USA: Call for reopening of the case against Troy Davis

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UPDATE: 17 AUGUST 2009 In a 6-2 ruling, the USA's highest court decided that death row inmate Troy Anthony Davis should have another chance to prove his innocence before the state of Georgia puts him to death. Welcoming the U.S. Supreme Court order mandating a new evidentiary hearing Laura Moye, director of Amnesty USA’s Death Penalty Abolition Campaign said:

“We are grateful that the nation’s highest court has seen the wisdom in granting a new evidentiary hearing to Troy Davis. For years Amnesty International has maintained that this man’s compelling case of innocence needs to see the light of day. Finally it will. Given the lack of hard evidence tying Davis to Officer MacPhail’s murder, it would be nothing short of unconscionable to put him to death as a means of conveniently tying up loose ends. Finally there is an opportunity for justice to truly be served.”

Thank you to everybody who has taken action for Troy Davis, please continue to check for action updates in the lead up to his hearing.

UPDATE: 29 JUNE 2009

Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court delayed a decision on whether to grant Troy Davis an appeal until after it returns from recess in September. The court's decision (or non-decision) should be taken as a good sign. It gives us hope that at least some Supreme Court Justices may finally be waking up to the strong claims of innocence in this case and want to take more time to weigh the facts.

Visit the Troy Davis campaign centre on Protect the Human

UPDATE: 3 JUNE 2009

Troy Davis currently has a final appeal before the US Supreme Court. If that is rejected, his case returns to Savannah, Georgia, where a new District Attorney will have some life or death decisions to make.

DA Larry Chisolm was elected in 2008 and campaigned on a platform to "increase the sense of fairness" in his office.

Call on DA Chisolm to do everything in his power to prevent an execution, and urge him to reopen the case against Troy Davis, since most of the witnesses responsible for his conviction have now recanted. Call on District Attorney Larry Chisolm to re-open the case against Troy Davis.

Update: 24 October 2008

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has issued a 25-day stay of execution for Troy Davis.

Amnesty International is heartened to learn of this stay, which came just 3 days before Troy Davis was due to be executed. Thank you to all the activists that have worked so hard to save Troy. You have made a difference.

Watch this space for the latest updates but, until we know more, please hold off from taking further action.

Here is an animated film about Troy's case made by Amnesty USA

Update: 20 October

Troy Davis is scheduled to be executed in Georgia at 7pm local time on 27 October. He has been on death row for 17 years for a murder he maintains he did not commit.

The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles has already rejected clemency for Troy Davis, and has indicated that it will not reconsider its decision. It has sole authority to grant executive clemency in Georgia capital cases.

Update: 16 October

Troy Davis was less than two hours from execution on 23 September 2008 when the US Supreme Court issued a stay of execution to give it time to decide whether to hear his appeal against the Georgia Supreme Court’s ruling.

The stay of execution was dissolved on 14 October when the Court announced that it had decided not to take the case. The State of Georgia immediately moved to set a new execution date, which has been set for the 27 October.

Update: 15 October - urge clemency

Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Troy Anthony Davis' appeal. His fate is back in the hands of Georgia authorities who may seek a new execution date at any time.

The Supreme Court's decision to deny Troy Davis' petition means that no court of law will ever hold a hearing on the witnesses who have recanted their trial testimony in sworn affidavits.

Recent history of Troy Davis' case

Since the USA resumed executions in 1977, 1,125 prisoners have been put to death, 43 of them in Georgia. In the same period, more than 100 people have been released from death rows around the country on grounds of innocence, many of them in cases in which witness testimony has been shown to have been unreliable. Several prisoners have gone to their deaths despite doubts about their guilt.

In late 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a landmark resolution calling for a global moratorium on executions. There have been 26 executions in the USA this year.

For a full report on Troy Davis's case, see USA: 'Where is the justice for me?' The case of Troy Davis, facing execution in Georgia, February 2007

Background information

On 12 September, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles voted to deny clemency to Troy Davis. He remains scheduled to be executed at 7pm local time on 23 September. He has been on death row for 17 years for a murder he maintains he did not commit.

Troy Davis was convicted in 1991 of the murder of 27-year-old Officer Mark Allen MacPhail, white, who was shot and killed in the car park of a Burger King restaurant in Savannah, Georgia, in the early hours of 19 August 1989. Davis was also convicted of assaulting Larry Young, a homeless man, who was accosted immediately before Officer MacPhail was shot.

At the trial, Troy Davis admitted that he had been at the scene of the shooting, but claimed that he had neither assaulted Larry Young nor shot Officer MacPhail. There was no physical evidence against Troy Davis and the weapon used in the crime was never found. The case against him consisted entirely of witness testimony. In affidavits signed over the years since the trial, a majority of the state’s witnesses have recanted or contradicted their testimony. In addition, there is post-trial testimony implicating another man, Sylvester Coles, as the gunman.

In March 2008, the Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, joined by two other Justices on the Court, wrote that,:

"In this case, nearly every witness who identified Davis as the shooter at trial has now disclaimed his or her ability to do so reliably. Three persons have stated that Sylvester Coles confessed to being the shooter. Two witnesses have stated that Sylvester Coles, contrary to his trial testimony, possessed a handgun immediately after the murder. Another witness has provided a description of the crimes that might indicate that Sylvester Coles was the shooter."

The Chief Justice wrote that, "the collective effect of all of Davis's new testimony, if it were to be found credible by the trial court in a hearing, would show the probability that a new jury would find reasonable doubt of Davis's guilt or a least sufficient residual doubt to decline to impose the death penalty".

When it had stayed the execution on 16 July 2007, the Board stated that,

 "the members of the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles will not allow an execution to proceed unless and until its members are convinced that there is no doubt as to the guilt of the accused". Find out more about this stay

This would suggest that at least a majority of its members have now been persuaded of Troy Davis's guilt.  Amnesty International believes that in the interests of transparency and public confidence in the justice system, the Board should reveal how it came to its conclusion.  

Prior to the decision, the chairman of the State Bar of Georgia's indigent defence committee was quoted as saying that:

 "It is important to the public's confidence in Georgia's criminal justice system that no person's life is taken by the state except in circumstances where their constitutional rights to a fair trial have been fully respected. With so many witnesses recanting their testimony, there just seems to be too many doubts to move forward with this execution."

After the Board's decision, Troy Davis's lawyer said that an emergency motion for a stay of execution would be filed with the US Supreme Court.  He said, "the hardest thing I've ever had to do was to tell Troy we're denied" by the Board.

The head of the Georgia-based Southern Center for Human Rights, Stephen B. Bright, a law professor at Yale University, called the Board's decision "shocking". He said that "For somebody to be executed, we really should be sure beyond doubt that the person is guilty."  International standards prohibit the execution of anyone whose guilt is in doubt.

Amnesty International opposes Troy Davis's execution unconditionally, regardless of questions of guilt or innocence, as it does all use of the death penalty.

• For a full report on this case, see USA: ‘Where is the justice for me?’ The case of Troy Davis, facing execution in Georgia, February 2007
• Find about our campaign to stop the use of the death penalty

 EMAIL 

UPDATE: 17 AUGUST 2009 In a 6-2 ruling, the USA's highest court decided that death row inmate Troy Anthony Davis should have another chance to prove his innocence before the state of Georgia puts him to death. Welcoming the U.S. Supreme Court order mandating a new evidentiary hearing Laura Moye, director of Amnesty USA’s Death Penalty Abolition Campaign said:

“We are grateful that the nation’s highest court has seen the wisdom in granting a new evidentiary hearing to Troy Davis. For years Amnesty International has maintained that this man’s compelling case of innocence needs to see the light of day. Finally it will. Given the lack of hard evidence tying Davis to Officer MacPhail’s murder, it would be nothing short of unconscionable to put him to death as a means of conveniently tying up loose ends. Finally there is an opportunity for justice to truly be served.”

Thank you to everybody who has taken action for Troy Davis, please continue to check for action updates in the lead up to his hearing.

UPDATE: 29 JUNE 2009

Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court delayed a decision on whether to grant Troy Davis an appeal until after it returns from recess in September. The court's decision (or non-decision) should be taken as a good sign. It gives us hope that at least some Supreme Court Justices may finally be waking up to the strong claims of innocence in this case and want to take more time to weigh the facts.

Visit the Troy Davis campaign centre on Protect the Human

UPDATE: 3 JUNE 2009

Troy Davis currently has a final appeal before the US Supreme Court. If that is rejected, his case returns to Savannah, Georgia, where a new District Attorney will have some life or death decisions to make.

DA Larry Chisolm was elected in 2008 and campaigned on a platform to "increase the sense of fairness" in his office.

Call on DA Chisolm to do everything in his power to prevent an execution, and urge him to reopen the case against Troy Davis, since most of the witnesses responsible for his conviction have now recanted. Call on District Attorney Larry Chisolm to re-open the case against Troy Davis.

Update: 24 October 2008

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has issued a 25-day stay of execution for Troy Davis.

Amnesty International is heartened to learn of this stay, which came just 3 days before Troy Davis was due to be executed. Thank you to all the activists that have worked so hard to save Troy. You have made a difference.

Watch this space for the latest updates but, until we know more, please hold off from taking further action.

Here is an animated film about Troy's case made by Amnesty USA

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