The US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit issued a stay for Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis on October 24. The fed­er­al appeals court’s three-judge pan­el ordered both sides to draft briefs to address wheter Davis can be exe­cut­ed if he can demon­strate his like­ly inno­cence. Davis’ case has gar­nered both inter­na­tion­al and nation­al atten­tion. Former President Jimmy Carter and the European Union were among those call­ing for a stay of exe­cu­tion. Davis was sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed on October 27 after the U.S. Supreme Court denied review fol­low­ing Davis’ unsuc­cess­ful appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court.

Davis’ orig­i­nal con­vic­tion was based pri­mar­i­ly on eye­wit­ness tes­ti­mo­ny. Since the 1991 tri­al, 7 of the 9 non-police eye­wit­ness­es have recant­ed their tes­ti­mo­ny, with some point­ing to anoth­er sus­pect.

(G. Bluestein, ​“Appeals court halts exe­cu­tion of Ga. Cop killer,” Associated Press, October 24, 2008). See Innocence.

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