Black to be finally executed for murder of White police officer in 1989

[Whitebear]

Ga. Judge Rejects Bid to Halt Execution

Troy Anthony Davis

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) -- A judge has denied a bid to halt the execution scheduled this coming week of convicted cop killer Troy Anthony Davis, refusing to hear evidence the defense says would show he is innocent and identify another man as the killer.

Defense attorneys said they would appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court.

Davis, 38, is to die by injection at 7 p.m. Tuesday for the 1989 killing of Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail, who was shot while moonlighting as a security guard.

Remembering Officer Mark Allen MacPhail II

Mark Allen MacPhail
(from video at link)

Davis insists he's innocent. His lawyers filed a motion last Monday seeking a new trial based on affidavits by witnesses from Davis' 1991 trial who now say they lied or exaggerated when they testified Davis shot the officer.

Davis' lawyers also say other witnesses have signed affidavits naming another man, Sylvester "Red" Coles, as MacPhail's killer.

"The new evidence does not merely impeach state witnesses, but destroys the prosecution's case and establishes Red Coles' guilt," defense lawyer Thomas Dunn wrote, saying "a grave injustice may result from the execution of Troy Davis."

The Associated Press has been unable to locate Coles for comment, and another Davis attorney, Jason Ewart, declined to say if he knows Coles' whereabouts.

Superior Court Judge Penny Haas Freesemann said in her ruling Friday that Georgia courts generally do not favor granting retrials in such cases, and that the evidence presented by Davis' lawyers failed to meet strict standards required by state law.

Prosecutors had argued that most of the witness affidavits, signed between 1996 and 2003, were included in Davis' previous appeals and should not be considered new evidence.

Davis' lawyers say appeals courts never considered any new evidence, instead focusing on whether his constitutional rights had been violated.

"Clearly, the defendant has brought these motions for the purpose of delay," David Lock, Chatham County chief assistant district attorney, wrote in a response filed Tuesday.

The judge also rejected the affidavits by people claiming they heard Coles confess to the murder, say they "contain inadmissible hearsay."

Davis is also scheduled to have a clemency hearing Monday before the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, and will have one powerful supporter. U.S. Rep. John Lewis, an Atlanta Democrat and civil rights icon, plans to testify to Davis' behalf out of concern that the state is executing an innocent man, said Lewis' spokeswoman, Brenda Jones.

According to court records, Davis shot MacPhail twice — in the face and chest — after the officer went to help a homeless man who cried out after someone struck him in the head with a pistol. The shooting took place in a parking lot next to the bus station where MacPhail was a security guard.

Davis' lawyers say seven of nine witnesses who testified in 1991 — saying they saw Davis shoot the officer, saw him assault the homeless man before the shooting or heard Davis later confess to the slaying — have since recanted or contradicted their testimony.

Other affidavits from three people who did not testify at Davis' trial say Coles admitted killing the officer after Davis was convicted. Coles testified against Davis in 1991.

Donald E. Wilkes Jr., a University of Georgia law professor who specializes in the death penalty, said Georgia is the only state he's aware of that allows death row inmates to seek a new trial after their appeals have been exhausted. However, state law also requires defense lawyers to show evidence that meets very strict standards.

[Whitebear]

Georgia Supreme Court will hear Troy Davis' appeal

Georgia Board Grants Stay Of Execution to Consider Case of Black Killer

[Whitebear]

Court declines to hear death-row appeal



Troy Anthony Davis

The 1989 shooting took place at about 1 a.m. outside a Burger King near the bus station in Savannah. Davis, Sylvester "Red" Coles, and a teenager were threatening a homeless man who refused to share his beer with them. At one point, Davis struck the homeless man in the head. Amid the commotion, an off-duty police officer who was still in his police uniform arrived on the scene. Davis ran. The police officer took chase. At some point, shots were fired and the officer fell to the pavement. Witnesses said Troy Anthony Davis walked back to the police officer and shot him again at close range. One witness said Davis was smiling as he fired.

[Whitebear]

NAACP Rallies for Black Killer of White Cop on Death Row

SAVANNAH, Ga. — The NAACP has held a rally in Savannah aimed at sparing the life of death-row inmate Troy Davis, who was convicted of killing a police officer 20 years ago.

NAACP President Ben Jealous led a small, but vocal group Saturday in 38th Street Park as part of the organization's "I Am Troy" Campaign.

Jealous called on District Attorney Larry Chisholm to "Clean up the mistakes of his predecessors" and reopen the case. Several witnesses who identified Davis as the killer of Officer Mark McPhail in the trial have recanted their testimony.


The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People hopes to get 10,000 signatures on a petition urging Chisholm to step in.

[reset]

1989! Twenty damn years to wait for justice and 20 years of "poor nigger" whinning from this Porch Monkey. I don't know why he is delaying his execution since I am sure he has "gotten right" with his god and has his ticket to nigger heaven. PUNCH IT ALREADY, fer FREAKSAKES!

[Rasp]

Da Supremes try to save ni66er beast

New hearing ordered in high-profile US death row case

WASHINGTON — The US Supreme Court on Monday ordered that Troy Davis, a high-profile death row inmate, should receive a new hearing to determine whether evidence not available at his trial could prove him innocent.

"The district court should receive testimony and make findings of fact as to whether evidence that could have been obtained at the time of the trial clearly establishes petitioner's innocence," the court said.

"The substantial risk of putting an innocent man to death clearly provides an adequate justification for holding an evidentiary hearing," the ruling said.

Davis, who is black, was sentenced to death in 1991 for the murder of Mark Allen MacPhail, a white policeman, in Savannah, Georgia.

He has always proclaimed his innocence and his supporters note that the murder weapon was never found, and neither DNA nor fingerprints implicated Davis in the crime.

Nine witnesses testified against him, but seven of them have said they were pressured by police to incriminate Davis. One of the two who continue to stand by their testimony was the police's other primary suspect.

Courts have so far ordered delays to Davis' execution on three occasions -- each time days or just hours before it was due to be carried out. In April, a federal appeals court in Atlanta rejected his request for a new trial, saying his case failed to meet requirements.

The Supreme Court's decision to allow Davis to argue before a federal judge that there is enough evidence to warrant a new trial is unusual, particularly as the court's nine justices are officially on recess until October 5.

"This is nearly the only time that the Supreme Court has ever remanded a case for hearing on innocence," said Stephen Bright, a professor at Yale law school who opposes the death penalty.

The opinion was written by Justice John Paul Stevens for the court, with conservative Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissenting. Newly-appointed Justice Sonia Sotomayor did not participate in the decision.

Rights group Amnesty International's death penalty abolition campaign welcomed the court's ruling.

"We are grateful that the nation's highest court has seen the wisdom in granting a new evidentiary hearing to Troy Davis," said Laura Moye, director of the campaign.

"Given the lack of hard evidence tying Davis to Officer MacPhail's murder, it would be nothing short of unconscionable to put him to death as a means of conveniently tying up loose ends. Finally there is a chance for justice to truly be served."

But the ruling only gives Davis an opportunity to try and demonstrate that sufficient new evidence has emerged since his trial to warrant another judicial proceeding -- a relatively high bar to meet.

"The Supreme Court here says the evidence has to be so good, it not just proves but proves clearly that he's innocent. So he has a high burden to meet and anyone would have difficulty meeting that burden," said Bright.

Even the recanting of testimony by several witnesses against Davis might not be considered sufficiently new and different evidence to justify a new trial, Bright added.

But Davis does have significant support from inside and outside the United States, including from prominent individuals including former US president Jimmy Carter, South African minister Desmond Tutu and Pope Benedict XVI.

[Tricknologist]

State attorneys are suggesting Troy Anthony Davis' defense team coerced witnesses in efforts to overturn his conviction and death sentence in the 1989 slaying of Savannah police officer Mark Allen MacPhail, Davis' lawyers contend.

The proposed discovery questions "contain a thinly disguised innuendo that (Davis') defense team may have bribed witnesses and (instigated) perjury," the document filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court stated.

Davis' attorneys contend seven of the nine prosecution witnesses have recanted their testimony, creating sufficient doubt about the verdict.

The state contends the new evidence is simply a rehashed argument already repeatedly rejected by appellate courts.

Davis attorneys contend state's lawyers have "no evidence to suggest that there has been any improper behavior by anyone representing Davis," those filing affidavits recanting earlier testimony.

They argue the pending federal-court hearing is only about Davis' innocence of MacPhail's slaying and not about the circumstances under which recantations of earlier testimony were obtained.

They want the state's questions banned.

Also Wednesday, state attorneys filed a response contending prosecutors do not have "possession, custody or control of the Savannah Police Department files."

The response challenged Davis' lawyers' attempts to get the police files they contend conceal evidence not presented at trial.

State attorneys contend the information should be sought via a court order.

http://savannahnow.com/crime/2010-02...wyers-cry-foul

[White Sail]

http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/dpp/news...hearing-050310

Judge Moves Up Troy Davis Hearing
Updated: Monday, 03 May 2010, 3:36 PM EDT
Published : Monday, 03 May 2010, 3:36 PM EDT

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) - A federal judge has changed the date of a hearing for Georgia death row inmate Troy Anthony Davis, who says he’s innocent of the 1989 slaying of a Savannah police officer.

U.S. District Court Judge William T. Moore rescheduled the hearing for June 23. The judge had originally set the date for a week later, but the Georgia attorney general’s office said its lead attorney had a schedule conflict that day.

The hearing in Savannah will allow Davis’ lawyers to present evidence they say proves Davis was wrongly convicted of slaying Mark MacPhail. The judge ordered the schedule change Friday.

The U.S. Supreme Court ordered a hearing on Davis’ innocence claim last August. The move was extraordinary, as death penalty appeals normally focus on process and procedure.

[Tricknologist]

A federal judge will hear and decide the appeal of a Savannah man convicted of murder more than 20 years ago.

Troy Anthony Davis, who was found guilty and sentenced to death for shooting and killing Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail in 1989, will have his case heard Wednesday in the U.S. District Court in Savannah.

Davis' defense team will be presenting the court with new evidence they say proves Davis did not kill officer MacPhail. The defense team also plans on introducing new testimony from witnesses saying Davis did not do it.

It's still unknown if Davis will take the stand, but it is a possibility since he will be in the courtroom.

http://www.wtoc.com/global/story.asp?s=12678673

[Lilith White]

I hear the rope slapping.