Troy Davis in the Chatham County Superior Court during his trail in the shooting death of off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail. (AP Photo/Savannah Morning News)
The state of Georgia has set an execution date for Troy Davis.
The execution of death row inmate Troy Davis has been scheduled for September 21 despite continued doubts over his guilt for killing a police officer, prompting fresh appeals for clemency from supporters.
In the more than two decades that he has been in jail for the murder of white police officer Mark Allen MacPhail, Davis, an African-American, has maintained his innocence.
The Georgia superior court ordered the execution of Davis for 7:00 pm (2300 GMT) on September 21. Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) called on the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to grant clemency, insisting that "proceeding with the execution would be unconscionable, especially as doubts about Davis's guilt have never been erased."
I just go this email from Change.org:
Dear psychodrew,
Troy Davis has 10 days to live before he is executed by the State of Georgia. But 7 witnesses say Troy is innocent, and that another man committed the crime for which he will be killed.
With just days left to save Troy’s life, his sister Kim Davis started a petition on Change.org asking the Georgia Parole Board to stop his execution. Please add your name to Kim’s petition now and save her brother’s life.
Evidence presented at Troy’s trial was considered shaky at the time. Since then, seven witnesses have recanted their testimony, many saying they were pressured by police into false testimony.
There’s no physical evidence Troy committed the crime. And, according to Amnesty International, nine people have signed affidavits implicating another man.
Georgia’s Board of Parole and Pardons has said there should be "no doubt" about a person’s guilt before he is executed. You can tell the Board there’s simply too much doubt about Troy’s guilt to kill him next week.
Please click here to add your name to Kim Davis' petition asking the Georgia Parole Board to stop her brother’s execution, then forward this email to everyone you know:
http://www.change.org/...
Thanks for being a change-maker,
- Michael and the Change.org team
P.S. Kim has a goal of reaching 20,000 signatures by Tuesday. Once you sign, will you forward this email widely to help her reach that goal?
I oppose the death penalty in all cases. I would have given Osama bin Laden life without parole if we'd caught him alive. But there is something especially heinous to me that this poor man is facing death in only ten days when it is abundantly clear that the case against him was flawed, if not fraudulent. There is a strong evidence that the police pressured witnesses into implicating Troy Davis and that someone else may have committed this crime. (Check out this Criminal InJustice Kos diary for more background on the case.)
Why is this man ten days from death? What is wrong with our society?
Update
SwedishJewfish wrote a diary about this on Wednesday, urging people to, among others:
3.Write a letter to Georgia Governor Nathan Deal (address and sample letter below): In this case, it will be important not to state your conviction that Mr. Davis is innocent, but that there are too many doubts to move forward with the execution. In the words of a Georgia law professor: “A verdict that is not ironclad is not good enough to support the death penalty.”
4.Write a letter to Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles (address and sample letter below): Here again, it is important to focus on the holes in the case — the fact that anything less than an ironclad verdict cannot be the basis for the death penalty.
Please visit this diary for more details about contacting the Governor and the State Board of Pardons and Paroles.
(h/t yella dawg)