SEPTEMBER EXECUTION ORDER SIGNED FOR TROY DAVIS | Death row inmate Troy Davis’ defense attorney Brian Kammer says a judge has signed an execution order http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jgNL_mIxU36h9ClYvY5Z1bOJ5YDQ?docId=75e8db7d35314a97bf2d53dedd03829e for Davis to be executed between Sept. 21 and 28.Link:
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/09/07/313175/september-execution-order-signed-for-troy-davis/Troy Anthony Davis (born October 9, 1968) was convicted of the August 19, 1989, murder of Savannah, Georgia, police officer Mark MacPhail. In 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered that an evidentiary hearing be conducted to examine alleged recantations by trial witnesses and determine if clear and convincing evidence existed to prove Davis' innocence. On August 24, 2010, the conviction was upheld, with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia declaring, "Davis is not innocent."<1>
Davis has been on death row in Georgia since 1991. Throughout the original trial and subsequent appeals, Davis maintained his innocence, saying he was wrongfully convicted of the crime as a result of false identification.
Between the trial and first set of appeals, seven of the nine prosecution eyewitnesses who had linked Davis to the killing have recanted their trial testimony, with many stating that they were coerced by police.<2> The witness who first implicated Davis and has remained consistent, Sylvester "Redd" Coles, was initially a suspect in the crime. Coles was seen acting suspiciously the night of MacPhail's murder. One person has said that Coles boasted at a party that he killed an off-duty police officer.<3> One witness did not recant his testimony and is not himself a suspect in the murder; he made an in-court identification of Davis at the original trial.
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Amnesty International, a human rights organization, has taken up Davis' cause, although Amnesty International is officially neutral as to whether Davis is guilty or innocent.<7> The advocacy group strongly condemned U.S. courts that refused to examine Davis' evidence and organized rallies and letter-writing campaigns to persuade the Georgia and federal courts to grant Davis a new trial or an evidentiary hearing.<3> Many prominent politicians and leaders, including former President Jimmy Carter,<8> Al Sharpton,<9> Pope Benedict XVI,<9> Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu,<9> Presidential candidate Bob Barr,<9> and former FBI Director and judge William S. Sessions<10> have called upon the courts to grant Davis a new trial or evidentiary hearing.<11> Link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Davis_case:evilfrown:
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