<font size="5"><Center>
High court to rule
if convicted cop killer Troy Davis dies</font size>
<font size="4">Witnesses who initially testified Davis was the killer
have since recanted, but Davis' petitions
for a new trial have been denied</font size></center>
This undated photo released by the
Georgia Department of Corrections
shows death-row inmate Troy Davis.
More than 17 years after Davis was
convicted of gunning down a Savannah,
Ga. police officer, supporters say
disturbing questions remain about his
guilt. Still, unless the courts intervene,
Davis is facing execution Tuesday night,
September 23, 2008. (AP Photo/Georgia
Department of Corrections
CNN
By Rusty Dornin and Eliott C. McLaughlin
September 23, 2008
JACKSON, Georgia (CNN) -- Troy Anthony Davis has long said he didn't kill a Savannah police officer, and the U.S. Supreme Court will decide Tuesday whether to postpone his 7 p.m. ET execution.
Convicted in 1991
Davis, 39, was convicted in 1991 of killing Officer Mark MacPhail as MacPhail responded to an altercation in a Burger King parking lot. Witnesses who initially testified Davis was the killer have since recanted, but Davis' petitions for a new trial have been denied.
The Pleas for a New Trial
Many have asked Georgia to grant Davis a new trial: celebrities like Susan Sarandon, Harry Belafonte and the Indigo Girls; world leaders like former President Jimmy Carter, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Pope Benedict XVI; and former and current U.S. lawmakers like Bob Barr, Carolyn Moseley Braun and John Lewis.
Amnesty International has issued a 39-page report questioning his conviction, and protesters have been gathering at the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta this week. Davis is scheduled to be executed at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, Georgia.
The Dead Man's Mother
MacPhail's mother, Anneliese MacPhail of Columbus, told media outlets last week that she is "disgusted" by the calls to spare Davis' life, and she is not convinced by Davis' supporters' claims that there is a more likely suspect.
In a phone interview with CNN on Tuesday, MacPhail's mother said of Davis, "There is no possibility he's innocent -- not according to what's been said in court."
"Troy Davis was judged by his peers. All the courts have found him guilty. It was proven he was guilty. Please let us have some peace. Let Mark rest in peace. Let justice be done"
Troy Davis' Sister
Davis' sister, Martina Correia, said she was sleepless Monday night and was spending the day Tuesday, possibly her brother's last, at his side. She told CNN she planned to stay until prison officials told her it was time to leave at 3 p.m.
"We are still holding on to hope," she said Tuesday morning. "We still hope the U.S. Supreme Court will look into my brother's case and give some relief. We will have a lot of family time with him and recall old times and pray together."
Waiting on the Supreme Court
The Georgia Supreme Court turned down the plea for a stay in Davis' execution Monday, saying the U.S. Supreme Court "properly has jurisdiction over Davis' pending petition." The Supreme Court called an emergency session to hear the petition.
Seven of the nine witnesses Have Recanted
Davis was convicted of MacPhail's 1989 murder, largely on the testimony of nine witnesses. There was no physical evidence, and no weapon was ever found.
"When you only have eyewitness testimony and you have no physical evidence, people have fallacies and people make mistakes," Correia said.
Davis' lawyers and supporters say this is a case of mistaken identity. Seven of the nine trial witnesses have changed their statements, saying they were mistaken, they feared retribution from the man they say really killed MacPhail or that police pressured them into fingering Davis.
What Witnesses Said Happened
During the trial, witnesses said Davis and two other men were harassing a homeless man and followed him across the street from a parking lot at the Greyhound bus station in Savannah.
MacPhail was off duty. He saw the skirmish and ran over to break up the fight. MacPhail was fatally shot, and witnesses told police Davis fired the two shots that killed him.
A manhunt ensued. Davis surrendered nine days later.
Monty Holmes is one of the witnesses who said Davis was the culprit. He has since changed his story and alleges police coerced him.
"They were trying to get to me to say that he did it, but I know he didn't do it," Holmes said last year at a rally for Davis.
Savannah police Maj. Everett Ragan headed the MacPhail investigation. He denies allegations of coercion and said he doesn't believe the witnesses who have changed their stories.
Shortly before Davis was scheduled to be executed last year, Ragan told CNN, "There is no doubt in my mind we arrested the right man."
The Georgia Supreme Court also was unimpressed with the witnesses' new stories. In affirming the trial court's judgment in a 4-3 decision, the majority said that the witnesses' new testimony failed to meet the necessary benchmark: that their original testimony "in every material part is purest fabrication."
The court also was unconvinced by allegations that one of the men Davis was with that night, Sylvester "Red" Coles, killed MacPhail.
In a telephone interview in 2007, Davis acknowledged that he never told police that Coles killed MacPhail.
"I didn't because I didn't want to be a snitch," Davis told CNN. "Yes, I know that's stupid."
Coles has never been charged with the murder, and according to court documents, has testified at least twice that he was not the killer.
Davis' lawyers claim there are other people who saw what happened that night. Those witnesses have never testified in court, but have submitted affidavits, the attorneys say.
On Monday, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles said it typically does not comment on clemency appeals, but defended itself because Davis' case has received such widespread attention. The statement noted that the board postponed Davis' execution last year and has since studied the case for a year.
"After an exhaustive review of all available information regarding the Troy Davis case and after considering all possible reasons for granting clemency, the board has determined that clemency is not warranted," the statement said.
Correia said her family will hold out hope that her brother will not die Tuesday. Anneliese MacPhail, meanwhile, will continue hoping her son's killer is punished.
Anneliese MacPhail told CNN she has attended every court hearing for Davis and even made an appearance before the parole board earlier this month.
But if the execution moves forward, she will not accompany her grandson -- MacPhail's son, Mark Jr. -- to Jackson to watch Davis die. MacPhail's wife, Joan, will not attend the execution, either, she said.
"This was my son," she said. "You can't imagine the hell we have been through."
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/09/23/davis.scheduled.execution/?iref=hpmostpop
High court to rule
if convicted cop killer Troy Davis dies</font size>
<font size="4">Witnesses who initially testified Davis was the killer
have since recanted, but Davis' petitions
for a new trial have been denied</font size></center>
This undated photo released by the
Georgia Department of Corrections
shows death-row inmate Troy Davis.
More than 17 years after Davis was
convicted of gunning down a Savannah,
Ga. police officer, supporters say
disturbing questions remain about his
guilt. Still, unless the courts intervene,
Davis is facing execution Tuesday night,
September 23, 2008. (AP Photo/Georgia
Department of Corrections
CNN
By Rusty Dornin and Eliott C. McLaughlin
September 23, 2008
JACKSON, Georgia (CNN) -- Troy Anthony Davis has long said he didn't kill a Savannah police officer, and the U.S. Supreme Court will decide Tuesday whether to postpone his 7 p.m. ET execution.
Convicted in 1991
Davis, 39, was convicted in 1991 of killing Officer Mark MacPhail as MacPhail responded to an altercation in a Burger King parking lot. Witnesses who initially testified Davis was the killer have since recanted, but Davis' petitions for a new trial have been denied.
The Pleas for a New Trial
Many have asked Georgia to grant Davis a new trial: celebrities like Susan Sarandon, Harry Belafonte and the Indigo Girls; world leaders like former President Jimmy Carter, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Pope Benedict XVI; and former and current U.S. lawmakers like Bob Barr, Carolyn Moseley Braun and John Lewis.
Amnesty International has issued a 39-page report questioning his conviction, and protesters have been gathering at the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta this week. Davis is scheduled to be executed at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, Georgia.
The Dead Man's Mother
MacPhail's mother, Anneliese MacPhail of Columbus, told media outlets last week that she is "disgusted" by the calls to spare Davis' life, and she is not convinced by Davis' supporters' claims that there is a more likely suspect.
In a phone interview with CNN on Tuesday, MacPhail's mother said of Davis, "There is no possibility he's innocent -- not according to what's been said in court."
"Troy Davis was judged by his peers. All the courts have found him guilty. It was proven he was guilty. Please let us have some peace. Let Mark rest in peace. Let justice be done"
Troy Davis' Sister
Davis' sister, Martina Correia, said she was sleepless Monday night and was spending the day Tuesday, possibly her brother's last, at his side. She told CNN she planned to stay until prison officials told her it was time to leave at 3 p.m.
"We are still holding on to hope," she said Tuesday morning. "We still hope the U.S. Supreme Court will look into my brother's case and give some relief. We will have a lot of family time with him and recall old times and pray together."
Waiting on the Supreme Court
The Georgia Supreme Court turned down the plea for a stay in Davis' execution Monday, saying the U.S. Supreme Court "properly has jurisdiction over Davis' pending petition." The Supreme Court called an emergency session to hear the petition.
Seven of the nine witnesses Have Recanted
Davis was convicted of MacPhail's 1989 murder, largely on the testimony of nine witnesses. There was no physical evidence, and no weapon was ever found.
"When you only have eyewitness testimony and you have no physical evidence, people have fallacies and people make mistakes," Correia said.
Davis' lawyers and supporters say this is a case of mistaken identity. Seven of the nine trial witnesses have changed their statements, saying they were mistaken, they feared retribution from the man they say really killed MacPhail or that police pressured them into fingering Davis.
What Witnesses Said Happened
During the trial, witnesses said Davis and two other men were harassing a homeless man and followed him across the street from a parking lot at the Greyhound bus station in Savannah.
MacPhail was off duty. He saw the skirmish and ran over to break up the fight. MacPhail was fatally shot, and witnesses told police Davis fired the two shots that killed him.
A manhunt ensued. Davis surrendered nine days later.
Monty Holmes is one of the witnesses who said Davis was the culprit. He has since changed his story and alleges police coerced him.
"They were trying to get to me to say that he did it, but I know he didn't do it," Holmes said last year at a rally for Davis.
Savannah police Maj. Everett Ragan headed the MacPhail investigation. He denies allegations of coercion and said he doesn't believe the witnesses who have changed their stories.
Shortly before Davis was scheduled to be executed last year, Ragan told CNN, "There is no doubt in my mind we arrested the right man."
The Georgia Supreme Court also was unimpressed with the witnesses' new stories. In affirming the trial court's judgment in a 4-3 decision, the majority said that the witnesses' new testimony failed to meet the necessary benchmark: that their original testimony "in every material part is purest fabrication."
The court also was unconvinced by allegations that one of the men Davis was with that night, Sylvester "Red" Coles, killed MacPhail.
In a telephone interview in 2007, Davis acknowledged that he never told police that Coles killed MacPhail.
"I didn't because I didn't want to be a snitch," Davis told CNN. "Yes, I know that's stupid."
Coles has never been charged with the murder, and according to court documents, has testified at least twice that he was not the killer.
Davis' lawyers claim there are other people who saw what happened that night. Those witnesses have never testified in court, but have submitted affidavits, the attorneys say.
On Monday, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles said it typically does not comment on clemency appeals, but defended itself because Davis' case has received such widespread attention. The statement noted that the board postponed Davis' execution last year and has since studied the case for a year.
"After an exhaustive review of all available information regarding the Troy Davis case and after considering all possible reasons for granting clemency, the board has determined that clemency is not warranted," the statement said.
Correia said her family will hold out hope that her brother will not die Tuesday. Anneliese MacPhail, meanwhile, will continue hoping her son's killer is punished.
Anneliese MacPhail told CNN she has attended every court hearing for Davis and even made an appearance before the parole board earlier this month.
But if the execution moves forward, she will not accompany her grandson -- MacPhail's son, Mark Jr. -- to Jackson to watch Davis die. MacPhail's wife, Joan, will not attend the execution, either, she said.
"This was my son," she said. "You can't imagine the hell we have been through."
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/09/23/davis.scheduled.execution/?iref=hpmostpop
