Families of several of the 10 remaining prisoners sentenced to death have been summoned for farewell visits. An iron gallows erected in Ali-Khani Square in the central Iranian city of Isfahan has raised fears that the regime is preparing to publicly execute protesters arrested during nationwide demonstrations in January. Sources who spoke with Iran International said large numbers of security forces had been deployed in the area, while the families of several prisoners sentenced to death had been summoned to the prison for farewell visits.

North Korea | 'I was only 9': North Korean defector recalls childhood memory of public execution

Kim Eun-joo was 9 years old when her teacher stopped their lesson and told the class to follow her outside. The children were marched to a public execution ground in North Korea. “I would cry even when our family dog died,” Kim said in a recent interview with The Korea Times. “But the first time I watched humans killing a human, I had no words for what I was feeling. It was the most brutal scene I have ever seen, in any movie or in real life.” The memory has stayed with her ever since. Now a human rights advocate after defecting from North Korea, Kim recently brought that childhood scene to the 9th World Congress Against the Death Penalty in Paris, where North Korea’s use of public executions and capital punishment was officially placed on the agenda for the first time.

USA | What happens in the final weeks before an execution? These reporters were inside the room.

The journalists behind ‘The Last 12 Weeks’ earned extraordinary access to a death penalty defense team—and faced difficult ethical choices Many defense lawyers are naturally cagey. They work in a pressure cooker, protecting their clients’ rights while fighting for the best possible outcome. And arguably, the stakes can’t get any higher than trying to save a client’s life. So no, defense lawyers don’t usually invite journalists into strategy meetings. But that’s what happened when Marshall Project reporter Maurice Chammah and Serial Productions senior producer Alvin Melathe spent the final few months before a Texas execution embedded with a capital defense team.

19 July 1943 | Auschwitz's Largest Public Hanging: 12 Polish Prisoners Executed in Escape Reprisal

OSWIECIM, Poland — The SS carried out the largest public hanging in Auschwitz history on July 19, 1943, executing 12 Polish prisoners before other inmates as collective punishment for escapes and civilian contacts. The victims, all from the camp’s surveyors’ labor unit, were hanged on gallows built in front of the camp kitchen during an Auschwitz I roll call. The SS orchestrated this reprisal following prisoner escapes from the surveyors’ detail and unauthorized communication between inmates and civilians. Camp authorities used the recent escapes as a pretext to impose collective punishment.

Idaho | How Bryan Kohberger’s Guilty Plea Move Could Be His Death Sentence

If Bryan Kohberger successfully withdraws his guilty plea and goes to trial for the murders of four University of Idaho students, it could lead to him being sentenced to death, experts told Newsweek . Kohberger, 31, filed a handwritten petition on Monday from the Idaho Maximum Security Penitentiary, where he is serving four consecutive life sentences for the murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen in a rental home near the university's campus in Moscow, Idaho, in 2022. Kohberger pleaded guilty to the fatal stabbings just over a year ago, a month before jury selection was set to start.

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