On August 24, U.S. District Court Judge William T. Moore Jr. reject­ed Troy Davis​’s peti­tion to over­turn his con­vic­tion for killing a police offi­cer in 1989 in Georgia. Judge Moore chose a high stan­dard of proof that Davis would have to meet to estab­lish his inno­cence claim: Davis need­ed to prove by ​“clear and con­vinc­ing evi­dence that no rea­son­able juror would have con­vict­ed him in light of the new evi­dence.” Judge Moore did con­clude that it would be uncon­sti­tu­tion­al to exe­cute ​“those who can make a tru­ly per­sua­sive demon­stra­tion of inno­cence.” This hold­ing has only been assumed for the sake of argu­ment by the U.S. Supreme Court. He also acknowl­edged that ​“the State’s case may not be iron­clad.” Davis, who has spent near­ly two decades on death row, has attract­ed sup­port from many human rights groups because a num­ber of key pros­e­cu­tion wit­ness­es recant­ed their tri­al tes­ti­mo­ny, and oth­er wit­ness­es have come for­ward impli­cat­ing anoth­er sus­pect. Last year, the Supreme Court issued an his­tor­i­cal rul­ing allow­ing Davis to present evi­dence that had been uncov­ered since his tri­al. It is pos­si­ble that Judge Moore’s rul­ing will now return to the Supreme Court for fur­ther review. Read Judge Moore’s rul­ing: Part I and Part II.

(B. Rankin, ​“Judge rejects Troy Davis inno­cence claim,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, August 24, 2010). See Innocence and U.S. Supreme Court. Read Amnesty International’s press release.

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