The Scheduled Execution of Troy Davis

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Troy Davis  
by Moe White

On Tuesday, September 6, 2011, US District Judge William T. Moore Jr. signed the death warrant for convicted murderer Troy Anthony Davis, despite widespread and serious doubts of his guilt. Davis was convicted in 1991 of the 1989 slaying of Savannah police officer Mark Allen MacPhail.

Davis appealed all the way to the Supreme Court, which granted him the right to a rarely approved “innocence hearing.” At the innocence hearing in June 2010, seven of nine eyewitnesses recanted their original testimony, several saying they had falsely incriminated him under police pressure, and two others testified another man had confessed to the murder in the intervening years. No physical evidence has ever connected Davis to the crime. Judge Moore deemed the new evidence insufficient to grant a new trial, though he acknowledged that it cast “additional doubt” on the original conviction.

Davis appealed that ruling, but the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and the US Supreme Court rejected his challenge. His execution is scheduled to take place September 21.

Amnesty International, the NAACP, former President Jimmy Carter, and even Pope Benedict XVI have all urged Georgia officials to spare Davis. Laura Moye of Amnesty International USA said, “We certainly hope the board will recognize the problems that still haven’t been resolved in this case.”

To sign the Amnesty USA petition for Troy Davis visit www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/cases/usa-troy-davis .