Entries tagged with “Troy Davis”

Issues

May 28, 2014

BOOKS: ​“I Am Troy Davis”

I Am Troy Davis is a recent book by Jen Marlowe and Troy Davis’ sis­ter, Martina Davis-Correia, that tells the sto­ry of a pos­si­bly inno­cent man who was exe­cut­ed in Georgia in 2011. Troy Davis was sen­tenced to death for the mur­der of a police offi­cer in Savannah. Years lat­er evi­dence cast­ing doubts about his guilt emerged, includ­ing recan­ta­tions from sev­er­al of the wit­ness­es who had tes­ti­fied against him. Pope Benedict XVI, President…

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Religion

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New Voices

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Sep 29, 2011

RELIGIOUS VIEWS: Over 150 Catholic Theologians Call for Repeal of the Death Penalty

In response to the exe­cu­tions of Troy Davis and Lawrence Brewer on September 21, over 150 Catholic the­olo­gians have signed a state­ment call­ing for the abo­li­tion of the death penal­ty in United States. The the­olo­gians stat­ed: “[W]e oppose the death penal­ty, whether a per­son on death row is guilty or inno­cent, on both the­o­log­i­cal and prac­ti­cal grounds. While we espe­cial­ly deplore and lament the killing of Troy Davis, we also decry the death sen­tences of the more than 3,200…

Issues

Executions Overview

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Sep 21, 2011

U.S. Supreme Court Halts Execution For Third Time in a Year

Desert Storm vet­er­an Cleve Foster (pic­tured), who faced exe­cu­tion in Texas for the third time this year for a mur­der near­ly a decade ago, was grant­ed anoth­er stay by the U.S. Supreme Court on September 20. The Supreme Court stopped Foster’s exe­cu­tion twice before in 2011. In January, six hours before his sched­uled exe­cu­tion, the Justices grant­ed a reprieve to allow them more time to con­sid­er his appeal. In April, the Court again halted his…

Issues

Sep 20, 2011

Georgia Board Denies Clemency for Troy Davis

After a hear­ing on September 19, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles denied clemen­cy to Troy Davis who is fac­ing exe­cu­tion on September 21, despite pre­sen­ta­tion of tes­ti­mo­ny cast­ing doubt on his guilt. Brian Kammer, one of Davis’s attor­neys, said, ​“I am utter­ly shocked and dis­ap­point­ed at the fail­ure of our jus­tice sys­tem at all lev­els to cor­rect a mis­car­riage of jus­tice.” Davis’s claims of inno­cence have received inter­na­tion­al atten­tion, and calls for…

Issues

New Voices

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Sep 16, 2011

NEW VOICES: Former FBI Chief Urges Georgia to Commute Troy Davis’s Death Sentence

William S. Sessions, the for­mer direc­tor of the FBI and a for­mer fed­er­al judge and pros­e­cu­tor, recent­ly wrote an op-ed call­ing for the com­mu­ta­tion of Troy Davis​’s death sen­tence to life in prison with­out parole. Writing in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Sessions said that ​“seri­ous ques­tions about Davis’ guilt, high­light­ed by wit­ness recan­ta­tions, alle­ga­tions of police coer­cion and a lack of relevant physical…

Issues

Sep 12, 2011

Troy Davis To Have Additional Clemency Hearing

Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis will have a third clemen­cy hear­ing before the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles on September 19, two days before his sched­uled exe­cu­tion. The hear­ing will allow Davis to present wit­ness­es the Board did not hear from in pri­or hear­ings as well as ​“renewed claims of inno­cence” regard­ing his con­vic­tion for killing Savannah police offi­cer Mark Allen MacPhail in 1989. Doubts about Davis’ guilt were raised when some prosecution…

Issues

Jul 08, 2010

Briefs Filed in Troy Davis Case in Georgia

Briefs from both par­ties in the Troy Davis case were filed in the U.S. District Court in Savannah, Georgia, on July 7, 2010. The fed­er­al judge con­sid­er­ing the pos­si­ble inno­cence of Davis, a death row inmate from Georgia who has been grant­ed a stay of exe­cu­tion from the U.S. Supreme Court, request­ed the briefs fol­low­ing an evi­den­tiary hear­ing on June 23 review­ing new evi­dence that had arisen since Davis’s orig­i­nal tri­al. A rul­ing is expect­ed in the near future…

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New Voices

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Jun 25, 2010

NEW VOICES: Former Georgia Supreme Court Justice Would Have Granted Troy Davis a Hearing

Judge Norman Fletcher served on the Georgia Supreme Court and was in the major­i­ty that upheld Troy Davis​’s orig­i­nal con­vic­tion and death sen­tence on direct appeal. However, Judge Fletcher has not­ed he was not on the court after many of the wit­ness­es from Davis’s tri­al recant­ed their tes­ti­mo­ny, and he prob­a­bly would have vot­ed in favor of a new evi­den­tiary hear­ing for Davis if he was on the court today. Judge Fletcher recent­ly wrote about the…

Issues

Dec 22, 2009

New Evidence in Troy Davis Case

New evi­dence in the Troy Davis case in Georgia has recent­ly emerged, fur­ther impli­cat­ing anoth­er sus­pect in the mur­der of off-duty police offi­cer Mark Allen MacPhail. In 1991, Davis was sen­tenced to death for offi­cer MacPhail’s mur­der. Davis became the pri­ma­ry sus­pect after Sylvester ​“Redd” Coles told the police about Davis’s pres­ence at the crime scene. During his 1991 tri­al, nine pros­e­cu­tion eye­wit­ness­es tes­ti­fied against Davis. All but two of the witnesses…

Issues

Aug 17, 2009

U.S. Supreme Court Orders Historic Hearing on Innocence Claim in Troy Davis Case

On August 17 the United States Supreme Court ordered a new evi­den­tiary hear­ing for Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis, whose case has drawn world­wide atten­tion because of new evi­dence of his pos­si­ble inno­cence. For the first time in near­ly 50 years, the Court has favor­ably respond­ed to a peti­tion direct­ed to them, rather than as an appeal from oth­er courts. With only two Justices writ­ing in dis­sent, the Court ordered the low­er fed­er­al court to hear Davis’…

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New Voices

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Jun 02, 2009

NEW VOICES: Executing Troy Davis Would Be ​“Unconscionable and Unconstitutional”

Former Congressman Bob Barr of Georgia has called for a full court hear­ing on the new evi­dence offered by death row inmate Troy Davis regard­ing his pos­si­ble inno­cence. Davis’s attor­neys have sub­mit­ted a peti­tion to the U.S. Supreme Court request­ing such a hear­ing. Barr not­ed that part of the basis the low­er courts have used in refus­ing to hold a hear­ing is the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, a law that he helped write. Barr, who also served as a U.S. Attorney in Georgia, wrote…

Issues

Apr 17, 2009

Troy Davis Appeal Rejected; Oklahoma Board Recommends Clemency for Donald Gilson

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit denied habeas cor­pus relief to a Georgia death row inmate who claims he is inno­cent and who has received inter­na­tion­al sup­port. In a 2 – 1 deci­sion, the court held that Troy Davis could have pre­sent­ed most of his new evi­dence ear­li­er and that the evi­dence did not offer clear and con­vinc­ing proof of his inno­cence. Hence, the court did not con­sid­er his free-stand­ing claim of inno­cence on its mer­its, but concluded…

Issues

Feb 04, 2009

MULTIMEDIA: Troy Davis Case Continues to Garner Widespread Attention

Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis was sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed numer­ous times in 2008, but each date was stayed. His case is cur­rent­ly under review by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. International inter­est has con­tin­ued to mount because of con­cerns about his pos­si­ble inno­cence. Most recent­ly, Amnesty International has assist­ed in prepar­ing a mul­ti­me­dia pre­sen­ta­tion about his case with the music group ​“State Radio.” The video…

Issues

Nov 20, 2008

Federal Appeals Court to Hear Arguments in Troy Davis’ Appeal

Attorneys for Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis will have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to argue before a three-judge pan­el of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on December 9 in Atlanta. The Court will hear argu­ments on whether Davis can file a sec­ond fed­er­al chal­lenge to his con­vic­tion based on new evi­dence of his inno­cence. The Court stayed Davis’ exe­cu­tion short­ly before he was to receive a lethal injec­tion so that it could review the con­sti­tu­tion­al issues in his…

Issues

Oct 07, 2008

Questions Before the U.S. Supreme Court in the Troy Davis Case

The United States Supreme Court is cur­rent­ly con­sid­er­ing whether to hear the case of Troy Davis or to allow his exe­cu­tion to go for­ward. The Court stayed his exe­cu­tion on September 23, less than two hours before it was to take place. The for­mal term for agree­ing to hear a case is ​“grant­i­ng a peti­tion for cer­tio­rari.” Davis’ attor­neys sub­mit­ted such a peti­tion, rais­ing a num­ber of ques­tions on which the Court could grant a hear­ing. The first question presented…

Issues

Sep 11, 2008

Troy Davis Facing Execution in Georgia Despite Recantation of Eye-witnesses

Troy Davis has been sched­uled for exe­cu­tion on September 23 in Georgia, despite seri­ous doubts about his guilt. The state Parole Board has sched­uled a clemen­cy hear­ing on September 12 to review evi­dence relat­ed to the fact that sev­en of the nine eye-wit­ness­es that tes­ti­fied against Davis have recant­ed their state­ments. Davis’ lawyers say they have evi­dence exon­er­at­ing him and impli­cat­ing anoth­er per­son as the killer. The Parole Board previously raised…