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 it was barred because of the delay in fil­ing. The court did say he could raise his claim direct­ly with the U.S. Supreme Court, and they stayed his exe­cu­tion to allow time for that appeal. Judge Rosemary Barkett dis­sent­ed, say­ing, ​“The con­cept of pun­ish­ing an inno­cent defen­dant with the penal­ty of death sim­ply because he did not file his papers as ear­ly as he should have is dra­con­ian.… where a defen­dant who can make a viable claim of actu­al inno­cence is fac­ing exe­cu­tion, the fun­da­men­tal mis­car­riage of jus­tice excep­tion should apply and AEDPA’s pro­ce­dur­al bars should not pro­hib­it the fil­ing of a sec­ond or suc­ces­sive habeas petition.”

In Oklahoma, the Pardons Board rec­om­mend­ed (3 – 2) clemen­cy for Donald Gilson, who is sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed on May 5. Gov. Brad Henry will make the final deci­sion on Gilson’s fate.

(In re Troy Anthony Davis, No. 08 – 16009 (11th Cir. April 16, 2009)); (The Oklahoman, April 17, 2009). See Innocence and Clemency.

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