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Georgia Supreme Court to Hear Davis Case, Parole Board Delays Hearing

By Jonathan Springston, Senior Staff Writer, The Atlanta Progressive News (August 07, 2007)

Photographs by Jonathan Springston

(APN) ATLANTA – Concerned activists held a press conference at the State Capitol, Tuesday, August 07, 2007, to update the public on developments in the Troy Davis death row case, and to present witnesses regarding overall problems with the death penalty in this country.

Davis, who had faced a July 17, 2007, execution for the murder of Officer Mark McPhail in Savannah, Georgia, in 1989, had received a 90-day stay of execution on July 16, 2007, from the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles until the Board could hear more testimony.

The Georgia Supreme Court voted 4-3 on August 03, 2007, to hear the Davis case after a Chatham County Judge Penny Haas Freesemann denied Davis’s extraordinary motion for a new trial in July.

Haas Freesemann ruled “Davis's new evidence did not meet the legal standards for new trials,” the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) newspaper wrote. "Some of the new evidence was cumulative to evidence Davis presented at trial, some was obtained as long as 10 years ago, some was based on inadmissible hearsay evidence, and some was not sworn testimony, the Judge said."

However, the Georgia Supreme Court has agreed to begin hearing oral arguments in November and perhaps eventually compel the Chatham County Court to open a new trial.

A fourth juror in Davis’s original trial in 1991 has also recently signed a statement that if she had heard the new evidence at the time of the trial, she would not have convicted Davis, the AJC reported.

Also, Pope Benedict XVI recently issued a letter to Governor Perdue seeking to save Davis’s life.

"In the name of Pope Benedict XVI, I am respectfully asking you to commute Troy's sentence to life in prison without parole," wrote Monsignor Martin Krebs, a US envoy for the Pope. Davis’s "conviction was not based on any physical evidence, and the murder weapon was never found," Krebs wrote.

"The Pope continually exhorts all people, and especially those men and women who serve in government, to recognize the sacredness of all human life," Krebs wrote. "I reiterate the commitment of the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, to uphold the sacredness and dignity of all human life, and I hope that you will give heed to his petition."

The Georgia Supreme Court decision prompted the Board, which was set to hear more testimony on August 09, 2007, to postpone that hearing until after the Georgia Supreme Court hears the case.

The Board also rescinded its 90-day stay of execution order until after the Georgia Supreme Court hearing. Board rules dictate that it can consider a clemency petition only when it appears all appeals options have been exhausted. Davis could appear before the Board again if this round of appeals fails.

"With the knowledge that numerous witnesses have identified another individual as the real killer, we know justice cannot be served by executing Davis, who might well be innocent," Laura Moye, Acting Director of Amnesty International USA’s (AIUSA) Southern Regional Office, said.

Seven of nine original witnesses have recanted or changed their testimony since Davis’s 1991 trial. Many have implicated Sylvester Coles, one of the nine who has not changed his story, as the real murderer.

"The state cannot return a human life once it extinguishes it," Sue Gunawardena-Vaughn, Director of AIUSA’s Program to Abolish the Death Penalty, said in a press release obtained by Atlanta Progressive News. "The state cannot adequately compensate the wrongfully executed person’s family for taking the life of their loved one. There is no posthumous clemency."

About the author:

Jonathan Springston is a Senior Staff Writer for The Atlanta Progressive News and may be reached at jonathan@atlantaprogressivenews.com

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