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Latest update: 22/09/2011
Georgia executes Troy Davis
Troy Davis, convicted of the 1989 slaying of a police officer in Savannah, Georgia, was put to death by lethal injection on Wednesday after the US Supreme Court decided against issuing a stay of execution.
REUTERS - The U.S. state of Georgia executed convicted murderer Troy Davis on Wednesday in a case that drew international attention because of claims by his advocates that he may have been innocent.
Davis was put to death by lethal injection at 11:08 p.m. EDT/0308 GMT on Thursday at a prison in central Georgia for the murder of a police officer in 1989, prisons spokeswoman Kristen Stancil said. The execution was delayed by more than four hours as the U.S. Supreme Court considered whether to issue a stay.
The case provoked protests and an online petition accumulated nearly a million signatures because of doubts expressed in some quarters over whether he killed police officer Mark MacPhail in 1989.
MacPhail was shot and killed outside a Burger King restaurant in Savannah, Georgia, as he went to the aide of a homeless man who was being beaten. MacPhail’s family say Davis is guilty and his son witnessed the execution.
Since Davis’s conviction, seven of nine witnesses have changed or recanted their testimony, some have said they were coerced by police to testify against him and some say another man committed the crime.
No physical evidence linked Davis to the killing.
Davis went to his death saying he was innocent, according to journalists who witnessed the execution.
“The incident that night was not my fault. I did not have a gun,” Davis said, according to Rhonda Cook of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper.
“I did not personally kill your son, father and brother. I am innocent,” Cook quoted Davis as telling members of MacPhail’s family who were present in the death chamber.
Hundreds of protesters rallied outside Georgia Diagnostic and Classification prison earlier, chanting “I am Troy Davis” and other slogans and a cheer briefly went up when it was reported that the execution had been delayed.
But the crowd dwindled as the evening wore on, and by the time the execution took place they were outnumbered by police in riot gear. Most of Davis’ supporters slipped away in silence as the execution was announced.
“This is a tragic moment. We were hoping for a different result,” said Raphael Warnock, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, whose church was once led by slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King.
One sentence order
A majority of Americans support the death penalty and most executions attract little national attention, but the Davis case prompted a rash of protests as well as expressions of concern from Europe.
France and the Council of Europe this week urged U.S. authorities to stay the execution.
Defense attorney Thomas Ruffin put Davis’ death in a racial and class context, and pointed out that a disproportionate number of inmates in Georgia’s prisons and on death row are black men, as was Davis.
“This night the state of Georgia legally lynched a brave, a good and indeed an innocent man,” Ruffin told a news conference, in a reference to the lynchings of blacks in Georgia and other southern states from after the Civil War through the 1960s.
The Supreme Court took the rare step in 2009 of allowing the defense to present its case to an evidentiary hearing but a federal judge in Savannah said it cast “minimal doubt” on the conviction.
Once a death warrant was signed, Davis’s best hope of avoiding execution had rested with the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, but on Tuesday it denied him clemency following a one-day hearing.
On Wednesday, his lawyers went through a series of maneuverers in an attempt to stay the execution, finally reaching the Supreme Court.
It took the court more than four hours to issue its one-sentence order, an unusually long time in such cases.
Brian Kammer, a lawyer for Davis, said in seeking a stay from the Supreme Court that newly available evidence revealed false, misleading and inaccurate information was presented at the trial, “rendering the convictions and death sentence fundamentally unreliable.”
A handful of supporters of capital punishment in the case also protested separately from Davis’ supporters.
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Comments (13)
Beyond a reasonable doubt
One of the best reasons to ban the death penalty is the idea that the criminal justice system might make mistakes and give a guilty verdict when the defendant is actually innocent. In the US, the standard for a guilty conviction is that the jury believes the evidence demonstrates guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. In Davis's case, it's difficult to see how they got to that standard, so it's a model case for why the death penalty as a whole should be banned. My only hope is global activists learn enough about how the US system works to make the argument for banning capital punishment in places like Austin, Texas and Atlanta, Georgia.
Troy Davis
Troy Davis,I pray that the truth comes out rest in peace my brother I feel like I know because every black man in america is Troy Davis.
Troy Davis Execution
Most people want the death penalty to be handed out when their family member is murdered. What they fail to realize is that the taking of another life does not bring their family member back. It only allows the murderer a "free pass" into heaven.
Troy Anthony Davis execution
I knew Troy personally, through letters, visits to him in the Jackson, GA prison where he was incarcerated, and phone calls. I met his family, who defended and fought passionately and lovingly for his exoneration. The man I knew was not a killer and not of a disposition to make him a killer. I am profoundly disillusioned with the State of Georgia's justice system and with the U.S. Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, which imposed nearly impossible hurdles for Troy to overcome in order to demonstrate his innocence of the murder of Officer Mark MacPhail. Troy's story absolutely should not die, as he did on September 21, 2011, at the hands of the Georgia Department of Corrections. The United States of America is one of the few "civilized nations" on our planet that allows imposition of the death penalty. This makes me ashamed. I mourn Troy, and I mourn his family's loss. On September 21, 2011, when Troy was executed at the Georgia Diagnostic and Correctional Facility in Jackson, Georgia, an abomination was committed. I am a voting, tax-paying citizen of the State of Georgia, and I specifically repudiate any assertion that the State did this in my name.
SALEM LYNCH-MOB
What a bunch of hypocrites we are! No one bothered to seek justice all the time he was imprisoned, we left it to the last minute to demonstrate our moral indignation.
Mistermarc's Comment
Davis' case is important to many and predominately African Americans who are always proven guilty until proven innocent and suffer harsher consequences. Check the stats, educate yourself. Also the White Racist actually said he did it! Davis was innocent!
Troy Davis execution
what a sad day. if troy davis was really not guilty, then the system took another innocent life.how many more times is this going to happen. what can we do about this judicial system we live in.we really need to take a real good look at the judging we vote in these administration positions. do they know what they are doing enforcing the criminal justice laws. it is time to vote some new judes in office people. make sure you do your homework before you vote for the next judge/judges in your county. do your research early and pass the information on to someone else to read. good. i pray for both of these families. they both lost someone very close to them.
What is a minimal doubt? A
What is a minimal doubt? A man's life is not worth a minimal doubt?
troy davis
One never expects much of U.S. justice so this development is no surprise. In view of the continued ignoring of justice by the U.S. Supreme Court would it not be more accurate henceforth to call it the U.S. Suppress Court?
Troy Davis
As an American, I am sick to my stomach. This was a travesty of justice. We speak of "policing" the world, and how other world leaders should not do harm to their citizens. What hypocrisy!
Troy
We are personnes and we must respect a life.
Troy Davis
This execution only serves to show once again how crude and uncivilized Americans truly are. We criticize the Saudis for their beheadings and then turn around put human beings down like dogs. At least a public beheading has some ceremony to it.
Troy Davis
Yet - a white racist was also executed & didn't receive any substantial press this week. Davis is obviously more believable.
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