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UPDATE: Pardons Board Grant Davis 90 Days Stay
of Execution
(APN) SAVANNAH -- Troy
Anthony Davis, a death row inmate in Georgia
received a 90 day stay, just hours before his
scheduled execution, Atlanta Progressive News
has learned.
"I'm exhausted but elated,"
Martina Correia, Davis's sister, told Atlanta
Progressive News. "They were asking a lot of
questions and were engaging. They were so
respectful for the family. We had this
perception, we've always been treated so badly
because of what he's accused of."
"There was so much doubt in
this case. They saw that today. Troy was calling
my mother. She was sitting wrapped in a blanket.
The lawyer called and said there was a 90 day
stay. Troy said he was so thankful and he got on
his knees to thank God," Correia said.
"He's relieved he's not gonna
be killed, but he had made his peace with God.
They moved him to Death Watch today. He said we
fought a good fight. Let's remember the McPhail
[victim's] family and pray for peace and
understanding," Correia said.
"We were just asking for them
to be fair and objective. If any other court
would've stepped up and examined any of this, we
wouldn't have gotten this far. And they're
actually doing what the Court system should've
done long ago," Correia said.
"WHEREAS, earlier today...
the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, having
received an application for clemency of Troy
Anthony Davis, considered the clemency
application, argument, testimony, and opinion in
support of clemency and all other known facts
and circumstances..." a press release from the
State said.
"WHEREAS, the Members of
the... Board... will not allow an execution to
proceed in this State unless and until its
members are convinced there is no doubt as to
the guilt of the accused..."
"WHEREAS, those
representing... Davis have asserted they can and
will present live witnesses and other evidence
to the members of the Board to support their
contention that there remains some doubt as to
his guilt... IT IS HEREBY ORDERED the
execution... be and hereby is suspended until
midnight of October 14, 2007, or until this
Board issues an order..."
The meeting of Davis's
lawyers and supporters with the Board lasted
from 9am until 3:15pm today, thus about six
hours. After this, the Board met with state
prosecutors.
"My impression is there so
much material to go through today they didn't
feel prepared. It does give them time to
continue examining the facts. They still have a
responsibility and a duty to consider clemency.
One thing that could happen, there is an appeal
to the Georgia Supreme Court, that could kick in
before they make any kind of decision," Laura
Moye, Deputy Director of Amnesty International
USA Southern Regional Office, told Atlanta
Progressive News.
"We feel it means that hope
is still alive that justice can still be done.
But it doesn't mean that we have a victory. It
just means there is more time," Moye said.
It also means additional time
to increase public awareness about the case and
issues at stake. "You're gonna see continued
interest, because some people are late coming to
this story," Moye said.
"I could just guess--that the
pressure was so intense that they didn't feel
ready to make a decision yet. Or they didn't
want people to think they were rushing to a
judgment," Moye said.
"The legal team was not able
to produce all the witnesses in person. Four
witnesses came. But they do have the affidavits
[for all witnesses]," Moye said.
US Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) was
among those who spoke in support of Davis at the
hearing today. US Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) also
offered to speak in support of Davis,
spokesperson Deb Speights told APN.
In the days up until the
scheduled execution of Davis, advocates
converged to save a man whose guilt seems
uncertain, even unlikely, now that 7 of 9
witnesses have recanted in his case, and new
witnesses have implicated another man.
The International Action
Center of Atlanta and others staged a recent
protest. Family members held a candlelight
vigil. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
newspaper’s editorial board criticized the
pending execution. Even a former FBI Director
under right-wing President Ronald Reagan,
William Sessions, wrote a column in support of
Davis.
"It would be intolerable to
execute an innocent man. It would be equally
intolerable to execute a man without his claims
of innocence ever being considered by the courts
or by the executive," Sessions wrote.
Davis was convicted of
murdering a Savannah, Georgia, police officer in
1989. No physical evidence or murder weapon was
ever presented in Davis’s case.
Attorneys for Davis have also
filed a motion for a new trial in state court,
since the Supreme Court of the US recently
refused to hear his case and he exhausted his
federal appeals. After a state judge declined to
overturn the original ruling, and attorneys
today appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court.
That case is still pending.
"Georgia law allows you to go
back and say the world has changed so
dramatically. It’s like a safety valve, it tends
not to work very often. But in most cases, you
don’t have dramatic new evidence," Philip
Horton, pro bono attorney with Arnold and Porter
law firm, said.
Davis is still hoping for a
reprieve from either the Court or the Board, his
sister said.
"He got letters from South
Korea, Africa, he has hundreds of letters. He
wants to make sure to answer all of his letters
and he’s so thankful they want to save his
life," Correia said.
"Some of the witnesses did
get the opportunity to talk to Troy on the
telephone and tell him they’re sorry. They were
young [at the time]. They were breaking down
crying. Troy told him he had to forgive them
long ago. You’ve got people who lied and their
conscience is just eating away at them because
they know they lied," Correia said.
The shocking case–which has
finally captured corporate media attention in
these final days–reflects a much more systemic
problem in the United States, where procedural
technicalities have become more important to
many judges than innocence or guilt itself.
"The federal courts are
generally pretty hostile to these so-called
post-conviction proceedings. They’ve set up a
whole bunch of traps for the unwary. If you fail
to do x, you waive your rights. Most of these
things wouldn’t occur to ordinary people. It’s
real easy to waive your rights," Horton said.
Davis did not have good
public legal representation in his original
trial due to lack of funding from the State of
Georgia. Moreover, several witnesses recanted
their testimony after the fact.
"The first response of the
courts is to say, be that as it may, it’s too
late for it now because you failed to raise it
in time, or you failed to do something else,"
Horton said, describing what is called a
procedural default.
"The courts don’t decide it
on the merits. They decide the claim can no
longer be raised," Horton said.
"The evidence of guilt has
all crumbled. We end up going to court after
court saying, look at this new evidence. And the
courts say no because under these complex
procedural rules... Each time the court says, we
aren’t rejecting your evidence [on merit],"
Horton said.
"When the prosecutors are
asked about this in the press, they say they
presented this evidence already to court after
court after court. This is the way the game is
played. The public doesn’t have a clue," Horton
said.
"I think it is misleading
because they’re trying to say, because the
courts have walked through the motions, somehow
Troy has had all his chances," Laura Moye,
Deputy Director of Amnesty International USA
Southern Regional Office, said.
Several of the witnesses who
recanted also said they were pressured by police
into implicating Davis, and that they were
threatened with possibly being charged
themselves if they didn’t cooperate.
"They said we’ve got Troy and
maybe we’ll come after you as an accomplice,"
Horton describes of witnesses’ recantations.
"Most of these witnesses were
African American who were young and easily
intimated. Or one who had issues with the law,
easily manipulated. She said at the time, I’m
pregnant, I have 4 kids. I can’t go back to
jail," Moye said.
The restrictive laws which
prevent courts from considering new evidence are
contained in the 1996 Antiterrorism and
Effective Death Penalty Act. The Act has
dramatically undermined habeus corpus in the US.
US Reps. Hank Johnson (D-GA)
and Artur Davis (D-AL) told The Hill newspaper,
in Washington, DC, that the 1996 AEDPA should be
revisited, but they know of no current efforts
to do so.
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