Troy Davis case

The Troy Davis case involves Troy Anthony Davis, an American sports coach, who was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1989 murder of a Savannah, Georgia police officer, Mark Allen MacPhail, solely on the basis of eyewitness testimony.cite web
url=http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1643384,00.html?cnn=yes
title=Will Georgia Kill an Innocent Man?
first=Brendan
last=Lowe
publisher=Time Magazine
date=2007-07-13
accessdate=2007-07-17] Seven of nine witnesses later recanted their testimony (although one recantation was not notarized), but he has been unable to get a new trial. Amnesty International, Pope Benedict XVI and others have appealed against his sentence, contributing twice to the sentence being stayed temporarily.

The trial

Troy Anthony Davis surrendered to the authorities on August 23, 1989 and was arrested for the murder of MacPhail. Davis admitted he was at the scene, though the murder weapon was never found, and no physical evidence linked the crime to Davis, who asserted his innocence. His conviction occurred in August 1991.

According to the trial transcripts this is what happened on the night of the murder:

Troy Anthony Davis, Sylvester Coles, and Darrell Collins got into an altercation with a homeless man, Larry Young, in the early hours of August 19, 1989. Young had purchased several cans of beer at a convenience store, and as he exited, Coles demanded a can of beer. Young refused. The trio split apart and surrounded Young, and then began beating him.cite web
title=Davis v. State, 283 Ga. 438, Georgia Supreme Court, March 17, 2008
url=http://www.gasupreme.us/pdf/s07a1758.pdf]

Mark Allen MacPhail, a 27-year-old Savannah, Georgia police officer, was working off-duty but in full uniform as a security guard at a nearby Burger King restaurant. He was shot while attempting to break up the melee in the restaurant's parking lot. MacPhail ran to stop Davis, who was striking Young with a .38 pistol. Davis ran off. When MacPhail called out for him to stop, Davis shot him from a distance of 5-6 feet, with the bullet entering under MacPhail's bullet-proof vest, causing fatal internal injuries. While MacPhail was on the ground, Davis closed in and shot him in the face. One eyewitness testified that Davis was smiling at the time he shot MacPhail. http://law.ga.gov/00/press/detail/0,2668,87670814_87670929_121231342,00.html]

Earlier on the same night, a man named Michael Cooper was shot by a .38 caliber bullet while leaving a party in nearby Cloverdale. It was suggested in court that the same gun that wounded Cooper was used to kill MacPhail. [http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=ENGAMR510232007] Amnesty USA, 'Where is the justice for me?' The case of Troy Davis, facing execution in Georgia. Retrieved 10 September 2008]

Racial composition of jury

The jury in the trial was composed of seven blacks and five whites. Although Davis raised racial bias in the jury selection process as an issue, the eight potential black jurors who were peremptorily challenged were removed from the jury pool for unambiguously non-racist reasons, specifically: for making explicit statements during voir dire (jury selection) that they would not consider applying the death penalty (five of eight), for implicitly or explicitly indicating a personal connection to Davis (two of eight), and for having had recent multiple contacts with law enforcement due to family troubles (one of eight). The county in which the trial was held was about two-thirds white, and the jury pool was about 57% white, so the seated jury, at 58% black, actually reflected a more favorable racial makeup to Davis than would be expected on average. For these two reasons, Davis' challenge of racial bias in jury selection was dismissed. [Davis v. State (of Georgia), 263 Ga. 5, Feb. 26, 1993]

Appeals

After seven of nine eyewitnesses either recanted or contradicted testimony they had previously given, restrictions on Davis's right to appeal his conviction, due in part to the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, brought his plight to international attention. Prosecutors argued that it was too late to present the recantations as evidence.cite web
url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/15/AR2007071501250_pf.html
title=Execution Of Ga. Man Near Despite Recantations: Some Witnesses Now Say He Is Innocent
first=Peter
last=Whoriskey
publisher=Washington Post
date=2007-07-16
accessdate=2007-07-23] Harriet Murray, a witness who recanted in 2002, refused to wait for a notary to witness her signed statement, making it legally inadmissible in court. Two brothers, Gary and Anthony Hargrove, came forward over year after the trial, with Gary Hargrove claiming to have been told at a party by Sylvester Coles (the other possible triggerman) that Coles was the murderer, and Anthony Hargrove claiming to have witnessed Coles doing the actual shooting; Anthony Hargrove further claimed that he failed to come forward during the investigation because he was violating parole on the evening of the shooting. [Davis v. State, 283 Ga. 438, Georgia Supreme Court, March 17, 2008] No state or federal court had been willing to rehear the case. The U.S. Supreme Court denied his petition for an appeal in June 2007.cite web
url=http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22086478-5005961,00.html
title=Supporters seek reprieve for death row man
publisher=Melbourne Herald Sun
date=2007-07-17
accessdate=2007-07-18]

Davis' execution was initially scheduled for July 17, 2007. On July 16, U.S. Congressman John Lewis spoke to the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles on Davis's behalf, suggesting that one of the two witnesses who had not recanted (i.e., Coles) was the real killer.cite web
url=http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2007/07/16/lewis_0716_web.html
title=Rep. Lewis' statement at Davis hearing
publisher=Atlanta Journal Constitution
first=John
last=Lewis
authorlink=John Lewis (politician)
date=2007-07-16
accessdate=2007-07-18] Four thousand letters were received by the board written on his behalf, including letters written by Desmond Tutu, Harry Belafonte, composer and human rights activist William Rowland and former FBI director William Sessions. Sister Helen Prejean, Amnesty International US director Larry Cox, and the Council of Europe all spoke out against the planned execution. [cite web
url=http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=517871
title=US inmate’s execution on hold
first=Fanny
last=Carrier
publisher= AFP / The Sunday Times
date=2007-07-17
accessdate=2007-07-18] The Vatican's nuncio to the U.S., Monsignor Martin Krebs, sent a letter on behalf of Pope Benedict XVI to Governor of Georgia Sonny Perdue urging him to spare Davis's life.

On July 16, a ninety day stay of execution was granted by the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles. [cite web
url=http://savannahnow.com/node/327145
title=Davis wins 90-day stay of execution
first=Jan
last=Skutch
publisher=Savannah Morning News
date=2007-07-17
accessdate=2007-07-17] Davis expressed gratitude for the stay. [cite web
url=http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1643971,00.html
title=Stay of Execution for Georgia Man
first=Brendan
last=Lowe
coauthors=Associated Press
publisher=Time Magazine
date=2007-07-16
accessdate=2007-07-23]

On August 3, 2007, the Georgia Supreme Court voted four to three to hear a discretionary appeal of Davis's 1991 conviction. [cite web
url=http://www.savannahnow.com/node/339042
title=Parole board bows out of Davis clemency bid
first=Jan
last=Skutch
date=2007-08-07
publisher=Savannah Morning News
accessdate=2007-08-24] On March 17, 2008, the Georgia Supreme Court denied the appeal. [cite web
url=http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/index.aspx?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&b=2590179&template=x.ascx&action=10022
title=Take Action Online AIUSA 2007
accessdate=2008-03-17]

In September 2008, Jimmy Carter, through the Carter Center, released a letter urging the state Board of Pardons and Parole to reverse its decision to deny clemency; the letter said that flaws in Davis' conviction and appeals warrant a closer look, writing in part:

"This case illustrates the deep flaws in the application of the death penalty in this country. Executing Troy Davis without a real examination of potentially exonerating evidence risks taking the life of an innocent man and would be a grave miscarriage of justice." [ [http://www.democracynow.org/2008/9/22/headlines Jimmy Carter Urges Georgia to Stay Execution of Troy Davis] ]

Also in September 2008, former Republican Congressman Bob Barr wrote the board saying that he is "a strong believer in the death penalty as an appropriate and just punishment," but that the proper level of fairness and accuracy required for the ultimate punishment has not been met in Davis' case. [cite web
url=http://www.wtvm.com/Global/story.asp?S=9040619
title=Barr, Carter both seek clemency for Troy Davis
coauthors=Associated Press
publisher=WTVM
date=2008-09-19
accessdate=2008-09-19]

Subsequently, Reverend Al Sharpton also called for clemency after he met and prayed with Davis on death row. [cite web
url=http://www.ajc.com/gwinnett/content/metro/stories/2008/09/20/sharpton_troy_davis.html
title=Sharpton seeks clemency for Troy Anthony Davis
first=Jeffry
last=Scott
coauthors=Scott Garner
publisher=Atlanta Journal Constitution
date=2008-09-21
accessdate=2008-09-21]

However, Georgia is one of three U.S. states where the governor has no power to grant clemency. [cite web
url=http://savannahnow.com/node/329351
title=Pope makes plea to spare life of Troy Davis
first=Vicky
last=Eckenrode
publisher=Savannah Morning News
date=2007-07-21
accessdate=2007-07-21]

On September 11, 2008, hundreds of people turned out for a rally in support of Davis at the state capitol in Atlanta; the following day, the Georgia Board of Pardon and Paroles nonetheless denied clemency for Davis. [ [http://www.wsbtv.com/news/17460372/detail.html Clemency Denied For Troy Davis from WSBTV.com] . Retrieved on 2008-09-13.] [cite web
url=http://www.pap.state.ga.us/opencms/opencms/press_releases/news_274.html
title=THE PAROLE BOARD'S CONSIDERATION OF THE TROY ANTHONY DAVIS CASE
accessdate=2008-09-25]

As reported on September 22, 2008, Attorney Carol Gray, who assisted the Troy Davis defense team, suggested that the execution be stayed until information can be obtained from a clerk at the motel across from the murder scene. Gray says that the clerk was heard screaming after shots were fired, but the clerk has so far not been identified or interviewed. According to Gray, such identification could be made through existing tax records. [cite web
url=http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/stay-georgias-tuesday-7pm-execution/story.aspx?guid=%7B00246001-715A-4945-A076-4CA102B3CB1E%7D&dist=hppr
title=Stay Georgia's Tuesday 7PM Execution of Troy Davis to Allow Critical Witness Interview Says Attorney Carol Gray, Who Assisted Defense Team
first=Robert
last=Weiner
coauthors=Robert Weiner Associates
publisher=MarketWatch
date=2008-09-22
accessdate=2008-09-22]

A new execution date was set for 7 p.m. on September 23, 2008 [http://www.amnestyusa.org/death-penalty/troy-davis-finality-over-fairness/page.do?id=1011343&n1=3&n2=28&n3=1412] . State authorities intended to carry out the execution despite the fact that the United States Supreme Court was scheduled to take up the case the following week. [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/20/opinion/20herbert.html?_r=1&oref=slogin] However, on September 23, 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court called an emergency session, during a period of what was otherwise recess, to decide whether or not to stay the execution. [http://edition.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/09/23/davis.scheduled.execution/?iref=hpmostpop] Just under two hours before the execution was to take place, the Court issued a stay. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/7821188]

On Monday 6th October 2008 the Supreme Court made no decision on a new hearing [http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jdFYPY9tVpK9xYi_VcLX4if6hT6g] but listed a private conference, scheduled for Friday, October 10th, to consider his appeal. [http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/10/06/troy_davis_appeal.html]

Personal details

Troy Anthony Davis was born on birth date and age|1968|10|9. Davis was a coach in the Savannah Police Athletic League and had signed up for service in the United States Marine Corps. His nickname among friends was "Rough as Hell". [http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/ncadp/news.jsp?news_item_KEY=3258]

References

External links

Defending Troy Davis

* [http://www.troyanthonydavis.org Troy Anthony Davis: An Innocent Man on Georgia's Death Row]
* [http://www.amnestyusa.org/troydavis Finality over Fairness: The Case of Troy Davis (Amnesty International)]
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/20/opinion/20herbert.html?th&emc=th Bob Herbert of "The New York Times" on the Davis case, September 20, 2008]

Condemning Troy Davis

* [http://www.markallenmacphail.com/Default.htm Justice for Mark Allen MacPhail]
* [http://www.fop9.net/markmacphail/ Mark McPhail Information, Support and Statements]

Legal facts

* [http://law.ga.gov/00/press/detail/0,2668,87670814_87670929_121231342,00.html New Execution Date Set For Troy Anthony Davis] "(Contains detailed description of the incidents that led to the conviction, as well as full legal history of the case until August 14, 2008)"