Unless the US Supreme court intervenes today, Troy Anthony Davis will be executed at 7 p.m. tonight.
His case has attracted the attention of writers, activists, celebrities, and human rights groups like Amnesty International. In an addition to the usual suspects, former President Jimmy Carter, Bishop Desmond Tutu, the Pope and libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr have gone to bat for Davis.
(I wrote about it here back in March.)
Davis was convicted of the 1989 shooting death of a young Savannah police officer who was off-duty but trying to help a homeless man. During his 1991 trial, nine witnesses testified that Davis was the person who committed the crime. But in the intervening years, seven of those witnesses have recanted their testimony, while still other witnesses have said that someone else was the killer. They say a man named Sylvester “Red” Coles confessed to the killing.
Coincidentally, Red Coles was the person who fingered Davis for the crime in the first place.
On Monday, the Georgia Supremes voted in a 4-3 split not to stay Davis’s execution.
Two weeks before, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, which had intervened just hours before Davis’s execution in July of 2007, this times said after an “exhaustive” review, that they did not feel clemency was warranted.
Last year, the Atlanta Journal Constitution did a two part series on the case that raised a number of troubling doubts about the validity of Davis’ conviction. [The articles are no longer easily available on the AJC website but are archived here at an advocacy site for Davis.]
Davis’s attorneys want more than a stay, they want a whole new trial.
So far, it seems unlikely they will get one.
Hopefully, however, SCOTUS will step into the breech and stay the execution. If Davis is guilty, nothing is lost by his sentence being commuted to life in prison.
If he is innocent, we are all tarnished by his execution.
UPDATE: THE EXECUTION HAS BEEN BLOCKED BY THE SUPREMES. Go here for the details.
If this man is executed tonight, then justice is not for all, is it??? Even with all the new evidence that has come forth,that he didn’t do it, what are you doing? What are we all, as a country doing??? Two very important men in the world have supported him. What’s up with this? Is it because he’s black, and the guy he shot was white. What about this guy, “Red” Coles? He already confessed.
Well this whole thing smacks of revenge without consideration of innocence.
And in following up, this is right out of the 60’s when black men were hung on trees regardless of what they had or hadn’t done.
To condemn a possibly innocent man to death is itself tantamount to murder. 7 out of 10 people have recanted their witness testimony and have accused the police force of coercing testimony? This stinks of an inept and vengeful police force and some of that jump the gun, our first decision is correct, don’t question law enforcement down-home southern fried justice. What a fraud the Georgia Supreme Court and Savannah police force is if he is not granted a stay of execution. The question of his innocence allows for a stay and the recanting of witness testimony shows he is deserving of a new trial.
And yet, we have people on video actually comitting murder, and people who have confessed, doing life, or less. I fully agree with the death penalty, we just don’t know how to use it.
Swift Justice… be done with it
Woo hoo! Stay granted. He is deserving of another trial. Bring in the witnesses and see if they can run a fair trial without coerced testimony.
You are all idiots and the reason your liberal communities are overun with drugs, crime, and uneducated thugs. The only coercion that happened was when these witnesses went back to their communities and were called rats. They changed their stories so they could live in their communities without being shunned. I hope this makes every young person that wants to be a police officer change their mind and let these communities completely destroy themselves. I am sure then they will call the government to bail them out…like they always do.
I hope this guy dies a slow painful death.
Just the thought of one innocent man being put to death is terrifying. We’re a barbaric society. Life not death.
America sucks when it comes to punishing people to death. All European and developed countries abolished Death Penality, but U.S. and Arab Countries still practice this barbaric thing.
Darren – your comment is way off base. From what I have read there was absolutely no physical evidence pointing to this man being the shooter. The entire conviction was based on witness testimony. I would rather err on the side of caution and grant this man a new trial than put an innocent man to death. That is not a liberal position. That should be the position of every man and woman in this country. If we allow an innocent man to be put to death then we are all guilty of murder.
For myself, I agree with the death penalty but only when there is absolutely no doubt that the person committed murder. This case is not absolute.
Praise the Lord!!!
What a joke… on the day when a CONVICTED cop killer gets a stay of execution, a police officer in Philadelphia is gunned down by another thug. Fortunately, this thug will never see a day in court. Still, this is the biggest slap in the face to the law enforcement community! Sounds like another Mumia… when will justice be served for the family of this police officer?
On the other hand, Dan, what if the real cop killer is walking around free? Isn’t that the far greater slap in the face to the officer and his family? The more I look into this case, the more I suspect that’s indeed the situation.
That still leave’s two witness’s who say he did do it!
But I guess black criminals don’t deserve to be treated like white criminals?
Confess with the mouth what the soul knows to be TRUTH or suffer the damnations of HELL!
GOD HATE’S “ALL” LIARS!
Racial Profiling
My name is Senayj and I am looking for people of color who have been convicted, just released or if you know someone who has been abused, killed, shot by “friendly fire,†hurt or is now or will be incarcerated- and they are innocent, and you feel that it is racially motivated then we would like to talk to you. We are especially interested in those who have spent most of their lives behind bars, and are now released due to DNA evidence or you have proof of your evidence. If you are male or female and you live in the Atlanta/Ga area, and you or your lawyer, and family is interested in telling us your story, then we would like to hear from you. This is on a volunteer basis- no pay involved. If you want the world to know just had badly the justice system has fallen- then let us help you tell the truth.
We would like for you to contact us;)