Troy Anthony Davis
GDC ID: 657378
YOB: 10/68
RACE: BLACK
GENDER: MALE
EYE COLOR: BROWN
HAIR COLOR: BLACK
HT:
WT:
MAJOR OFFENSE: MURDER

CASE NO: 284361
OFFENSE: POSS OF FIREARM DUR CRIME, OBSTR OF LAW ENF OFFICER, AGGRAV ASSAULT, AGGRAV ASSAULT, MURDER
CONVICTION COUNTY: CHATHAM COUNTY
CRIME COMMIT DATE: 08/19/1989
SENTENCE LENGTH: 05 years, 05 years, 20 years, 20 years, DEATH
INCARCERATION BEGIN: 09/13/91

Troy Anthony Davis

Georgia Attorney General

PRESS ADVISORY

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Execution Set for Troy Anthony Davis, Convicted of 1989 Murder of Savannah Police Officer Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens offers the following information in the case against Troy Anthony Davis, who is currently scheduled to be executed on September 21, 2011 at 7:00 p.m.

Scheduled Execution

On September 6, 2011, the Superior Court of Chatham County filed an order, setting the seven-day window in which the execution of Troy Anthony Davis may occur to begin at noon on September 21, 2011, and ending seven days later at noon on September 28, 2011. The Commissioner of the Department of Corrections then set the specific date and time for the execution as 7:00 pm on September 21, 2011. Davis has concluded his direct appeal proceedings and his state and federal habeas corpus proceedings.

Davis’ Crimes

At approximately 1:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 19, 1989, officers of the Savannah Police Department responded to a call of “an officer down” at the Greyhound bus station. (T. 759)[1]. Officers found Mark MacPhail, a 27 year-old Savannah police officer, lying face down in the parking lot of the Burger King restaurant next to the bus station. (T. 759). Officer MacPhail’s mouth was filled with blood and bits of his teeth were on the sidewalk. As he began administering CPR to the victim, Officer Owens noticed that the victim’s firearm was still snapped into his holster. (T. 761).

Larry Young, who was present at the scene, told police that between midnight and 1:00 a.m. he had walked from the Burger King parking lot to the convenience store down the block to purchase beer. (T. 797-798). Sylvester “Red” Coles saw Young leave the pool hall next door and began following Young demanding a beer. (T. 798). Coles continued to harass Mr. Young all the way back to the Burger King. (T. 799). When Young arrived at the parking lot, Harriet Murray was sitting on a low wall by the restaurant. Davis and Daryl Collins, who had taken a shortcut to the parking lot, came out from behind the bank and surrounded Mr. Young. (T. 799). Mr. Coles, who was facing Mr. Young, told him not to walk away “cause you don’t know me, I’ll shoot you,” and began digging in his pants. (T. 845). Ms. Murray ran to the back door of the Burger King, which was locked. (T. 799). Davis, who was behind Young and to his right, blind-sided him, striking him on the side of the face with a snub-nosed pistol, inflicting a severe head injury. Mr. Young began to bleed profusely, and he stumbled to a van parked in front of the Burger King drive-in window, asking the occupants for help. (T. 803). When the driver did not respond, he went to the drive-in window, but the manager shut it in his face. (T. 803, 915).

In response to the disturbance in the parking lot, Officer MacPhail, who was working as a security guard at the restaurant, walked rapidly from behind the bus station, with his nightstick in his hand and ordered the three men to halt. (T. 849). Mr. Collins and Davis fled, and Officer MacPhail ran past Sylvester Coles in pursuit of Davis. (T. 851). Davis looked over his shoulder, and when the officer was five to six feet away, shot him. Officer MacPhail fell to the ground, and Davis walked towards him and shot him again while he was on the ground. (T. 850). One eyewitness testified that Davis was smiling at the time. (T. 851). The victim died of gunshot wounds before help arrived. Davis fled to Atlanta the following day and surrendered to authorities on August 23, 1989.

Pursuant to an investigation, police learned that on the night of the killing, Davis had attended a party on Cloverdale Drive in a subdivision near Savannah. (T. 1115-1116). During the party, Davis, annoyed that some girls ignored him, told several of his friends something about “burning them.” (T. 146). Davis then walked around saying, “I feel like doing something, anything.” (T. 1464). When Michael Cooper and his friends were leaving the party, Davis was standing out front. (T. 1120). Michael Cooper was in the front passenger seat, and as the car pulled away, several of the men in the car leaned out the window shouting and throwing things. (T. 1120, 1186). Davis shot at the car from a couple of hundred feet away and the bullet shattered the back windshield and lodged in Michael Cooper’s right jaw. (T. 1186). Cooper was treated at the hospital and released and Cooper’s injury formed the basis for Count IV of Davis’ indictment. The shooting incident took place approximately one hour before Officer MacPhail was shot.

Shortly after Michael Cooper was shot, Eric Ellison and D.D. Collins picked up Davis in Cloverdale and took him to Brown’s Pool Hall in Savannah. Red Coles, wearing a yellow t-shirt, was already at the pool hall.

A ballistics expert testified that the bullet recovered from MacPhail’s body was of the same type and was possibly fired from the same weapon as used in the Cooper shooting. (T. 1292). Four .38 special casings recovered at Cloverdale, where Michael Cooper was wounded, were fired from the same gun as casings found at the scene of Officer MacPhail’s murder. (T. 1292).

At trial, Kevin McQueen, who was at the Chatham City Jail with Davis, testified that Davis told him there had been a party in Cloverdale on the night of the victim’s murder; Davis had argued with some men and there was an exchange of gunfire. (T. 1230-1231). Davis told McQueen he did some of the shooting. (T. 1231). After the party, Davis went to a girlfriend’s house and intended to eat breakfast at Burger King. Davis stated that he was with a friend and they ran into a guy who “owed money to buy dope.” (T. 1231). There was a fight, Officer MacPhail appeared, and Davis shot him in the face. As Officer MacPhail attempted to get up, Davis shot him again, because he was afraid MacPhail had seen him that night at Cloverdale. (T. 1232). Davis also told McQueen that he was on his way out of town to Atlanta. (T. 1232).

Jeffrey Lapp testified that Davis told him he did the shooting at Burger King, but that it was self-defense. (T. 1249-1252). Mr. Lapp noted that Davis’ street name was RAH, standing for “Rough As Hell.” (T. 1257). Red Coles identified Davis as the perpetrator of Officer MacPhail’s murder, as did numerous other eyewitnesses, including Harriet Murray, Dorothy Ferrell, Daryl Collins, Antoine Williams, Steven Sanders and Larry Young.

Davis testified at trial. Davis admitted that he was present at the scene of the shooting on the night in question, but denied that he was involved in the shooting of Cooper or the victim or the assault on Larry Young.

The Trial (1989-1991)

Davis was found Davis guilty of one count of malice murder, one count of obstruction of a law enforcement officer, two counts of aggravated assault and one count of possession of firearm during the commission of a felony. The jury’s recommendation of a death sentence was returned on August 30, 1991. The Georgia Supreme Court unanimously affirmed Davis’ convictions and death sentence on February 26, 1993. Davis v. State, 263 Ga. 5, 426 S.E.2d 844 (1993). The Georgia Supreme Court specifically found that the evidence presented at Davis’ trial was sufficient to support the jury’s verdict, by stating that, “The evidence supports the conviction on all counts.” Davis v. State, 263 Ga. 5, 7 (1993).

State Habeas Corpus Petition (1994-2001)

Davis, represented by the Georgia Resource Center, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the Superior Court of Butts County, Georgia on March 15, 1994. An evidentiary hearing was held on December 16, 1996.

On September 9, 1997, the state habeas corpus court denied Davis state habeas corpus relief, including his claim that he was not the shooter. (State habeas corpus order of September 5, 1997, denying relief, page 41). The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed the denial of state habeas corpus relief on November 13, 2000. Davis v. Turpin, 273 Ga. 244, 539 S.E.2d 129 (2000).

Davis then filed a petition for writ of certiorari in the United States Supreme Court, which was denied on October 1, 2001. Davis v. Turpin, 534 U.S. 842, 122 S.Ct. 100 (2001).

Federal Habeas Corpus Petition (2001-2004)

Davis, represented by Thomas Dunn, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, Savannah Division, on December 14, 2001. On May 13, 2004, the district court denied Davis federal habeas corpus relief. In its order denying relief, the federal habeas corpus court denied Davis a federal evidentiary hearing stating that, “this Court finds that because the submitted affidavits are insufficient to raise doubts as to the constitutionality of the result at trial, there is no danger of a miscarriage of justice in declining to consider the claim.” (Federal habeas corpus order of 5/13/04, p. 25.).

11th Circuit Court of Appeals (2004-2006)

The case was orally argued before the Eleventh Circuit on September 7, 2005. On September 26, 2006, the Eleventh Circuit issued an opinion which affirmed the denial of federal habeas corpus relief to Davis. Davis v. Terry, 465 F.3d 1249 (11th Cir. 2006). In the Eleventh Circuit’s opinion, the Court noted, “In this case, Davis does not make a substantive claim of actual innocence. Rather, he argues that his constitutional claims of an unfair trial must be considered, even though they are otherwise procedurally defaulted, because he has made the requisite showing of actual innocence under Schlup.” Davis v. Terry, 465 F.3d 1249, 1251 (11th Cir. 2006). Reviewing each of Davis’s claims, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the denial of federal habeas corpus relief by stating the following, “Having very carefully considered this record, we cannot say that the district court erred in concluding that Davis has not borne his burden to establish a viable claim that his trial was constitutionally unfair.” Davis v. Terry, 465 F.3d 1249, 1256 (11th Cir. 2006). Davis filed a petition for writ of certiorari in the United States Supreme Court on April 11, 2007, which was denied on June 25, 2007.

Original Execution Date Set (July 17, 2007)

On June 29, 2007, Chief Judge Perry Brannen, Jr. of the Superior Court of Chatham County filed an order setting the execution of Troy Anthony Davis for July 17, 2007. Davis filed a motion for stay of execution and an extraordinary motion for new trial. The trial court granted a stay, and then “exhaustively reviewed” each submitted affidavit “and considered in great detail the relevant trial testimony, if any, corresponding to each.” In denying the extraordinary motion for new trial, the trial court concluded that, “Defendant has failed to carry the burden on each and every submitted affidavit.”

On appeal, the Georgia Supreme Court extensively reviewed each category of “affidavit testimony” on which Petitioner’s extraordinary motion relied, including: “recantations by trial witnesses,” “statements recounting alleged admissions of guilt by Coles,” “statements that Coles disposed of a handgun following the murder” and “alleged eyewitness accounts.” Davis v. State, 283 Ga. 438, 441-447, 660 S.E.2d 354 (2008). The Georgia Supreme Court held that, “Upon our careful review of Davis’s extraordinary motion for new trial and the trial record, we find that Davis failed to present such facts in his motion and, therefore, that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying that motion without a hearing.” Davis v. State, 283 Ga. at 448.

New Execution Date Set (September 23, 2008)

A new execution date was set for Troy Anthony Davis for September 23, 2008. On September 12, 2008, the Board of Pardons and Paroles denied commutation of death sentence and issued the following statement: The Parole Board does not generally comment on death penalty cases it has considered for clemency. However, the Troy Davis case has received such extensive publicity that the Board has decided to make an exception.

Davis’ attorneys have argued that the Board should grant him clemency because a number of witnesses against Davis changed their earlier statements to the police and their testimony at the trial. Moreover, the attorneys have brought forward other people who now claim to have information that raises doubt as to the guilt of Davis. Because of these claims, the Parole Board stopped Davis’ execution last year. The Board has now spent more than a year studying and considering this case.

As a part of its proceedings, the Board gave Davis’ attorneys an opportunity to present every witness they desired to support their allegation that there is doubt as to Davis’ guilt. The Board heard each of these witnesses and questioned them closely. In addition, the Board has studied the voluminous trial transcript, the police investigation report and the initial statements of the witnesses. The Board has also had certain physical evidence retested and Davis interviewed.

After an exhaustive review of all available information regarding the Troy Davis case and after considering all possible reasons for granting clemency, the Board has determined that clemency is not warranted.

On September 23, 2008, the United States Supreme Court entered an order staying the execution pending disposition of Davis’s petition for writ of certiorari that had been previously filed on July 14, 2008. On October 14, 2008, the United States Supreme Court denied Davis’s petition for writ of certiorari, thus terminating the stay of execution. Davis v. Georgia, ___ U.S. ___, 129 S.Ct. 397 (2008).

New Execution Date Set (October 27, 2008)

On October 22, 2008, Davis filed an application for leave to file a second or successive habeas corpus petition. Respondent filed a response in opposition on October 23, 2008. On October 24, 2008, the Eleventh Circuit granted a conditional stay of execution and directed both parties to submit briefs addressing specific issues. Both parties submitted briefs, and an oral argument before the Eleventh Circuit was held on December 9, 2008. On April 16, 2009, the Eleventh Circuit denied Davis’s application for leave to file a second or successive habeas corpus petition. In re: Davis, 565 F.3d 810 (11th Cir. 2009). The Eleventh Circuit held:

In short, we are constrained by the statutory requirements found in § 2244(b)(2)(B) to conclude that Davis has not even come close to making a prima facie showing that his Herrera claim relies on (i) facts that could not have been discovered previously through the exercise of due diligence, and that (ii), if proven, would “establish by clear and convincing evidence that, but for constitutional error, no reasonable factfinder would have found the applicant guilty of the underlying offense.” 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(2)(B) (2006). He, therefore, cannot file a successive petition.

In re Davis, 565 F.3d at 824.

Davis subsequently filed an original writ in the United States Supreme Court on May 19, 2009. On August 17, 2009, the United States Supreme Court transferred the case to the district court for that court to “receive testimony and make findings of fact as to whether evidence that could not have been obtained at the time of the trial establishes petitioner’s innocence.” In re Davis, ___ U.S. ___, 130 S.Ct. 1 (2009).

Following briefing and discovery, a federal evidentiary hearing was conducted in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, Savannah Division, on June 23-24, 2010. On August 24, 2010, the United States District Court entered an order denying Davis’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus. In denying relief, the district court held:

Ultimately, while Mr. Davis's new evidence casts some additional, minimal doubt on his conviction, it is largely smoke and mirrors. The vast majority of the evidence at trial remains intact, and the new evidence is largely not credible or lacking in probative value. After careful consideration, the Court finds that Mr. Davis has failed to make a showing of actual innocence that would entitle him to habeas relief in federal court.

In re: Davis, Case No. CV409-130.

Thereafter, Davis filed a petition for writ of certiorari in the United States Supreme Court on January 21, 2011, which was denied on March 28, 2011.

Watching an execution: AJC reporter was inside the death chamber

By Rhonda Cook - AJC.com

September 22, 2011

Just after 10:30 Wednesday night two words stopped the conversation among reporters instantly. “Y’all ready?” a correctional officer asked. We were moments away from witnessing an execution. Media witnesses are as much a part of the execution process as the officers who escort the inmate to the death chamber or the officers who strap the condemned to a gurney.

Wednesday, we were there as unbiased witnesses, sitting on the back row. Our seats were behind those there on behalf of the condemned and those who prosecuted or arrested Troy Davis for the 1989 murder of Savannah police officer Mark Allen MacPhail. The dead officer’s son and namesake, Mark MacPhail Jr., and his brother, William MacPhail, were there for the family. We spoke little from that moment on, the five reporters selected to witness the execution.

As the officer called our names, we lined up and left the room where we had waited for so long, oblivious to the last-ditch effort to spare Davis and the police presence and protests beyond the prison's walls. In the death chamber, we took our seats on the last of three pews.

Warden Carl Humphrey began the process by reading the execution order signed by Chatham County Judge Penny Haas Freesmann. "The court having sentenced defendant Troy Anthony Davis on the third day of September, 1991, to be executed….” Then he asked Davis if he has any final words. Yes, the condemned man said and he raised his head so he could look at Mark MacPhail Jr., who was an infant when his father was murdered, and William MacPhail, the dead officer’s brother. “I’m sorry for your loss,” Davis said.

Mark MacPhail, who was leaning forward, and his uncle did not move. They stared at the man who killed their loved one. “I did not personally kill your son, father and brother,” Davis said. “I am innocent. “ He asked his family and friends to continue to search for the truth. And to the prison officials he said “may God have mercy on your souls. May God bless your souls.” He then lowered his head. He turned down an offer for a prayer.

Within minutes, Troy Anthony Davis slipped out of consciousness and in 14 minutes he was dead. A three-drug cocktail ended his life. First pentobarbital put Davis in a drug-induced coma. The paralytic pancuronium bromide was second. Potassium chloride stopped Davis’ heart. “The court ordered execution of Troy Anthony Davis was carried out in accordance with the laws of the state of Georgia,” the warden announced. Curtains in the death chamber were closed and we were quickly ushered out.

Waiting for us at the media staging area was a line of correctional officers, deputy sheriffs and state troopers blocking protesters from crossing Georgia Highway 36 onto prison property and hoards of local, national and international reporters waiting for the reporters who witnessed the execution to describe what happened. He went peacefully, one of the reporters said.

*****

Davis' last day: A goodbye to family

By Rhonda Cook

September 21, 2011

Troy Anthony Davis is preparing to die for the fourth time today. Davis' day will run according to a schedule the Department of Corrections follows in the hours leading up to an execution -- a final goodbye to family, a last meal, the chance for Davis to make a final statement. Then, at 7 p.m., he is scheduled to die by lethal injection for the 1989 shooting death of off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail.

Three previous times Davis has been scheduled to die. In 2007 his execution was called off the day before. . In 2008 he came within 2 1/2 hours of dying when the U.S. Supreme Court stopped it. And again in 2008 the federal court of appeals stopped the execution three days before he was to die. This time, however, he has exhausted all his appeals.

"We’ve been here before. We’re just hoping it will go all the way through this time,” said Mark MacPhail Jr., who was an infant in 1989 when his father and namesake was shot to death in a Savannah Burger King parking lot.

For the most part, activity today at the Diagnostic and Classification Prison, the home for all Georgia executions, will be as it has been for 28 previous executions. According to prison policies, Davis was put on "death watch" days ago, with an officer assigned to watch him at all times to ensure he does not try to take his own life. Anonymous members of the prison's execution team have rehearsed their respective roles. Today, officers -- even those not directly assigned to the execution -- will remove any badges or patches that identify them. .

Davis and his family will have six hours together -- 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. -- in a special visitation room before they say "good-bye." After his family leaves the prison for the last time, that is when officials begin the final preparations for his death.

Davis will get a physical and clean clothes at 3 p.m., and an hour later his final meal. Davis has asked to have the same thing for dinner that the rest of the 2,100 inmates will have Wednesday – a cheeseburger, potatoes, baked beans, slaw, cookies and a grape drink. At 5 p.m. Davis can make a recorded final statement, one that is longer than the one he can make once he is strapped to the gurney in the death chamber.

He will be allowed to pass the time listening to music, reading, watching television and talking on the telephone. And all the while a prison guard will take meticulous notes of everything he does, how much he eats or doesn't eat and his mood. An hour before he is scheduled to die, Davis will be offered a sedative to calm him.

That also is the time when five reporters will be loaded into a van and driven to the prison where they will wait, down the hall from other witnesses, until they are taken to the death chamber behind the massive prison. One by one, they will be led into the view area – first the witnesses for the state, then Davis’ witness and finally the media witnesses.

Mark MacPhail Jr. and his uncle, William MacPhail, will be in the death chamber to represent the family. Mark MacPhail said his older sister's emotions wouldn't let her witness the execution and his mother and grandmother didn't want to watch. "I was the only family member willing to," said the 22-year-old. Once the witnesses are seated, Davis will be placed in view with IVs in both arms. The warden will read the death warrant and Davis will be offered a chance for final words. The lethal injection process will begin, injecting a cocktail of drugs in Davis that will kill him within minutes.

*****

Davis appeals fail; executed for ‘89 murder

By Bill Rankin and Rhonda Cook

September 21, 2011

Troy Anthony Davis, who maintained his innocence until the end, was executed late Wednesday night after the nation’s highest court rejected his final appeal. Davis, 42, was declared dead at 11:08 p.m., but his execution did not put to rest widespread doubts about whether he committed the crime for which he was punished – the 1989 murder of off-duty Savannah Police Officer Mark Allen MacPhail, a father of two young children and a former Army Ranger. His death-penalty case was one of the most bitterly contested and controversial in Georgia history.

Strapped to the lethal-injection gurney, Davis lifted his head and looked at the MacPhail family, and said, "The incident that night was not my fault, I did not have a gun. ... I did not personally kill your son, father and brother. I am innocent." He then said for "those about to take my life, may God have mercy on your souls, may God bless your souls." When Davis addressed members of the MacPhail family who witnessed the execution, they said nothing, but did not look away.

MacPhail’s family and the prosecutors who put Davis on death row steadfastly stood behind Davis’ conviction as his innocence claims attracted worldwide attention and the calls from dignitaries and celebrities for Davis to be spared. But while Davis may have made thousands wonder if he was a true cop killer, he could not convince the justice system to halt his execution. "I'm not joyous," MacPhail's mother, Anneliese MacPhail, said. "I'm feeling a little bit relieved. It has been a long, long battle. I'd like to close the book."

Brian Kammer, one of Davis' lawyers, said the state may have executed an innocent man. "I think Georgia has shamed itself in a very profound way by failing to err on the side of life when there is meaningful, significant doubt," he said. This was the fourth time Davis faced execution. On the three prior occasions, he received stays. But a succession of court decisions issued Wednesday denied Davis' final bids.

The Georgia Supreme Court unanimously declined to stop the execution about two hours before it was to be carried out. Davis' scheduled 7 p.m. execution was put on hold for more than three hours as the U.S. Supreme Court considered his final bid.

The scene outside the state prison in Jackson was unlike any other in past executions. Television satellite trucks and media cars parked bumper to bumper. A crowd of death-penalty opponents swelling into the hundreds -- but dwindled at the evening wore on -- rallied outside and held vigils in an area set aside for them. A news conference organized by Amnesty International and the NAACP at a nearby church resembled a tent-revival meeting.

As the high court deliberated past the scheduled execution time, a dozen Georgia state troopers in riot gear raised tensions when they marched in military formation between protesters and other officers in paramilitary gear stationed just outside the prison. The troopers were met by choruses of “Shame on you” from the protesters.

Benjamin Jealous, head of the NAACP, predicted Davis’ case would be a “game-changer for the death-penalty debate” and make jurors more reluctant to send killers to death row for fear they might be making a mistake.

As the day wore on and Davis’ execution neared, he met with family members and friends. He declined the opportunity offered all condemned inmates to give a final, recorded statement. He was given a tray with a cheeseburger, potatoes, baked beans, coleslaw and cookies but did not eat a last meal, a prison spokeswoman said.

This week, Davis’ legal team mounted an aggressive effort to try and stop the execution. It first asked the state Board of Pardons and Paroles to grant Davis clemency, a request that was denied Tuesday. The lawyers, joined by U.S. congressmen, former Department of Corrections officials and the Innocence Project, asked the parole board to reconsider. The board denied that as well.

Davis’ lawyers next asked the Department of Corrections to let Davis take a polygraph test, but they were rebuffed at the prison gate on Wednesday morning. “We came here to try and prove Mr. Davis is innocent and unfortunately we were denied that opportunity by the Department of Corrections,” said Stephen Marsh, one of Davis’ lawyers, after he was turned away from the prison in Jackson, about 50 miles south of Atlanta.

Davis’ supporters even called for President Barack Obama to stop the execution, though only the state parole board or a court could do so. At a Monday news conference, White House spokesman Jay Carney, when asked about Davis’ case, declined to weigh in. “Well, as you know, the president has written that he believes the death penalty does little to deter crime but that some crimes merit the ultimate punishment,” Carney said. He referred questions about the pending Davis execution to the U.S. Justice Department.

The case was one of the most popular topics throughout Wednesday on the social media Twitter site.

MacPhail, 27, was moonlighting on a security detail shortly after midnight on Aug. 19, 1989, when he rushed to help a homeless man who had cried out while he was pistol-whipped in a Burger King parking lot. MacPhail was shot three times before he could draw his gun. One witness said the killer wore a “smirky-like smile” and stood over the fallen officer, firing again and again, including once in MacPhail’s face.

Sylvester “Redd” Coles, who accompanied Davis to the scene, was the first to implicate Davis to police. Other witnesses said they either saw Davis fire the fatal shots or identified Davis as the killer by the clothes he wore. Davis was tried, convicted and sentenced to death during a 1991 trial.

In ensuing years, however, several key prosecution witnesses renounced or backed off their trial testimony, while others issued sworn statements that said Coles had told them he was the actual trigger man. Coles, once asked by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution about the accusations, declined to comment. At trial, he testified that he left the immediate crime scene before he heard shots fired.

The new testimony and evidence gained notoriety because the murder weapon was never found, and no DNA, fingerprint or blood evidence tied Davis to the killing. At least three jurors who sentenced Davis to death recently signed sworn statements that said they now had doubts about their verdicts and asked that Davis be spared execution.

People arrived outside the prison in buses, including some who accompanied Al Sharpton and his National Action Network from Atlanta. A.C. Dumas traveled to Jackson from Flint, Mich., to rally support for Davis. “I think you have to correct the mistake — that is why you have erasures,” Dumas said. “This is a threat of injustice and needs to be corrected.”

Organized by Amnesty International and the NAACP, a news conference held at Towaligia County Line Baptist Church near the jail better resembled a tent revival meeting. Among the speakers were Big Boi of the musical group Outkast and Martina Correia, Davis’ eldest sibling, who has been the most outspoken champion of his cause.

The wheelchair-bound Correia, who is battling breast cancer, said she deeply believed in her brother’s innocence and contended his case should be reason for abolishing the death penalty. “Troy said this movement did not begin with him and will not end with him,” she said. “I’m not here to say who is innocent or who is guilty, but, if you’re going to execute a man, you need to make sure he is 100-percent guilty,” said Big Boi, whose legal name is Antwan Patton and who was raised in Savannah. “There is too much doubt.”

About 400 Troy Davis supporters gathered in front of the state Capitol Wednesday night in a vigil calling for a stay of execution. Some carried “I Am Troy Davis” banners, held candles, sang and prayed.

*****

A mother's vigil

By Craig Schneider and Victoria Loe Hicks

September 21, 2011

COLUMBUS -- "It might be over this time." Those six words from Anneliese MacPhail, scribbled by a friend and left lying on the kitchen table, held 22 years of grief and anger. "I'm a nervous wreck," MacPhail announced at 6:35 p.m., as the clock ticked down toward the scheduled execution of the man convicted of killing her youngest son.

As 7 p.m. came and went with no execution, the mother, long a widow, waited a wait she had endured three times before. At 77, she waited with a steel-spined determination to see justice -- justice by her own lights -- done no matter how long the wait. Surrounded by family, friends and dozens of framed family photos, she smoked, in her own words, "like a steam engine" and sat by the phone. It rang incessantly, but not with the news she wanted, the news from the prison that would put the waiting behind her.

Instead, some of the calls were from people who wanted to berate her for being party to the killing of Troy Davis, a man they believed to have been wrongly convicted. She didn't shrink from answering them back. Let them tell her she had blood on her hands, she said defiantly. Let them challenge her any way at all. "I know what I'm doing," she said. "They're trying to intimidate me. I don't go that route."

The phone was her umbilical cord to the outside world, her only source of news. The TV was off; the local station was not covering the execution vigil live. Earlier in the evening, when the protests over Davis' impending execution dominated the national news, she had watched and talked right back at the talking heads. "That's what you think," she barked at the Rev. Al Sharpton when he proclaimed that killing Davis would be a miscarriage of justice.

All around her, the house spoke tales of a family devoted to military and police service. In a bedroom was a blanket emblazoned with the words: "Freedom is not free." In the living room, amidst the photos -- Mark graduating from high school, Mark in his Army Ranger uniform -- sat a shadowbox containing a gold police shield, a gift from an admirer. Mark's real shield she carries in her purse: Savannah Police Department, Officer 212.

Outside, TV camera crews camped on the front lawn. In the living room, MacPhail fingered the photos of Mark as her 11-month-old great-grandson, Grayson, crawled about on the rug. His mother, Mandy Winningham, was 7 when her uncle Mark was killed. After all these years of struggle and controversy, it's hard she said, to remember the good times.

In the kitchen, 82-year-old Helen Edwards sat knitting dish towels. Edwards, who also lost a son to murder, met MacPhail through a support group for crime victims. She has little use for Davis' supporters, she said, even the Pope or former President Jimmy Carter. If she met them on the street, she said, "I would make a face."

As Edwards knitted, MacPhail went outside to stand stoically in the front yard with a crew from CNN. Sheltered by an umbrella from the pouring rain, she waited for Anderson Cooper to be ready to do a remote interview. "Dear," she called him, when the interview finally commenced. Off camera, as the clock ticked past 8, past 8:30, past 9, she waited. "I don't hate him," she said of Davis. "The hate is gone. He disgusts me."

9:30 ... 9:45 ... 10:00 ... the wait stretched on. But soldiers know how to wait. "I want my justice," she said. "I just want it done." 10:19, the phone rang. "Thank you," MacPhail said to the voice on the other end.

Turning to Edwards and Winningham, she thrust her fists into the air. "It's going ahead," she said. 11:08, the phone rang again. She picked it up and listened. Putting it down, she said slowly and with emphasis: "It is over."

Troy Davis: The time line

SavannahNow.com

September 22, 2011

1989

Aug. 19: Officer Mark Allen MacPhail is shot twice while trying to break up a fight.
Aug. 20: Police conduct two raids searching for the suspect, Troy Anthony Davis.
Aug. 22: Even as MacPhail’s funeral is held, officers continue to work the case.
Aug. 23: Davis surrenders after negotiations between police and Davis’ family. Davis had fled to Atlanta.
Nov. 15: Davis is indicted on murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm.

1990

Jan. 16: The formal request for the death penalty triggers the state’s uniform procedures.
April 30: Davis’ lawyers enter a plea of not guilty. They also request a change of venue.
July 30: Trial is set for October.
Oct. 12: The trial is postponed to December. Davis’ lawyers request a psychological evaluation.
Nov. 9: Judge James W. Head bans evidence seized during a search of the home of Davis’ mother.
Nov. 15: Prosecutors ask to delay Davis’ trial while they appeal the banning of evidence. Granted.

1991

May: Georgia Supreme Court upholds the ban on evidence seized by officers during the raid.
May 31: Judge Head sets Davis’ trial for Aug. 19.
July: Davis’ lawyers request that cameras be banned from the trial. Aug. 22: Opening statements are made.
Aug. 23: Harriette Murray identifies Davis as the shooter and says he smiled as he shot MacPhail.
Aug. 26: Kevin McQueen testifies that Davis admitted the shooting to him.
Aug. 27: Davis takes the stand and denies shooting MacPhail. He says he fled the scene before.
Aug. 28: Closing statements are made. The jury takes about two hours to convict Davis.
Aug. 29: Davis asks the jury to spare his life in the sentencing phase of the trial.
Aug. 30: After seven hours, the jury sentences Davis to death.
Oct. 1: Lawyers file a motion for a new trial.

1992

Feb. 18: Lawyers present their arguments for a new trial.
March 20: Judge Head upholds the conviction, sending further appeals to the Georgia Supreme Court.

1993

Feb. 26: The Georgia Supreme Court upholds the conviction and sentence of Davis.
Nov. 1: The U.S. Supreme Court refuses to hear Davis case without comment.

1994

March 3: Judge Head signs the first order for execution. It ends Davis’ rounds of direct appeals to his conviction. Assistant District Attorney David Lock, who assisted in the prosecution of Davis, states that Davis has another 10 years of “habeas corpus” petitions left before a meaningful execution date.

2006

September: The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals rejects arguments and affirms death sentence.

2007

April 12: Lawyers for Davis file a final appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court.
June 25: The U.S. Supreme Court refuses to review the conviction and sentence.
July 9: Lawyers file an extraordinary motion for a new trial that another man shot and killed MacPhail.
July 10: The Georgia Board of Pardons receives letters from human rights activists and supporters for Davis. Tonya Johnson, a witness in the case, states she saw another man dump the guns after the shooting. She said she didn’t come forward earlier because she fears the man she believed to be the actual shooter.

July 12: Prosecutors argue the “new” evidence is old.
July 13: Judge Penny Haas Freesemann rejects Davis’ appeal and refuses to stay his execution.
July 16: The Board of Pardons and Paroles suspend Davis’ execution for 90 days. As the month wears on, letters continue to pour in to the board asking for clemency or setting aside the death penalty to life in prison. Meanwhile, challenges to the lethal injection method may further delay any executions.

Aug. 3: The Georgia Supreme Court agrees to hear an appeal for a new trial.
Aug. 6: A second clemency hearing is suspended as the lawyers seek a new trial.
Nov. 13: The Georgia Supreme Court hears Davis’ request for a new trial.

2008

Mar. 17: The Georgia Supreme Court rejects Davis’ contention that witness recantations should allow a new trial. They reject his request a second time in April.

Sept. 3: Davis’ execution is set for Sept. 23.
Sept. 12: The Board of Pardons and Paroles rejects a clemency request.
Sept. 23: An eleventh-hour move by the U.S. Supreme Court grants Davis a stay.
Oct. 11: The U.S. Supreme Court again rejects a request to review the case.
Oct. 12: An Oct. 27 execution date is set.
Oct. 24: The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals grants a stay.
Dec. 9: The Circuit Court hears Davis’ bid for a new trial.

2009

April: The 11th U.S. Circuit Court rejects Davis’ appeal.
June: The NAACP appeals to Chatham County District Attorney Larry Chisholm to reopen the case. Various groups urge that the case be reopened. Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court delays ruling on the case until its next term.

Aug. 17: The U.S. Supreme Court rules the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia must hear evidence in the case.
Aug. 19: The 20th anniversary of the shooting of MacPhail is marked.

2010

January: Davis’ lawyers seek police files in the case saying they hold evidence not presented.
February: State attorneys suggest defense attorneys improperly obtained witness recantations.
June: Evidence that prosecutors earlier were barred from using will be allowed in the latest hearing.
July: Final arguments filed. Judges are also asked to weigh rejected evidence.
August: Judge Moore rejects attempts to reopen evidence not presented in the original trial. Further, the judge says Davis is still guilty. He failed to prove his innocence during the hearing. The next appeal must be to the U.S. Supreme Court.

2011

March 28: The U.S. Supreme Court rejects Davis’ two-pronged appeal.
Sept. 6: A new execution order is signed by Superior Court Judge Penny Haas Freesemann. for between Sept. 21 and 28. The Georgia Department of Correction sets the date for Sept. 21.

Sept. 15: 600,000 petitions are delivered to the Board of Pardons and Paroles.
Sept. 20: The Board of Pardons and Paroles denies Davis clemency.
Sept. 21: Davis supporters deliver 240,000 signatures to Chatham County District Attorney Larry Chisolm’s door asking him to vacate the order authorizing the execution of Davis. Davis was executed at 11:08 p.m.

Troy Davis supporters seek next step after execution

By Greg Bluestein - SavannahNow.com

September 22, 2011

ATLANTA (AP) — Minutes before he was put to death, Troy Davis asked his supporters to "continue to fight this fight" — but will they, and how?

The Georgia inmate's case outraged hundreds of thousands of people around the world who found the evidence against him weak, and opponents of the death penalty hope their anger provokes a backlash against capital punishment. Some activists say a fitting legacy of the case would be laws that bar death sentences for those, like Davis, whose convictions are based on eyewitness testimony.

With Davis gone, however, the loose coalition of groups who pushed for his freedom may simply crumble. Much may depend not on the death penalty's most strident opponents, but on less politically active people who were drawn into the debate by Davis' two-decade struggle.

That includes Melvin Middleton, who believes capital punishment can be appropriate. After learning more details about Davis' case, he decided to show up at a downtown Atlanta rally opposing the execution. "If you're going to take someone's life, you better be damn sure you are making the right decision," he said. "I don't know if he's guilty or not, but he's not proven guilty."

Davis was executed late Wednesday for the 1989 murder of off-duty Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail. Defense attorneys said several key witnesses disputed their testimony and other people claimed that another man confessed to the crime, but state and federal courts repeatedly upheld the conviction.

Davis maintained his innocence even as he was strapped to a gurney in the death chamber, where he told the MacPhail family to "look deeper into this case so that you really can finally see the truth." Prosecutors and MacPhail's relatives say they have no doubt that justice was done, but among Davis' supporters, frustration runs deep. "We did not want to lose Troy Davis as a casualty of this war, but I do think that his execution in a real sense will only add momentum to the movement of those of us who understand that the state really cannot be trusted with the ultimate punishment," said the Rev. Raphael Warnock, who spoke on Davis' behalf at a pardons board hearing this week.

Already, there are calls for lasting changes to the capital punishment system from Davis' advocates. Former President Jimmy Carter said he hopes "this tragedy will spur us as a nation toward the total rejection of capital punishment." Filmmaker Michael Moore posted a statement on his website calling for a boycott of Georgia. The Rev. Al Sharpton, who visited Davis on death row, said he will push for a national ban on capital punishment in cases that rely on eyewitness testimony. Maryland passed such a law in 2009. "We must not only mourn what happened to Troy Davis but take strong measures so that it does not happen again," Sharpton said.

The Davis execution comes at a time when death penalty decisions are under increased scrutiny. The number of executions has dropped by half over the last decade, from 98 in 1999 to 46 in 2010. Illinois abolished capital punishment in March and several other states, including California and Connecticut, are expected to consider similar proposals next year. More than 3,200 U.S. inmates were on death row at the beginning of 2011, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Public support for capital punishment remains strong, according to several polls. This month, a CBS/NY Times poll found that 60 percent of those surveyed supported the death penalty for people convicted of murder, with 27 percent opposed and 13 percent unsure. Gallup polls over the past two decades have shown slightly higher support, though Gallup found Americans to be closely divided when asked to choose between the death penalty and life imprisonment with no chance of parole.

Laura Moye of Amnesty International said she expects the Davis execution to be used to rally repeal movements across the country. She plans to meet with activists in Georgia over the next few days to plot out an attempt to banish capital punishment there. "I'm meeting people who didn't really ever speak about the death penalty and now they are. They're hungry about the information and now they know," she said.

It's far from clear, however, whether the thousands who rallied and the hundreds of thousands who signed petitions on Davis' behalf will become any kind of political force. Organizers have announced few concrete steps, and legislative proposals have yet to take shape. "The emotion of the moment passes and unfortunately so does the urgency to address these issues," said Bruce Barket, a New York criminal defense attorney who specializes in investigating wrongful convictions.

Spencer Lawton, the Savannah prosecutor who helped convict avis, said the case shouldn't morph into a broader debate about capital punishment. "Whether you are for or against the death penalty case is irrelevant in this case," he said. "You shouldn't be making Troy Davis into a vehicle for you to distort the truth, and that's what I think is going to happen. Whether you are for or against the death penalty, this has been a clear and fair and honest proceeding throughout. If you don't like the result, don't attack the proceeding falsely."

Hundreds march in Georgia to oppose Troy Davis execution

By David Beasley - Reuters.com

September 16, 2011

ATLANTA (Reuters) - More than 2,000 activists chanting and toting banners joined a march and rally on Friday to oppose the execution of Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis, convicted of the 1989 murder of a Savannah police officer.

Georgia's Board of Pardons and Paroles is slated to meet Monday to consider whether to stop Davis' execution by lethal injection, which is scheduled for next Wednesday. "I pray that this rally will have an impact on Pardons and Paroles," said marcher Solana Plaines, from Savannah. "I hope they will do the right thing."

Davis' supporters say there is no physical evidence linking him to the crime and that key witnesses in his trial have since recanted their testimony. "You just can't give up hope," said Ellen Kubica, who traveled from her home in Germany to attend Friday's event, which featured banners reading: "Too much doubt to execute.

Davis' supporters marched from downtown Atlanta to Ebenezer Baptist Church on Auburn Avenue for a rally. Martin Luther King III, son of the late civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., joined the march. His father and grandfather were pastors at Ebenezer. Ben Jealous, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the Rev. Al Sharpton, a civil rights activist and television show host, also attended. "The only thing left to decide is whether you have the courage to do the right thing," Sharpton said, referring to the Georgia parole board. "It is blatantly clear that there is no reason for this man to be sitting on death row," he added.

In a rare move, the U.S. Supreme Court in August 2009 ordered a new hearing for Davis to assess what he said was new evidence showing his innocence. The justices transferred the case to a U.S. District Court in Georgia for a hearing and determination of his claims that new witnesses will clearly establish his innocence. A year later, the judge, William T. Moore Jr., rejected Davis' claims of innocence.

On Thursday, supporters of the condemned man delivered petitions bearing more than 600,000 names to the parole board. In an opinion column published on Thursday in the Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper, former FBI Director William Sessions called for Davis' sentence to be commuted to life in prison, saying the case was "permeated in doubt."

In an opposing column written in late 2008 and republished on Thursday, Spencer Lawton, the district attorney who prosecuted Davis, said the condemned man had a fair trial. The claim that seven witnesses at the trial had subsequently recanted their testimony was "not believable," Lawton wrote. Lawton said the witnesses were all cross-examined by defense attorneys during Davis' trial and denied that they had been coerced by police.

Troy Davis executed for killing off-duty police officer

The Augusta Chronicle

Sept. 21, 2011

JACKSON, Ga. — Georgia executed Troy Davis on Wednesday night for the murder of an off-duty police officer, a crime he denied committing right to the end as supporters around the world mourned and declared that an innocent man was put to death. Defiant to the end, he told relatives of Mark MacPhail that his 1989 slaying was not his fault. “I did not have a gun,” he insisted.

“For those about to take my life,” he told prison officials, “may God have mercy on your souls. May God bless your souls.” Davis was declared dead at 11:08. The lethal injection began about 15 minutes earlier, after the Supreme Court rejected an 11th-hour request for a stay.

The court did not comment on its order, which came about four hours after it received the request and more than three hours after the planned execution time. Though Davis’ attorneys said seven of nine key witnesses against him disputed all or parts of their testimony, state and federal judges repeatedly ruled against granting him a new trial. As the court losses piled up Wednesday, his offer to take a polygraph test was rejected and the pardons board refused to give him one more hearing.

Davis’ supporters staged vigils in the U.S. and Europe, declaring “I am Troy Davis” on signs, T-shirts and the Internet. Some 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. President Obama deflected calls for him to get involved. “They say death row; we say hell no!” protesters shouted outside the Jackson prison where Davis was to be executed. In Washington, a crowd outside the Supreme Court yelled the same chant.

As many as 700 demonstrators gathered outside the prison as a few dozen riot police stood watch, but the crowd thinned as the night wore on and the outcome became clear. The scene turned eerily quiet as word of the high court’s decision spread, with demonstrators hugging, crying, praying, holding candles and gathering around Davis’ family. Laura Moye of Amnesty International said the execution would be “the best argument for abolishing the death penalty.” “The state of Georgia is about to demonstrate why government can’t be trusted with the power over life and death,” she said.

About 10 counterdemonstrators also were outside the prison, showing support for the death penalty and the family of Mark MacPhail, the man Davis was convicted of killing in 1989. MacPhail’s son and brother attended the execution. “He had all the chances in the world,” his mother, Anneliese MacPhail, said of Davis in a telephone interview. “It has got to come to an end.”

At a Paris rally, many of the roughly 150 demonstrators carried signs emblazoned with Davis’ 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 ran 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. “Troy Davis has impacted the world,” his sister Martina Correia said at a news conference. “They say, ‘I am Troy Davis,’ in languages he can’t speak.”

His attorney Stephen Marsh said Davis would have spent part of Wednesday 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.

Amnesty International says nearly 1 million people have signed a petition on Davis’ behalf. His supporters include former President Jimmy Carter, Pope Benedict XVI, a former FBI director, the NAACP, several conservative figures and many celebrities, including hip-hop star Sean “P. Diddy” Combs. “I’m trying to bring the word to the young people: There is too much doubt,” rapper Big Boi, of the Atlanta-based group Outkast, said at a church near the prison.

The U.S. Supreme Court gave Davis 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 in Savannah.

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. “Such incredibly flawed eyewitness testimony should never be the basis for an execution,” Marsh said. “To execute someone under these circumstances would be unconscionable.”

State and federal courts, however, have repeatedly upheld Davis’ conviction. One federal judge dismissed the evidence advanced by Davis’ lawyers as “largely smoke and mirrors.” “He has had ample time to prove his innocence,” said MacPhail’s widow, Joan MacPhail-Harris. “And he is not innocent.”

The last motion filed by Davis’ attorneys in Butts County Court challenged testimony from two witnesses and disputed testimony from the expert who linked the shell casings to the earlier shooting involving Davis. Superior Court Judge Thomas Wilson and the Georgia Supreme Court rejected the appeal, and prosecutors said the filing was just a delay tactic.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which helped lead the charge to stop the execution, said it considered asking Obama to intervene, even though he cannot grant Davis clemency for a state conviction. Press secretary Jay Carney issued a statement saying that although Obama “has worked to ensure accuracy and fairness in the criminal justice system,” it was not appropriate for him “to weigh in on specific cases like this one, which is a state prosecution.” Dozens of protesters outside the White House called on the president to step in, and about 12 were arrested for disobeying police orders.

Davis was not the only U.S. inmate put to death Wednesday evening. In Texas, white supremacist gang member Lawrence Russell Brewer was put to death for the 1998 dragging death of a black man, James Byrd Jr., one of the most notorious hate crime murders in recent U.S. history.

Davis’ best chance may have come last year, in a hearing ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court. It was the first time in 50 years that justices had considered a request to grant a new trial for a death row inmate. The high court set a tough standard for Davis to exonerate himself, ruling that his attorneys must “clearly establish” Davis’ innocence – a higher bar to meet than prosecutors having to prove guilt. After the hearing judge ruled in prosecutors’ favor, the justices didn’t take up the case.

The execution drew widespread criticism in Europe, where politicians and activists made last-minute pleas for a stay.

Spencer Lawton, the district attorney who secured Davis’ conviction in 1991, said he was embarrassed for the judicial system – not because of the execution, but because it took so long to carry out. “What we have had is a manufactured appearance of doubt which has taken on the quality of legitimate doubt itself. And all of it is exquisitely unfair,” said Lawton, who retired as Chatham County’s head prosecutor in 2008. “The good news is we live in a civilized society where questions like this are decided based on fact in open and transparent courts of law, and not on street corners.”

Troy Anthony Davis