Troy Davis execution: Did the death penalty deliver justice?

From the Christian Science Monitor, By Patrik Jonsson:

For his supporters, the execution of Troy Davis marked a grave injustice and showed the death penalty at its worst. But others found their faith in the justice system reaffirmed by the fact that the Davis verdict stood after an abundance of case reviews.

A last-ditch appeal to the Supreme Court pushed back Troy Davis's execution by several hours, but in the end, Mr. Davis died by lethal injection Wednesday night in a prison in Jackson, Ga.

"I am innocent," were his last words to the family of Mark MacPhail. "I did not have a gun."

Mr. Davis was convicted of the 1989 murder of Mr. MacPhail, a Savannah, Ga,. police officer.

For thousands around the world, Mr. Davis's death marked a grave injustice, given vexing questions and new doubts about his guilt.

But while many saw the execution as symbolic of a fallible justice system, and an immoral punishment, others found their faith in the system reaffirmed by an abundance of court and executive reviews that, time after time, let the verdict against Davis stand.

The Davis case is but one in a long series of death penalty cases that push individual states to debate the morality, legality, and efficacy of the death penalty.

This week alone, the US Supreme Court ordered stays for two men in Texas scheduled to be executed, while a third, Lawrence Brewer, was executed Wednesday night for the dragging death of James Byrd near Jasper, Texas, in 1998. Alabama has an execution scheduled Thursday.

Davis was convicted in 1991 for the shooting death of off-duty police officer MacPhail, who had come to the aid of a homeless man being beaten near a Savannah, Ga., Burger King. A jury of seven blacks and five whites found that Davis had shot a man earlier in the evening and used the same gun to fire into MacPhail's face and chest, killing the young father of two before he had a chance to draw his weapon.

The murder weapon was never found and defense lawyers cast doubt on a ballistics test that linked shell casings at the scene to casings found at another shooting for which Davis was convicted.

Since the verdict, seven of nine witnesses in the case changed or retracted their accounts, and new witnesses have pointed to the possibility that another man at the scene fired the weapon. But Federal District Court Judge William T. Moore said those new statements amounted to "smoke and mirrors" to obfuscate the original verdict.

On Tuesday, a Georgia clemency board, for the fourth time, declined Davis's request to commute the sentence to life in prison. The Georgia board has commuted three other death row sentences in the last decade.

Full article can be found here.

Troy Davis' Clemency Denial: The Failure of a Legal 'Safety Valve'

From Time:

When Texas Governor Rick Perry said in a recent Republican presidential candidates' debate that his sleep is untroubled by doubts about the guilt of any of the 235 men and women who have been executed on his watch, he pointed out that his state has "a very thoughtful, a very clear process in place" to review death penalty cases. A cornerstone of that process, in Texas and elsewhere, is the Board of Pardons and Paroles, which is designed to act as a safety valve, removed from the emotion of the crime and the courtroom. It's a last resort, not to retry a case, but to ensure that a conviction is so ironclad that there is no doubt that it merits the ultimate punishment.

That safety valve failed in Georgia Tuesday, just as it has on a number of occasions in Texas. The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles denied convicted murderer Troy Davis' last appeal for clemency, setting him on a seemingly unstoppable course for execution Wednesday evening.

For the simplest picture of why that decision was so wrong — as so many of Davis' myriad supporters have pleaded for years — just look at the numbers.

— 7: that's how many of the nine original eyewitnesses have recanted their testimony against Davis.

— 0: the amount of physical evidence linking Davis to the crime (no fingerprints, no DNA, no weapon recovered).

— 3: the number of jurors who voted for death in the original trial who now believe their vote was a mistake.

— 22: the number of years the family of slain police officer Mark McPhail has had to wait for an answer to the question of whether or not Davis would die for the crime.

The last number — a symptom of the interminable appeals process — would seem to speak in favor of simply executing Davis and getting it over with. Justice delayed, as Newt Gingrich said when he fought for a law that limited death penalty appeals, is justice denied (a statement that he seemed to believe pertained only to the families of the victims, not the convicted). But the truth is that the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles should have ended this macabre theater when they had the chance three years ago, by commuting Davis' death sentence and either letting him serve out a life term or granting him a retrial.

Beyond all the evidentiary problems of Davis' case — to take one example, police Re-enacted the crime scene with all the eyewitnesses together and talking to each other, a practice which is now unheard of — it never had any hallmarks of a case that should have been eligible for the ultimate penalty. It was a senseless murder late at night that was only half-seen in a half-lit Burger King parking lot. A good man was killed, but even death penalty supporters, a number of whom have called for clemency in Davis' case, would agree that death cases should be reserved for those with the most incontrovertible evidence. Even before witnesses started recanting and jurors started regretting, Davis' case never met that standard.

"Seven of the nine witnesses have recanted at this point. That in and of itself is problematic," says Mary Schmid Mergler, Senior Counsel for the non-profit Constitution Project, whose high-profile advisers (a mix of abolitionists and death penalty supporters) have come out in favor of clemency for Davis. "But the most troubling thing is just the fact that a death penalty conviction rests solely on eyewitness testimony to begin with."

That was one of the arguments made in Monday's board meeting before the five board members appointed by former Governor Sonny Perdue (three of the members are new since Davis' case was initially heard in 2008). It was a quick affair: three hours for the defense, the same for the prosecution — though defense lawyers complained the prosecution got more time — followed by a decision released just after 8am the next morning.

Full article can be found here.

"Innocence claim rejected: Troy Davis Loses Challenge"

From Sentencing Law & Policy:

The title of this post is the title of this terrific synopsis by Lyle Denniston at SCOTUS blog of a big death penalty ruling handed down today. Here is the start of the post along with links to the looong ruling the post discusses:

Carrying out a direct order of the Supreme Court, a federal judge in Georgia made a lengthy new study of a 21-year-old murder case but then ruled Tuesday that a Savannah, Ga., man had not proved that he is innocent of killing a police officer in a fast-food restaurant parking lot. In a 172-page opinion (issued in two parts, found here and here), U.S. District Judge William T. Moore, Jr., ruled that it would be unconstitutional to execute an innocent person, but went on to rule that Troy Anthony Davis “is not innocent.” Treating the case as an unusual one procedurally, Judge Moore said it appeared that he was acting as a fact-gatherer directly for the Supreme Court, so any appeal by Davis may have to go directly to the Justices. He sent a copy of his ruling to the Supreme Court.

(NOTE TO READERS: The judge’s legal and constitutional analysis of the evidence and the issues begins on numbered page 91, which is page 29 of Part II. Up to that point, the opinion is a recitation of the evidence and the history of Davis’s challenges to his conviction.)

A year ago, the Supreme Court sent Davis’s latest challenge — one filed directly with the Justices — to the District Court in Georgia “for hearing and determination.” The order said that the lower court should “receive testimony and make findings of fact as to whether evidence that could not have been obtained at the time of trial clearly establishes [Davis's] innocence.” The Justices’ unsigned order, issued over the dissent of Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, was apparently approved on a 6-2 vote (Justice Sonia Sotomayor took no part in it.) It was a highly unusual action because the Court does not often order fact-finding by a trial-level court; it more often pronounces the law and then leaves it to lower courts to implement such a ruling. The dissenters called the action an “extraordinary step — one not taken in nearly 50 years.”

Judge Moore closed his opinion by noting that he had carried out the Supreme Court’s mandate by holding a hearing and now ruling on Davis’s habeas challenge. “This Court,” he wrote, “concludes that executing an innocent person would violate the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution” — a point long hinted at but not yet specifically decided by the Supreme Court. However, the judge went on to reject Davis’s claim of innocence, summing up: “The evidence produced at the hearing on the merits of Mr. Davis’s claim of actual innocence and a complete review of the record in this case does not require the reversal of the jury’s judgment that Troy Anthony Davis murdered City of Savannah Police Officer Mark Allen MacPhail on August 19, 1989.”

In a footnote, the judge added that “while the state’s case may not be ironclad, most reasonable jurors would again vote to convict Mr. Davis of Officer MacPhail’s murder. A federal court simply cannot interpose itself and set aside the jury verdict in this case absent a truly persuasive showing of innocence. To act contrarily would wreck complete havoc on the criminal justice system.” (The judge may have meant “wreak,” not “wreck.”)

Final Appeal Made in Troy Davis Case

(FinalCall.com) - Georgia Death Row inmate Troy Davis' 30-day stay of execution has expired and his defense team has filed a final appeal requesting that the U.S. Supreme Court send his case back to a lower court to allow a judge to review recanted testimonies by several critical witnesses who testified for the state in 1991.

If the Supreme Court rejects this appeal, a new execution date could be set in the months to come.

“Troy is in good spirits although he is worried about what his family is going through. He told me to keep on fighting so that is what we will do,” said Martina Correia, his sister, to The Final Call.

“He has not lost faith and we are continuing to press forward to expose this corrupted judicial system in Georgia. He and (we) all of us thank newspapers like The Final Call for continuing to print the truth about his case,” she said.

Ms. Correia and supporters are encouraging citizens to write their state officials to request a new trial for her brother. Letters are being fired off to President Obama and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder asking them to “investigate the judicial misconduct that has taken place in this case. We need them to intervene,” she said.

The final appeal on Mr. Davis' behalf was filed on May 19 and one day later 27 former judges, prosecutors, and justices signed and filed a friend-of-the-court brief requesting that the Supreme Court allow Mr. Davis' claims of innocence be presented.

“To allow Davis' execution without appropriate legal review is a plain constitutional injustice,” the filing said.

Among those signing the supporting brief were former Deputy U.S. Attorney General Larry Thompson; nine former U.S. attorneys; two former state Supreme Court chief justices; former state attorneys general from Florida and New Jersey; and three former judges from the federal appeals court in Philadelphia.

“This filing is major because it is mostly conservatives speaking out against this injustice,” said Ms. Correia. “The world is watching and looking at who is backing my brother.”

Witnesses claimed Mr. Davis, who was then 19-years-old, and two others were harassing a homeless man in the parking lot of a Burger King restaurant when an off-duty officer arrived to help the man. Witnesses also testified at trial that Mr. Davis then shot the officer twice and fled the scene.

Since Mr. Davis' 1991 conviction, seven of the nine witnesses against him have recanted their testimony and no physical evidence has been presented that links Mr. Davis to the killing.

In a 2-1 decision in April, the federal appeals court in Atlanta rejected Mr. Davis' request for an evidentiary hearing. The court, which had postponed Mr. Davis' execution, extended the stay for 30 days.

Also on May 19 participants from all 50 states and 32 countries around the world took part in the Global Day of Action to call further attention to the case. Thousands of people attended rallies, prayer vigils, and forums for Mr. Davis, who has been on death row for nearly two decades.

“Another thing we are demanding is that the correctional officials allow Troy access to the media. What are they afraid of if he is guilty?” asked Ms. Correia. “They don't want him talking to the press because they know he is innocent. Let's fight on.”

Troy Davis Faces 4th Execution Date in Two Years

US death row inmate Troy Davis once again faces the prospect of an execution date. This is despite not having had a court hearing into compelling evidence, collected since his trial nearly 18 years ago, that he may be innocent. He has come close to execution three times in the past two years.

His final hope of being granted a court hearing rests with the US Supreme Court. A petition was filed in the Court on Tuesday 19 May. Three days earlier, a stay of execution granted by a federal court in October last year expired. The state could move to set an execution date at any time.

Troy Davis was convicted of the murder of a police officer in Savannah, Georgia, in 1989. Since the 1991 trial, the testimony of all but two of the state's witnesses who testified against him has been recanted or changed amid allegations that the police used coercion and suggestive identification techniques during their investigation of the murder. One of the two witnesses who have not altered their trial testimony is himself the subject of new witness statements implicating him as the gunman.

Four of the jurors who convicted Troy Davis have since signed affidavits saying that the post-conviction evidence gave them cause for concern. They said they supported judicial relief in the form of a new trial or an evidentiary hearing, or executive commutation of the death sentence.

In May 2009, Troy Davis said: "I have faced execution and the torment of saying goodbye to my family three times in the last two years and I may experience that trauma yet again; I would not wish this on my worst enemy and to know I am innocent only compounds the injustice I am facing."

As the case stands, the pursuit of the death penalty against Troy Davis continues to contravene international safeguards which prohibit the execution of anyone whose guilt is not based on "clear and convincing evidence leaving no room for an alternative explanation of the facts".

"This is one in a long line of cases in the USA that should give even ardent supporters of the death penalty pause for thought, since it provides further evidence of the danger, inherent in the death penalty, of irrevocable error," said Amnesty International's USA researcher Rob Freer.

"Last month a federal judge said that to execute Troy Davis would be 'unconscionable'. She was surely right."

In September 2008, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles denied Troy Davis clemency, before a court issued the stay of execution that has just expired. Amnesty International is campaigning to have the Board change its mind and to commute the death sentence.

Read more at Amnesty International

Troy Davis about to be killed by the state of Georgia

If you wish to send an email to the Georgia Governor, click here.

Troy Davis Execution Stay by US Supreme Court

A few weeks ago, we posted a plea for help from Amnesty International regarding the case of Troy Davis, who was scheduled to be executed in Georgia. He was supposed to be executed at 7:00 pm this evening; however, two hours before he was to be executed the United States Supreme Court issued a stay to allow appeals to continue in the case. Prosecutors have labeled the witness statements "suspect" and courts had previously refused requests for a new trial. Thanks to all those that sent in email requests. Keep watch on this most important case. The stay order (available at Scotus Blog) will be lifted automatically if the Court denies review; the Court will consider the petition for review at its conference next week. Mr. Davis has maintained his innocence from the beginning.

Full Story at The Innocence Project Blog

Click to Save a Life

Since we have been posting on the failures of Eyewitness Identification and how it can lead to wrongful convictions, this posting is an urgent cry for help. Mr. Davis was convicted of the murder of an off-duty police officer: eyewitnesses have recanted and and no physical evidence links him to the crime. His execution is currently scheduled for September 23, 2008. The ACLU has organized an effort to try to commute his death sentence. Read the below information and act fast.

Subject: Subject: Help save a life!

A man who is almost certainly innocent needs your help, and fast.

On Friday, the Georgia Department of Pardons and Paroles is going to meet and decide if he should be executed.

They will either take into account compelling evidence challenging his guilt, or they will choose to ignore that evidence and allow his sentence to stand. They have to power to stop this indefensible execution and we must implore them to make the right decision.

Troy Anthony Davis was convicted of the murder of off-duty Savannah Police Officer Mark MacPhail in 1991. No physical evidence links him to the crime, and he has steadfastly maintained his innocence. His conviction was based solely on the testimony of witnesses. There was no other evidence against him. Since his trial, seven people who had previously testified against Troy changed the story they had told in court.

Some witnesses say they were coerced by police. Others have even signed affidavits implicating one of the remaining two witnesses as the actual killer. But due to an increasingly restrictive appeals process, none of this new evidence has ever been heard in court.

Can you take 30 seconds and help save the life of a man who is almost certainly innocent? You can learn more and take action here:

http://action.aclu.org/savetroy