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Obscuregawdess
 Posted:
Mon Sep 22, 2008 7:27 pm |
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Advocates ask for clemency;
Advocates ask for clemency; parole board rejects clemency
By BILL RANKIN, MARCUS GARNER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Monday, September 22, 2008
Troy Anthony Davis now sits where he was little more than a year ago, hours away from being put to death by lethal injection.
In July 2007, the state Board of Pardons and Paroles stepped in and stayed Davis' execution less than 24 hours before it was to be carried out. But on Monday, the board rejected pleas to reconsider its recent decision to deny clemency on grounds there is too much doubt as to whether Davis shot and killed a Savannah police officer.
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Curtis Compton/ccompton@ajc.com
Edward DuBose, president of the Georgia state conference of the NAACP, called Troy Davis' impending execution, 'a modern-day lynching.'
Also Monday, the Georgia Supreme Court denied Davis' request for a stay of execution. Justice Robert Benham cast the lone dissent.
Davis' last hope to avoid his 7 p.m. Tuesday execution now appears to rest with the U.S. Supreme Court, where his lawyers have also asked for a stay of execution.
Davis, 39, sits on death row for the Aug. 19, 1989, murder of Officer Mark Allen MacPhail. But since Davis' 1991 trial, seven key prosecution witnesses have recanted their testimony.
His claims of innocence has drawn international attention, with Pope Benedict XVI and former President Jimmy Carter asking for Davis' death sentence to be commuted to life in prison without parole.
Chatham County prosecutors have expressed confidence that Davis is a cop killer. MacPhail, who was working security off-duty, rushed to a Savannah Burger King parking lot late at night after hearing the screams of a man being pistol-whipped.
Before he could draw his weapon, MacPhail, a 27-year-old father of two, was shot down by Davis who then stood over the fallen officer and fired again and again, prosecutors said.
With Davis' legal options dwindling, death-penalty opponents and members of the clergy on Monday called for prison officials and medical staff scheduled to carry out Davis' death by lethal injection to call in sick today.
"We call for a general strike or 'sick-out' by all but a skeleton staff," Sara Totonchi, chair of Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said at a press conference outside the Capitol. "If you work on that day, you will enable the prison to carry out the execution of an innocent man."
Raphael Warnock, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, also asked the parole board to reconsider its Sept. 12 decision denying Davis clemency.
"Justice and due process deserve a real chance in Georgia," Warnock said.
Because of the doubts as to Davis' guilt, it would not be an error to re-sentence him to life in prison, the pastor said. "If you execute an innocent man, you will irretrievably err and leave the blood of Troy Davis on all of our hands."
Edward DuBose, president of the Georgia state conference of the NAACP, also asked that Davis be resentenced to life in prison.
"Troy Anthony Davis is an innocent man and Georgia is on watch by the world," he said. "This is a modern-day lynching if it's allowed to go forward."
But about an hour later, the parole board declined.
Fourteen months ago, the board halted Davis' execution because of questions as to his guilt. Since then, the board has extensively studied and considered the case, board spokeswoman Scheree Lipscomb said.
This includes hearing from every witness presented by Davis' lawyers, retesting the state's evidence and interviewing Davis himself, she said.
"After an exhaustive review of all available information regarding the Troy Davis case and after considering all possible reasons for granting clemency, the board has determined that clemency is not warranted," Lipscomb said.
Lipscomb said the board does not generally comment on capital cases it was considered for clemency. "However, the Troy Davis case has received such extensive publicity that the board has decided to make an exception," she said.
Beginning this morning at 9 a.m., Davis will be allowed to see visitors until 3 p.m., Paul Czachowski, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections, said.
After that, Davis is to be given a routine physical and a last meal. Davis has not requested anything special and is to be served a regular prison meal, Czachowski said. He will then be given the opportunity to record any statement he wishes to give and, an hour before his scheduled execution, will be offered a sedative, the spokesman said.
On Monday, Jason Ewart, one of Davis' lawyers, said his focus is now on the nation's highest court. "We're hoping that somebody will take a hard look at our facts," he said.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/09/22/davis_execution.html
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"Bratty Mama Leci"
Joined: 02 Aug 2006
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