Troy Davis

For the Canadian Football League running back, see Troy Davis.

The Troy Davis case concerns the case of Troy Anthony Davis, an African American who was convicted and sentenced to death in 1991 for the August 19, 1989 murder of a white, off-duty Savannah Police Officer named Mark Allen MacPhail solely on the basis of eyewitness testimony. There is no physical evidence linking Davis to the crime. Seven of the nine non-police eyewitnesses later recanted their testimonies in sworn affidavits filed in a court of law. Troy Davis has steadfastly maintained his innocence throughout the years, and has pleaded with the courts to be granted a new trial, or, at the minimum, to be allowed a hearing in which the recanting eyewitnesses will be cross-examined in order to determine whether a miscarriage of justice occurred in the inital trial. Many legal organizations in the US and worldwide, such as the National Lawyers Guild, Amnesty International and the Innocence Project, have supported Davis' claims for a new trial, and strongly condemned the planned execution of Davis. Indeed, Davis has received a stay of execution prior to each of the three planned executions in July 2007, September 2008, and October 2008.

Davis' bases his argument for a new trial on an extraordinary occurrence: Seven of the nine original eyewitnesses later recanted or otherwise contradicted their trial testimony. Not a shred of physical evidence links him to the crime. Some of the recanting witnesses now assert that they were coerced by police to say that Davis was the murderer. One of the witnesses who did not recant was seen acting suspiciously the night of Officer MacPhail’s murder and has been heard boasting that he killed an off-duty police officer. All of the recanting eyewitnesses have stated that their original testimony against Davis was due, at least in part, to police coercion. The District Attorney in Atlanta, GA claims, however, that the recantations may instead be due to the denial of habeas petitions filed on behalf of Davis.

Troy Davis received a third execution date of October 27, 2008 after the US Supreme Court declined to hear his Certiorari petition. On October 24, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay of execution to consider Davis’s request for a second federal habeas petition. If they allow this petition, Davis could ask for an evidentiary hearing from the US District Court (one level under the 11th Circuit) for the southern district of Georgia. An evidentiary hearing would allow the witnesses to be heard and examined in a court of law – an essential process to determine whether the original trial had been so tainted, as is alleged, and the conviction should be tossed out.

President Jimmy Carter, Pope Benedict XVI, Desmond Tutu, Presidential candidate Bob Barr, former FBI Director William Sessions and other well-known community and religious leaders have condemned Georgia authorities for their plan to execute a possibly innocent man, and issued strong statements calling for a new trial. The recent stay of the execution ordered by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on October 24, 2008 has increased the possibility of a retrial. The three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear oral arguments in this case on December 9, 2008 at the United States Court of Appeals Building in Atlanta, Georgia (Case No. 08-16009-P).

The trial

On August 23, 1989, Troy Anthony Davis surrendered to the authorities. When questioned about the murder of MacPhail, Davis admitted he was at the scene at the time, but stated another man named Coles had done the actual shooting. The murder weapon was never found. Physical evidence that linked the shooting to Davis was a bullet and bullet casing tied to another shooting done by Davis earlier on the same night as McPhail was shot. Nevertheless, Davis asserted his innocence and a jury trial was held. His conviction occurred in August 1991.

According to the trial transcripts, the following is what occurred on the night of the murder:

Sylvester "Redd" Coles, a black man, was hassling a homeless man Larry Young, also black, as Young walked from the liquor store with his newly purchased beer. Redd demanded that Young give Redd his beer. Young refused. Young walked away from Redd toward the Burger King parking lot, where Young's girlfriend, Harriet Murray, waited for Young's return. Redd became angry and persisted in his demand for the beer. As the two neared the parking lot, Murray heard the commotion and saw the man hassling Young. She heard him say "You don't know me. I'll shoot you." At that point, she saw that man pull a gun from his waistband. Murray ran for cover.

Redd claimed at trial that he was the instigator; Davis's condemners dismiss this claim. Redd and Young both testified at trial that Redd was the one who had made the threat to shoot Young. While Redd was arguing with Young, Darrell "D.D." Collins and Troy Davis, both black men, entered the Burger King parking lot. All trial witnesses stated that neither Collins nor Davis spoke to Young. The pistol whipping of Young occurred shortly after Redd was alleged to have threatened to shoot the homeless man. Young had an open gash on his right temple. According to trial witnesses, he sought help from the passengers in a van at the drive-thru window and the Burger King manager, Leo Bishop. Young was standing between the van and the Burger King window when shots rang out.

Mark Allen MacPhail was working off-duty but in full uniform as a security guard at the Burger King. He entered the parking lot after Young was assaulted. When the four black men saw MacPhail, each man started to run. According to Redd, when MacPhail yelled for all of them to stop running, Redd was the only one to stop; after this, MacPhail was shot.

Earlier on the day in question, a man named Michael Cooper was shot by Davis at a party in Cloverdale, a nearby neighborhood. It was shown in court by forensic evidence that the same gun that wounded Cooper was used to kill MacPhail. The bullet casings from the two shootings were matched and shown, by forensic ballistics to have been fired by the same gun; however, this form of forensic evidence does not distinguish who was holding the weapon when it was fired.

Racial composition of jury

The jury in the trial was composed of seven blacks and five whites. Although Davis raised racial bias in the jury selection process as an issue, the eight potential black jurors who were peremptorily challenged were removed from the jury pool for what have been claimed to be non-racist reasons, specifically: for making explicit statements during voir dire (jury selection) that they would not consider applying the death penalty (five of eight), for implicitly or explicitly indicating a personal connection to Davis (two of eight), and for having had recent multiple contacts with law enforcement due to family troubles (one of eight).

Whilst giving credence to the applicability of potential alternative reasons for the removal of the African American jurors, it was unlikely that such removal was based upon opposition to the death penalty; indeed, the Supreme Court of the United States has itself ruled that "states may not have unlimited challenge for jurors who may have any objection to the death penalty".

The county in which the trial was held was about two-thirds white, and the jury pool was about 57% white, so the seated jury, at 58% black, actually reflected, by a slight margin, a potentially more favorable makeup to Davis, at least as far as potential racial bigotry than would be expected on average; nonetheless, whilst supporters of Davis cite the fact that what might be considered "normal" in other cases, may be in violation of human rights standards, his opponents do not give credence to such claims.

Perhaps in part due to the reasoning expressed by Davis's opponents, Davis' challenge of racial bias in jury selection was dismissed.

Appeals

After seven of nine eyewitnesses either partially or entirely recanted or contradicted testimony they had previously given, restrictions on Davis's right to appeal his conviction for a second time, due in part to the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, brought his plight to international attention. His first appeal, in 1991, had confirmed his conviction as had his state and federal habeas actions. Prosecutors argued successfully that under Georgia law that it was too late to present the recantations as evidence in an extraordinary motion for new trial.

Harriet Murray, a witness who recanted in 2002, refused to wait for a notary to witness her signed statement, making it legally inadmissible in court. Two brothers, Gary and Anthony Hargrove, came forward over a year after the trial, with Gary Hargrove claiming to have been told at a party by Sylvester Coles (the other possible triggerman) that Coles was the murderer, and Anthony Hargrove claiming to have witnessed Coles doing the actual shooting; Anthony Hargrove further claimed that he failed to come forward during the investigation because he was violating parole on the evening of the shooting. While numerous state and federal courts have considered the Hargroves' affidavits in several direct appeals and habeas actions, none have been willing to order a retrial of the case based on the affidavits' contents. The U.S. Supreme Court denied Davis's petition for an appeal of the denial of habeas relief in June 2007.

Davis's execution was initially scheduled for July 17, 2007. On July 16, U.S. Congressman John Lewis spoke to the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles on Davis's behalf, suggesting that one of the two witnesses who had not recanted (i.e., Coles) was the real killer. Four thousand letters were received by the board written on his behalf, including letters written by Desmond Tutu, Harry Belafonte, composer and human rights activist William Rowland and former FBI director William Sessions. Sister Helen Prejean, Amnesty International US director Larry Cox, and the Council of Europe all spoke out against the planned execution. The Vatican's nuncio to the U.S., Monsignor Martin Krebs, sent a letter on behalf of Pope Benedict XVI to Governor of Georgia Sonny Perdue urging him to spare Davis's life. However, Georgia is one of three U.S. states where the governor has no power to grant clemency, the matter being left to an appointed board.

On July 16, a ninety day stay of execution was granted by the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles. Davis expressed gratitude for the stay. By considering all testimony and evidence submitted by Davis and his attorneys during hearings held during the stay of execution, including testimony from Davis himself, and after having physical evidence in the case retested on their behalf, the Georgia Parole and Pardons Board held what has been characterized as an entire second trial of Davis. In the end, they found that the original sentence was justified and denied clemency.

On August 3, 2007, the Georgia Supreme Court voted four to three to hear a discretionary appeal of Davis's 1991 conviction. On March 17, 2008, the Georgia Supreme Court denied the appeal listing in detail why the recantation affidavits were legally invalid or otherwise unpersuasive as to Davis' innocence. The Georgia Supreme Court even noted that one of Davis' own affidavits can be read so as to point to his own guilt in McPhail's murder.

In September 2008, Jimmy Carter, through the Carter Center, released a letter urging the state Board of Pardons and Parole to reverse its decision to deny clemency; the letter said that flaws in Davis's conviction and appeals warrant a closer look, writing in part:

"This case illustrates the deep flaws in the application of the death penalty in this country. Executing Troy Davis without a real examination of potentially exonerating evidence risks taking the life of an innocent man and would be a grave miscarriage of justice."

Also in September 2008, former Republican Congressman Bob Barr wrote the board saying that he is "a strong believer in the death penalty as an appropriate and just punishment," but that the proper level of fairness and accuracy required for the ultimate punishment has not been met in Davis's case.

Subsequently, Reverend Al Sharpton also called for clemency after he met and prayed with Davis on death row.

On September 11, 2008, hundreds of people turned out for a rally in support of Davis at the state capitol in Atlanta; the following day, the Georgia Board of Pardon and Paroles nonetheless denied clemency for Davis.

On September 22, 2008, Attorney Carol Gray, who assisted the Troy Davis defense team, suggested that the execution be stayed until information can be obtained from a clerk at the motel across from the murder scene. Gray says that the clerk was heard screaming after shots were fired, but the clerk has so far not been identified or interviewed. According to Gray, such identification could be made through existing tax records.

A new execution date was set for 7 p.m. on September 23, 2008 . State authorities intended to carry out the execution despite the fact that the United States Supreme Court was scheduled to take up the case the following week. However, on September 23, 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court called an emergency session, during a period of what was otherwise recess, and issued a stay of execution.

On Tuesday, October 14, 2008 the US Supreme Court declined to intervene in this appeal from Troy Davis. They gave no explanation for the decision. The execution had been rescheduled for October 27.

On Friday, October 24, 2008 the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a 25-day stay of execution.

On Wednesday, November 19, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allowed Davis and his lawyers to give oral arguments in front of the three panel judges on December 9th, 2008, which will be open to the public.

Troy Anthony Davis

Troy Anthony Davis was born on October 9, 1968 (1968-10-09) (age 40). Davis was a coach in the Savannah Police Athletic League and had signed up for service in the United States Marine Corps.

External links

• Bob Herbert of The New York Times on the Davis case, September 20, 2008
• New Execution Date Set For Troy Anthony Davis (Contains detailed description of the incidents that led to the conviction, as well as full legal history of the case until August 14, 2008)
• Press Release of President Jimmy Carter]