Troy Davis: Executed By Georgia

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By COLLEEN CURRY and MICHAEL S. JAMES

Troy Davis was executed this evening for the murder of an off-duty policeman after the U.S. Supreme Court denied a last-minute stay of execution amid widespread public doubts about his guilt.

Davis, 42, died at 11:08 p.m. ET, according to a Georgia Department of Corrections official. His death by lethal injection came after an approximately four-hour delay for legal review.

Eyewitnesses described the mood in the execution chamber as "somber" as Davis was wheeled in strapped to a gurney. He declared his innocence a final time in the 1989 murder as witnesses and relatives of the victim -- off-duty Savannah, Ga., policeman Mark MacPhail -- looked on.

"I'd like to address the MacPhail family," Davis said, according to The Associated Press. "Let you know, despite the situation you are in, I'm not the one who personally killed your son, your father, your brother. I am innocent. CONTINUE....

Officer’s family deserves closure, but the right kind

By: By Deborah Mathis

Heaven forbid that we should ever know how Annaliese MacPhail feels. Her son, an off-duty police officer in Savannah, Georgia, was murdered 20 years ago – shot down in a fast food restaurant’s parking lot while trying to stop three men from harassing a homeless man.

Mrs. MacPhail has not gotten over it. I wouldn’t have either. And, like her, I would not rest until the murderer was brought to justice.

Officer’s family deserves closure, but the right kind....