Witnesses back off testimony against Troy Davis

4 witnesses who testified against Troy Anthony Davis (left) at his 1991 trial said Wednesday that none of their damaging testimony against him was true.

The witnesses, whose prior testimony helped put Davis on death row for the killing of off-duty Savannah Police Officer Mark Allen MacPhail, said they were pressured by authorities to point the finger at Davis.

At the 1991 trial, Antoine Williams testified he saw Davis shoot and kill MacPhail late one summer night in 1989 in a Burger King parking lot. But Wednesday, Williams said he was too scared to see who actually fired the weapon.

"I was in my car, ducking and peeking," Williams, the first witness called by Davis' lawyers, said. He added that he did not get a good look at the shooting because his car's windows had three layers of limousine tint on

them.

Williams said he testified against Davis at trial because prosecutors told him to identify Davis as the shooter. "I was scared," he testified.

The testimony came on the first day of an extraordinary hearing ordered last August by the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court instructed a judge to convene a hearing, hear testimony and determine whether Davis' new claims "clearly establish" his innocence. The hearing is being presided over by U.S. District Court Judge William T. Moore Jr., an appointee of President Bill Clinton.

Another witness, Kevin McQueen, testified at trial that Davis told him he shot and killed MacPhail. On Wednesday, he said that never happened.

"There's no truth to it," McQueen said. "He never told me nothing like this. ... He never confessed to shooting anybody to me."

When asked by one of Davis' lawyers, Philip Horton, if he had anything to gain by testifying now in Savannah, McQueen replied, "Peace of mind."

Jeffrey Sapp, another witness who testified at trial that Davis told him he shot and killed MacPhail, also said that never happened.

Sapp, a childhood friend of Davis', said irate police told him what to say. He also said that, at the time, he was a "hustler" dealing drugs and feared he would be charged if he did not go along.

"I was so scared I told them anything they wanted to hear," Sapp said. He added that police told him, "Just say Troy told you. Just say Troy told you."

Darrell Collins, who was at the scene of the shooting with Davis the night of MacPhail's murder, also said most of his trial testimony against Davis was untrue.

State attorneys Beth Attaway Burton and Susan Boleyn challenged the new testimony of each witness in cross-examination. They pointed out inconsistencies in their various statements and got McQueen, Sapp and

Collins to acknowledge they had prior convictions.

The state attorney general's office will call a number of police and prosecution witnesses at the close of testimony from witnesses called by Davis' legal team.

Savannah prosecutors and state attorneys have countered that Davis is a cop killer and that there was more than enough evidence to prove he killed MacPhail beyond a reasonable doubt. State attorneys also note that five separate courts and Georgia's parole board have rejected Davis' claims.

But lawyers for Davis, whose execution has been postponed three times, contend that a number of key prosecution witnesses who testified they saw Davis shoot and kill MacPhail have recanted their trial testimony. Others who testified Davis told them he killed MacPhail have also backed off that trial testimony, the witnesses have said in sworn affidavits.

Davis, dressed in a white prison outfit with a blue collar, sat back in his chair at the defense table throughout much of the testimony, sometimes taking notes or reading through court documents. Members of Davis' family sat on one side of the packed courtroom and members of MacPhail's family sat on the other side.

Spectators and members of the news media hoping to get one of the 90 available seats for the public began forming a line outside the federal courthouse before 6 a.m. Davis arrived shortly before 7 a.m. accompanied by an armed escort of numerous Chatham County police officers.

Source: Atlanta Journal Constitution, June 24, 2010

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