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The story from the AJC is printed below.  To me, it is ridiculous that this execution was scheduled the way it was.  The Supreme Court was scheduled to decide if they would hear the appeal from the Georgia Supreme Court (which was a 4-3 decision).  Instead of letting the appeal run its course, the powers that be in Georgia tried to beat the high court to the punch by hastily scheduling his execution prior to the high court’s decision on whether they would hear the appeal.  If you kill a police officer, sure you deserve the death penalty.  But before it’s given, let’s at least be sure that the man is guilty.  From what I have read about the case, there appears to be an abundance of reasonable doubt and if the case was tried again, he would most likely be acquitted.  The court’s have continued to give great defference to the original jury’s verdict, despite the recantations.  Read on.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a stay of execution for Troy Anthony Davis less than two hours before he was to be put to death by lethal injection.

Davis’ family and supporters, who for years have pressed for a new trial on claims Davis is innocent, broke into tears and song when they learned the high court had at least temporarily postponed the execution.

Troy Davis received a stay of execution just before he was set to receive a lethal injection for the 1989 murder of a Savannah police officer.

“I’ve been praying for this moment forever,” said Davis’s sister and most outspoken proponent, Martina Correia. Davis’ mother, Virginia Davis, said God had answered their prayers.

Just a few hours earlier, the mother and sister had given Davis what they thought could be their final good-byes at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson.

Davis, 39, sits on death row for the Aug. 19, 1989, killing of Savannah Police Officer Mark Allen MacPhail. He was scheduled to be executed at 7 p.m.

Annelie Reaves, MacPhail’s sister, said the victim’s family was furious but would wait for the execution to be rescheduled.

“It should have happened today,” she said, “but justice will be served.”

At least two members of MacPhail’s family were to witness the execution, and they will return when the execution is rescheduled, Reaves said.

In response to Davis’ hope that the real killer will be found, the officer’s family and friends all laughed. “He knows who the killer is,” Reaves said of Davis.

It was the second time that Davis, whose claims of innocence have attracted international attention, was granted a stay hours before he was to be put to death. In July 2007, the state Board of Pardons and Paroles postponed his execution less than 24 hours before it was to occur.

This time, the stay came from the nation’s highest court.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s justices are scheduled to meet Monday to decide whether to hear Davis’ appeal of a ruling issued by the Georgia Supreme Court in March. In that 4-3 decision, the state Supreme Court rejected Davis’ bid for a new trial or a court hearing to present new evidence.

In its order, the U.S. Supreme Court said if the justices decline to hear Davis’ case, “this stay shall terminate automatically.” If the court agrees to hear the case, the stay will remain in force until the high court issues its ultimate ruling, the order said.

The high court did not say when it would announce its decision whether to hear or deny Davis’ appeal.

Davis disclosed the news of his stay in a phone call to his sister and civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton.

“I truly feel blessed and I know we still have work to do,” Davis said, according to Sharpton. “With God, all things are possible.”

According to Sharpton, Davis said he had already recorded his last statement, as is customary for death-row inmates before they are to be executed. Davis said he had also prayed for the family of MacPhail, a 27-year-old father of two who was gunned down at a Savannah Burger King parking lot.

Because the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to announce whether it will hear the appeal in the next week or so, Davis may not be spared for long, Sharpton said.

“One week may not seem like a long time, but when you have only two hours to live it’s a lifetime,” he added.

Lester Davis, Troy Davis’ brother, said, “I’ve got to stay focused because it’s not over yet. Hopefully, this gives them enough time to understand the injustice of this case.”

Since his 1991 trial, seven of nine key prosecution witnesses who testified against Davis have recanted their testimony.

In March, a deeply divided state Supreme Court turned down Davis’ appeal, saying the recantations of seven witnesses who testified against him were not enough to win him a new trial or court hearing.

“We simply cannot disregard the jury’s verdict,” Justice Harold Melton wrote. The majority, he added, could not ignore the trial testimony, “and, in fact, we favor that original testimony over the new.”

Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears issued a strong dissent.

“If recantation testimony, either alone or supported by other evidence, shows convincingly that prior trial testimony was false, it simply defies all logic and morality to hold that it must be disregarded categorically,” she wrote.

The new testimony, if found credible, could lead a new jury to find reasonable doubt of Davis’ guilt or enough residual doubt to impose a sentence other than death, she wrote.

Source: Rob Leonard

ATLANTA (AP) — A death row inmate who has drawn international headlines with claims that he is innocent of killing a Savannah police officer is scheduled to be executed later this month, Georgia authorities said Wednesday.Troy Davis, who is on death row for gunning down a Savannah police officer in 1989, is scheduled to die Sept. 23. Davis contends he should be granted a new trial after several witnesses who testified against him have recanted their statements.The execution order was signed by Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker six months after the Georgia Supreme Court narrowly denied his request for a new trial. An appeal has been filed to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the court is not scheduled to discuss the case until days after the impending execution.The state’s decision drew a sharp rebuke from Amnesty International, a human rights group that has worked to draw media and public attention to the case.”We’re shocked and appalled that the attorney general short-circuited justice by setting an execution before letting the Supreme Court weigh in,” said Jared Feuer, the group’s southern regional director.Davis was convicted of the 1989 murder of 27-year-old officer Mark MacPhail, who was working off-duty as a security guard at a bus station.MacPhail had rushed to help a homeless man who had been pistol-whipped at a nearby parking lot, and when he approached Davis and two other men, he was shot in the face and the chest.Witnesses identified Davis as the shooter. A jury convicted him in 1991 and sentenced him to death. At the trial, prosecutors said he wore a “smirk on his face” as he fired the gun, according to records.But Davis’ lawyers say new evidence could exonerate their client and prove that he was a victim of mistaken identity.Several witnesses who initially testified against Davis have since recanted or contradicted their testimony. And three others who did not testify have said another man, Sylvester “Red” Coles — who testified against Davis at the trial — confessed to the killing.Coles refused to talk about the case when contacted by The Associated Press during a 2007 Chatham County court appearance on an unrelated traffic charge, and he has no listed phone number.Prosecutors have called the witness statements “suspect,” and contended in court hearings the case is closed.They also say some of the witness affidavits simply repeat what a trial jury has already heard, while others are irrelevant because they come from witnesses who never testified.Davis was one day away from being put to death July 2007 when the state Board of Pardons and Paroles issued a stay of execution.The state’s top court rejected Davis’ appeal in March and a plea to reconsider the ruling in April by identical 4-3 votes. The Supreme Court is scheduled to discuss whether to hear the case at a Sept. 29 conference.The Attorney General’s office said the state does not need to wait for the Supreme Court to act, and that Davis has already completed “the regular appeal track.” Davis supporters, meanwhile, urge the Supreme Court to stay the execution until it can consider the case.”We would hope the U.S. Supreme Court would grant a stay to allow their decision to be issued,” said Feuer. “And I do have to say we are absolutely shocked that the attorney general would not allow legal avenues to be pursued.”

Source: Rob Leonard