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State of Georgia Seeks Execution of Convict Despite New Evidence

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

October 28, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Georgia man is slated to be executed despite new evidence that casts doubt on his murder conviction.

Troy Davis, 40, has spent 17 years on death row protesting his innocence.  Since his trial in 1991, seven out of nine witnesses who identified him in the shooting of a policeman have retracted their testimony.

Witnesses say that they were intimidated or duped into signing statements incriminating Davis, when in fact they never clearly saw him shoot Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail, 27.  One such witness says he is illiterate and that his affidavit contradicts the oral statements he gave to officers.

Other testimony has been submitted from three new witnesses indicating that the state’s main witness in the 1991 trial, who reportedly received immunity in exchange for his testimony, has admitted his guilt in private conversations.

Family members of Officer MacPhail, however, contend that two witnesses have not retracted their testimony, and the seven who have done so previously affirmed their sworn statements during the trial, two years after they made them.

They also claim that the state’s main witness returned to the murder scene after the police arrived, while Davis fled the state, and that ballistics evidence shows that a gun allegedly used by Davis in a non-fatal shooting earlier the same day is the same that killed MacPhail.

However, despite the controversy and retracted testimony, both federal and state courts have refused to grant Davis a new trial. The Georgia Supreme Court is deeply divided, having given two 5-4 votes against a retrial.  The US Supreme Court has refused the case without comment.

Although Davis appeared to have exhausted all of his appeals on October 14, when the Supreme Court turned down the case, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals granted a provisional stay of execution on Friday, only three days before he was to die by lethal injection, stating that “Davis has met the burden for a provisional stay of execution.”

Numerous figures associated with the political left and right alike have protested the impending execution of Davis, including Pope Benedict XVI, ex-congressman and libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr, former FBI Director William Sessions, the French Presidency of the European Union under Nicholas Sarkozy, Amnesty International, and Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu.

Further Information:

Family Website of Troy Davis
http://www.troyanthonydavis.org/ 

Family Website of Slain Officer Mark MacPhail
http://www.markallenmacphail.com/TheTruth.htm

Debunking the Myths Surrounding the Murder of Officer MacPhail (link on family website)
http://www.fop9.net/markmacphail/debunkingthemyths.cfm

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