Legal Commentary

Troy Davis' Clemecy Rejected

By TChris

The State of Georgia, seemingly unafraid of the risk of putting an innocent man to death, has denied clemency for Troy Davis (TalkLeft coverage collected here). He is scheduled for execution on September 23.

A county jury in 1991 convicted Mr. Davis in the 1989 murder of Mark Allen MacPhail, an off-duty police officer moonlighting as a security guard who was shot to death while responding to a late-night fight at a Burger King in Savannah.

Mr. Davis testified he was at a nearby pool hall and left before Officer MacPhail arrived. The prosecution offered no murder weapon, DNA or fingerprints tying Mr. Davis to the killing but instead relied heavily on testimony from witnesses. Since the trial, seven key witnesses have recanted, saying they were bullied by investigators into lying under oath.

Why is the recantation of seven witnesses something the State of Georgia is prepared to ignore? [more ...]

“Troy’s case represents everything wrong with the death penalty — from procedural obstacles to racial bias to witness mishandling to inadequate counsel,” said Jared Feuer of Amnesty International.

The head of the Southern Center for Human Rights, Stephen B. Bright, a law professor at Yale, called the decision “shocking.” “For somebody to be executed,” Mr. Bright said, “we really should be sure beyond doubt that the person is guilty.”

Doubt of Troy Davis' guilt is quite real. Yet he's scheduled to die next week.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on September 15, 2008 (boomark / email).