Troy Davis: Executed By Georgia

Image by dabnotu via Flickr

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....

Troy Davis: Last Minute Appeal

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

By: Jenée Desmond-Harris

Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection 7 p.m. EDT tonight. His attorneys are filing a desperate last-minute appeal.

Davis' attorney, Brian Kammer told the Associated Press that the appeal will ask a judge to block the execution, arguing that ballistic testing that linked Davis to the shooting was flawed.

The case has drawn worldwide attention, and the facts are familiar by now: Davis was convicted in the killing of off-duty Savannah officer Mark MacPhail, who was slain while rushing to help a homeless man being attacked. No blood or DNA tied Davis to the crime and the weapon was never found. Seven of nine key witnesses who testified at his trial have disputed all or parts of their testimony, and lawyers have long argued Davis was a victim of mistaken identity. CONTINUE....

Georgia Board Denies Clemency For Troy Davis

Georgia's pardons board rejected Tuesday a last-ditch plea for clemency from death row inmate Troy Davis despite high-profile support for his claim that he was wrongly convicted of killing a police officer in 1989.

Supreme Court Set to Review Troy Davis Verdict

By: Jackie Jones

The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to review Troy Davis’ case today and may render a decision by June 29.

While hopeful, many death penalty opponents and civil rights activists are not expecting action favorable to Davis.

Davis was convicted in 1991 of killing an off-duty Savannah, Georgia police officer, largely on the basis of eyewitness testimony, and was subsequently sentenced to death. But seven of the nine witnesses who implicated Davis in the murder have since recanted, and other witnesses have come forward to say another man had confessed to killing Officer Mark MacPhail. Further, Davis has no previous criminal record, and there is no physical evidence linking him to the crime.

Restrictions on federal appeals prevent Davis from having a hearing in federal court on the reliability of the witness testimony used against him, and Davis remains on Georgia’s death row.

Supreme Court Set to Review Troy Davis Verdict....