The life of Troy Davis, a convicted murderer at the centre of one of the most protracted and controversial death penalty cases in US history, has entered what is expected to be its final hours, after a panel in Atlanta rejected his last-ditch plea for clemency.
At around 7pm local time (midnight GMT) tomorrow, 42-year-old Davis will be escorted to an execution chamber at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison outside the city of Jackson. He is scheduled to be killed by lethal injection.
The execution comes after Georgia’s five-man Board of Pardons spent Monday hearing a plea for his sentence to be commuted. Supporters argue that Davis’s conviction for the murder of off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail in 1989 was deeply flawed.
The Board heard submissions from several jurors who found Davis guilty but have since changed their mind, along with a selection of key prosecution witnesses who have recanted the evidence they gave at his trial in 1991. A spokesman refused to elaborate on why the board rejected his latest plea, or by what majority the decision was reached. ..........(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/is-this-one-of-americas-worst-miscarriages-of-justice-2357989.html