UPDATE - STAY of execution issued on 10-24!
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals issued the stay. More information to come shortly.
The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles denied clemency for Troy Anthony Davis shortly before 5 p.m. on Friday, September 12. They did so despite overwhelming doubts of Davis' guilt - and after stating last year that they would "not allow an execution to proceed in this State unless and until its members are convinced that there is no doubt as to the guilt of the accused." On September 23, The U.S. Supreme Court stayed Troy Davis' execution "pending the disposition of [his] petition for a writ of certiorari." On October 14, the Court decided not to accept his petition.
Background
Restrictions on Federal appeals have prevented Troy Anthony Davis from having a hearing in federal court on the reliability of the witness testimony used against him, despite the fact that most of the witnesses have since recanted, many alleging they were pressured or coerced by police. Troy Davis remains on Georgia death row, and may be scheduled for execution in the near future.
Troy Davis was sentenced to death for the murder of Police Officer Mark Allen MacPhail at a Burger King in Savannah, Georgia; a murder he maintains he did not commit. There was no physical evidence against him and the weapon used in the crime was never found. The case against him consisted entirely of witness testimony which contained inconsistencies even at the time of the trial. Since then, all but two of the state's non-police witnesses from the trial have recanted or contradicted their testimony. Many of these witnesses have stated in sworn affidavits that they were pressured or coerced by police into testifying or signing statements against Troy Davis.
One of the two witnesses who has not recanted his testimony is Sylvester "Red" Coles – the principle alternative suspect, according to the defense, against whom there is new evidence implicating him as the gunman. Nine individuals have signed affidavits implicating Sylvester Coles.
4 comments:
Let's hope justice is fully served and the truth comes out.
Let's hope...I haven't heard anything else since then, so I don't know what's going on with the case.
You know, my thing is they need to at give him a new trial. If they do that and he's found guilty again, well, even though I'll think the jurors are all zombies who've had lobotomies, at least they gave him the new trial. Its that they wouldn't give him a new trial despite the fact that he was convicted on eyewitness testimony (notoriously unreliable anyway!) and the eyewitnesses recanted! (They all said they lied, except for one who now says he's not sure, and the person who was the police department's only other suspect in the case) How can you uphold a conviction when the evidence he was convicted of has disappeared?
I was glad to see that this story is starting to get real national attention.
Have you heard any more since the last stay of execution? I haven't even been able to find out why they did it, but maybe I'm not looking in the right places.
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