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 wit­ness­es changed their sto­ries after giv­ing tes­ti­mo­ny against Davis, includ­ing accu­sa­tions point­ing to anoth­er sus­pect as the trig­ger­man. The U.S. Supreme Court grant­ed Davis an evi­den­tiary hear­ing on his new evi­dence before a fed­er­al court judge. After the hear­ing, District Court Judge William Moore said ​“the State’s case may not be iron­clad,” but nev­er­the­less con­clud­ed that Davis had not con­vinc­ing­ly proved his inno­cence. In 2007, the Pardons Board halt­ed Davis’s exe­cu­tion because of unre­solved doubts about his guilt. Ultimately, they denied clemen­cy. There are now 3 new mem­bers on the Pardons Board.

Prior to being grant­ed the hear­ing in fed­er­al court, an ami­cus brief had been filed on behalf of Davis by for­mer mem­bers of the judi­cia­ry and law enforce­ment offi­cials, includ­ing for­mer Georgia Congressman Bob Barr and the for­mer direc­tor of the FBI William S. Sessions. The case has also received international attention.

(B. Rankin, ​“Parole board to again hear Troy Anthony Davis case,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September 8, 2011). See Clemency and Innocence.

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