Davis Execution Delayed: Supreme Court Weighs Plea

[Sapphire]

Why ain't we talking about it? Specially with all you GA and legal folks on the board. Thoughts? Comments?

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44592285/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

State holds off while waiting for decision; vigils held from Georgia to Paris

ATLANTA — Convicted killer Troy Davis filed an eleventh-hour plea Wednesday evening asking the Supreme Court to stop Georgia authorities from executing him for the 1989 murder of an off-duty police officer.

The 7 p.m. execution time passed, and state officials waited for a response from the Supreme Court, which had no deadline for a decision.

"We are in a delay, waiting for a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court," Peggy Chapman of the Georgia Department of Corrections told NBC News. "There has not been a reprieve issued."

Hundreds of Davis supporters gathered outside the Jackson prison and lined a nearby highway. Crowds cheered and sang "We Shall Overcome" as news of the lethal-injection delay spread. Police in full riot gear were on hand to deal with any possible disturbance if the execution goes ahead.

The last-ditch effort with the U.S. Supreme Court came just 45 minutes before the execution was scheduled and after state officials refused to grant Davis a reprieve in the face of calls for clemency from former President Jimmy Carter, Pope Benedict XVI and others.

Late Wednesday afternoon, Georgia's Supreme Court had rejected a last appeal by Davis’ lawyers. Earlier, a Butts County Superior Court judge also declined to stop the execution.

Davis was convicted in the 1989 slaying of off-duty Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail.

In their U.S. Supreme Court filing, Davis' attorneys said "substantial constitutional errors" were made when the lower courts denied his claims that "newly available evidence reveals that false, misleading and materially inaccurate information was presented at his capital trial in 1989, rendering the convictions and death sentence fundamentally unreliable," NBC News reported.

The lawyers said they've been struggling to get these claims heard in the lower courts "after having a grueling clemency process."

There was no guarantee justices would act in time to stop the execution, but they likely knew the filing was coming, NBC News said.

Davis and his supporters have maintained his innocence. Prosecutors have stood by the case.

Davis' supporters held vigils outside Georgia's death row and as far away as London and Paris. They also tried increasingly frenzied measures, urging prison workers to stay home and even posting a judge's phone number online, hoping people will press him to put a stop to the lethal injection.

"We're trying everything we can do, everything under the law," said Chester Dunham, a civil rights activist and talk show host protesting in Savannah, where MacPhail, 27, was killed.

Outside the Jackson prison that houses Georgia's death row, about 100 people, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, gathered Wednesday afternoon for a prayer rally. As they shouted, "Free Troy Davis!" a man in a red SUV drove by and shouted, "Kill him! Kill him!"

Several dozen people gathered outside the White House to protest the execution. They held signs condemning it as a "lynching" and chanted "Too much doubt" and "What do we want? Justice!"

About 150 people gathered in support of Davis in Paris, many of them carrying signs emblazoned with his face. "Everyone who looks a little bit at the case knows that there is too much doubt to execute him," Nicolas Krameyer of Amnesty International said at the protest.

Davis' execution has been stopped three times since 2007, but on Wednesday the 42-year-old appeared to be out of legal options.

As his last hours ticked away, an upbeat and prayerful Davis turned down an offer for a special last meal as he met with friends, family and supporters. His attorney Stephen Marsh said Davis would have spent part of that time taking a polygraph test if pardons officials had taken his offer seriously.

"He doesn't want to spend three hours away from his family on what could be the last day of his life if it won't make any difference," Marsh said.

Davis' supporters also include a former FBI director, the NAACP, and several conservative figures. Amnesty International says nearly 1 million people have signed a petition on his behalf. The U.S. Supreme Court even gave him an unusual opportunity to prove his innocence in a lower court last year, though the high court itself did not hear the merits of the case.

He was convicted in 1991 of killing MacPhail, who was working as a security guard at the time. MacPhail rushed to the aid of a homeless man who prosecutors said Davis was bashing with a handgun after asking him for a beer. Prosecutors said Davis had a smirk on his face as he shot the officer to death in a Burger King parking lot.
theGrio: Death penalty debate resurrected for 2012 campaign

No gun was ever found, but prosecutors say shell casings were linked to an earlier shooting for which Davis was convicted.

Witnesses placed Davis at the crime scene and identified him as the shooter, but several of them have recanted their accounts and some jurors have said they've changed their minds about his guilt. Others have claimed a man who was with Davis that night has told people he actually shot the officer.

[Sapphire]

And I'll add more to the discussion for some life on OO... what if anything are Greek-letter organizations doing about it. I would imagine most orgs have a non-partisan policy of some sort, but it's a beautiful thing when so many people are motivated and energized to speak out about percieved injustice. Howard University students Marched to the White House to have their voices heard... I'm sure BGLO members were in the crowd. But where are you as a whole? Former President Jimmy Carter, Pope Benedict XVI, Desmond Tutu, Amnesty International are speaking out? Where are your Gena 6-like press releases? This story has gained national attention, yet I can't hear you? Is this too controversial for the Divine 9? This case, not the death penalty as a whole.

And yes, I am just trying to generate discussion, but I am also curious as to what the answer might be.

These are the questions...

[QUIET As Kept]

I know plenty o' greeks who have been involved at an individual level. I know an Alpha who's been using his blog to educate people on the case. There have been bglo members out the wazoo participating in the marches in georgia. My cousin (a Que) has been one of many holding vigil outside of the State Capitol building since early this evening. My LS road tripped down to Jackson, ga (where he is supposed to be executed) and has been there since mid-afternoon (she's still there now at 10:30pm) posting updates to facebook & twitter the entire time.

On a more widespread scale (and for the last few years...not just the last couple of weeks), I have seen my sorors gathering and sharing information, calling relevant officials, signing petitions, sending letters & emails...and quite honestly, I think that's worth waaaaaay more than a press release from NHQ. That's what my founders were about, and I'm proud to see that it hasn't been lost.

[Sapphire]

Good stuff QS! Most def, good stuff.

[Rare_Commodity]

They did all they could to try to keep him alive but it wasn't enough. If in fact he was innocent karma will come around...

[Rare_Commodity]

Wow I didn't realize how much national IMPACT this case had. He had alot of supporters of all races. Another countries are looking at the US like are we crazy...our reputation is quickly dwindling. _________________________________________________________

www.cnn.com/2011/09/22/world/davis-world-reaction/index.html?hpt=hp_c1

World shocked by U.S. execution of Troy

Execution of Troy Davis in U.S. sparks protests around world World figures, human groups, commentators urged execution to be halted EU, French and German governments expressed "deep regret" Social media users predicted execution would encourage new civil rights movement

Troy Davis may be dead, but his execution Thursday in the American state of Georgia has made him the poster boy for the global movement to end the death penalty.

World figures, including Pope Benedict XVI and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, human groups and commentators urged the execution to be halted -- but to no avail. On Wednesday Davis was put to death by lethal injection for the 1989 killing of off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail despite doubts being raised over the conviction.

The execution sparked angry reactions and protests in European capitals -- as well as outrage on social media. "We strongly deplore that the numerous appeals for clemency were not heeded," the French foreign ministry said.

"There are still serious doubts about his guilt," said Germany's junior minister for human rights Markus Loening. "An execution is irreversible -- a judicial error can never be repaired."


Davis lawyers: Innocent man 'lynched'

Mother of slain cop reacts to execution The European Union expressed "deep regret" over the execution and repeated its call for a universal moratorium on capital punishment.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the bloc had learnt "with deep regret that Mr Troy Davis was executed," her spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic told Agence-France Presse.

'"The EU opposes the use of capital punishment in all circumstances and calls for a universal moratorium," she said.

"The abolition of that penalty is essential to protect human dignity."

Amnesty International condemned the execution in a statement. "The U.S. justice system was shaken to its core as Georgia executed a person who may well be innocent. Killing a man under this enormous cloud of doubt is horrific and amounts to a catastrophic failure of the justice system," Amnesty said.

In Britain's Guardian newspaper, Ed Jackson, reporting from Jackson, Georgia, before the execution took place, gave 10 reasons why he believed the death sentence for "a man who is very possibly innocent" should be commuted.

Most of his argument concerned doubts about the conviction -- seven of the nine key witnesses to the murder of MacPhail later recanted their evidence -- but his final reason concerned the manner in which Davis was put to death.



Davis case to become global 'scandal'

Davis maintains innocence to end "Even if you set aside the issue of Davis's innocence or guilt, the manner of his execution tonight is cruel and unnatural," Jackson wrote. "If the execution goes ahead as expected, it would be the fourth scheduled execution date for this prisoner. In 2008 he was given a stay just 90 minutes before he was set to die. Experts in death row say such multiple experiences with imminent death is tantamount to torture."

In the right-of-center Daily Telegraph, Tom Chivers said the death penalty was "barbaric" and far more likely to be used against black people than white. But the main thrust of his argument was that there were serious doubts over the conviction.

"If you are pro-death penalty, you should be shouting twice as loud as the rest of us about the imminent murder of Troy Davis," Chivers wrote. "Otherwise, you can't claim to be supporting a stark but necessary act of justice. You're just a fan of killing people in general. There are words for people like that. None of them are nice."

On social media, many users predicted the execution would encourage a new civil rights movement to spring up. American novelist Hari Kunzru commented that on the issue of capital punishment the U.S. was isolated from much of the rest of the world "So I wake up to hear they executed Troy Davis. Wonder if most Americans realize how far out of step they are with international norms."

And entertainer Vincent Tucker remarked that campaigners should continue their campaign despite Davis's death. "It's one thing to fight for Troy Davis when he was alive but the key question now is will you STILL fight for his cause after his death?"

[Rare_Commodity]

Not sure how I feel about this comment from the slain officer's mother, “I really don’t like to see someone die, but he took my son,” she said."

[ReignMan19]

If he wasn't living the life he was living he would not have been a target. Yes it is wrong but if anything this whole situation made me want to mentor.

Stay out of the system but the system is not just.

[Rare_Commodity]

That's real positive Reign go for it! I mentor through the BBBS program been doing it for over 7 years and I really love it. Volunteer work is like "billable hours for the soul"

[Rare_Commodity]

Rickey Smiley made a serious comment the other day said if you are a black man educated or not and you live in the southern states AR, AL, LA, GA, MS, TN,TX, etc get somewhere and sit does because yo azz gone get sent up the river if you get in trouble...them white folks and old black folks on the jury ain't playing wit cha!

[DJ Firecracker]

Sept 22, 2011 11:08:41 GMT -5 Rare_Commodity said:

Rickey Smiley made a serious comment the other day said if you are a black man educated or not and you live in the southern states AR, AL, LA, GA, MS, TN,TX, etc get somewhere and sit does because yo azz gone get sent up the river if you get in trouble...them white folks and old black folks on the jury ain't playing wit cha!

INDEED!!!!

[123Diva]

Sept 22, 2011 10:55:17 GMT -5 ReignMan19 said:

If he wasn't living the life he was living he would not have been a target. Yes it is wrong but if anything this whole situation made me want to mentor.

Stay out of the system but the system is not just.

Thank you.

[123Diva]

I am not certain of Troy Davis' innocence. Likewise, I am uncertain of his guilt. Perhaps we should leave the power of life and death up to God, and only God. The system is far from being infallible. In addition, who are we as humans to play God???

It makes me feel GREAT when a serial killer, white supremacist, or child molester gets the needle. However, that doesn't make it right.

MERCY.

God is a God of mercy and He is our ultimate judge.

[Kyng of JDs]

After an exhausting rant on facebook, I'll just say this.

Troy Davis is the victim of sloppy lawyering. Yeah, I said it. Sloppy lawyering. After you are convicted by a jury, you have two and ONLY two routes for a successful overturning of a conviction: (1) constitutional right violation, and (2) "compelling" proof of innocence.

I know what you are thinking, "Kyng, the evidence used to convict him was wrong." Even if that is the case, the conviction stands unless you PROVE innocence. Everyone focusing on "too much doubt" is displaying ignorance (sometimes willful) of the legal standard that the law requires.

Notice how the courts repeatedly asked for proof of innocence. For those not versed in law, this is a judge's way of telling you how to present your case. See the dissent in 283 GA 438. Instead of LISTENING TO THE COURT, Davis's lawyers keep presenting the same attack on guilt rather than proof of innocence.

Davis received more process than any other death row inmate and has inadvertently created precedent to foreclose others from doing the same. Did he do it? I don't know, I didn't hear the evidence; I didn't take the oath to try the case on the evidence. But 12 people who did both said he did based on the evidence given to them. BTW Georgia law says, rightfully, that the jury cannot change its mind after the fact. So for the folks stressing that point, it's foreclosed.

From my rant:

Who has taken time to determine who to go see to end the execution? Six times, people have listed everyone from the Governor of Georgia to the President of the United States. A quick look at Georgia Law and the US Constitution demonstrates that neither of them have any power to stop this. The Supreme Court of the United States? Negative, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act took care of that.

But, this is a human rights violation, right? Not according to the law AS IT STANDS. But you know what? We can fix that. Can we resolve to change Georgia law to put execution in the hands of an elected official so that we may hold that official accountable? Let us raise the awareness of jury service and the rights and obligations of jurors. We have a myriad of solutions to “prevent the injustice,” but we need apply the aforementioned passion and emotion properly.

In context, I was addressing the emotional arguments about "doubt."

[ReignMan19]

^^^ good post..

I'm still more on the root cause of all of this... We need to keep brothers away from the system. PERIOD.

[123Diva]

Agree with Kyng's post. All these people were saying to free Davis. I was honestly sitting there thinking, "WHY???"...

[Coldfront06]

I'm anti-death penalty period...I don't trust the system enough to only execute guilty people. I also thought that many people who were supporting Davis could have done a better job of educating themselves on the facts. I was seeing comparisons to Emmett Till and stuff...and I was wondering what the hell this case had to do with Emmett Till?

[Sapphire]

I saw this posted on FB... it's old, but I find it interesting given that fact that it's the same state.

www.reuters.com/article/2008/05/22/us-usa-execution-idUSN2250765020080522

Killer Spared from Death hours Before Execution

The parole board in the state of Georgia spared a convicted killer from execution hours before he was due to die by lethal injection on Thursday and commuted his sentence to life in prison.

The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles made its decision less than three hours before Samuel David Crowe, 47, was to be executed, according to a spokeswoman for the state's prisons.

"After careful and exhaustive consideration of the requests, the board voted to grant clemency. The board voted to commute the sentence to life without parole," the parole board said.

Crowe's death would have marked the third execution since the U.S. Supreme Court lifted an unofficial moratorium on the death penalty last month.

Crowe was not present at the parole board hearing in Atlanta. He had already eaten his last meal and was preparing to enter the execution chamber at the prison in Jackson, Georgia, Mallie McCord of the Georgia Department of Corrections said.

In March 1988, Crowe killed store manager Joseph Pala during a robbery at the lumber company in Douglas County, west of Atlanta. Crowe, who had previously worked at the store, shot Pala three times with a pistol, beat him with a crowbar and a pot of paint.

Crowe pleaded guilty to armed robbery and murder and was sentenced to death the following year.

"David (Crowe) takes full responsibility for his crime and experiences profound remorse," according to Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, an advocacy group, who welcomed the board's decision.

At Thursday's hearing, his lawyers presented a dossier of evidence attesting to his remorse and good behavior in jail, according to local media reports. The lawyers also said he was suffering from withdrawal symptoms from a cocaine addiction at the time of the crime.

The U.S. Supreme Court on April 16 rejected a challenge to the three-drug cocktail used in most U.S. executions, which opponents claimed inflicted unnecessary pain. Georgia then conducted an execution on May 5.

Georgia has executed 41 men since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1973 and this week it had 109 prisoners on death row.