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To take action for Troy Davis or learn more about his case online, please
click here:
www.amnestyusa.org/troydavis
URGENT ACTION APPEAL - From Amnesty International USA
16 October 2008
UA 283/08 - Death penalty/Legal concern
USA (Georgia) Troy Anthony Davis (m), black, aged 40
Troy Davis is scheduled to be executed in Georgia at 7pm
local time on 27 October. He has been on death row for 17
years for a crime he maintains he did not commit.
Troy Davis was convicted in 1991 of the murder of 27-year-
old Officer Mark Allen MacPhail who was shot and killed in
the car park of a Burger King restaurant in Savannah,
Georgia on 19 August 1989. Troy Davis was also convicted of
assaulting Larry Young, a homeless man, who was accosted
immediately before Officer MacPhail was shot. At the trial,
Troy Davis admitted that he had been at the scene of the
shooting, but claimed that he had neither assaulted Larry
Young nor shot Officer MacPhail. There was no physical
evidence identifying Troy Davis as the gunman and the weapon
used in the crime was never found. The case against him
consisted of witness testimony. In affidavits signed over
the years since the trial, a majority of the state's
witnesses have recanted or contradicted their testimony. In
addition, there is post-trial testimony implicating another
man as the gunman.
In March 2008, the Georgia Supreme Court denied Troy Davis a
new trial or a court hearing in which post-conviction
evidence could be presented. The Chief Justice of the state
Supreme Court, joined by two other Justices, dissented from
this decision, arguing that "In this case, nearly every
witness who identified Davis as the shooter at trial has now
disclaimed his or her ability to do so reliably. Three
persons have stated that Sylvester Coles confessed to being
the shooter. Two witnesses have stated that Sylvester Coles,
contrary to his trial testimony, possessed a handgun
immediately after the murder. Another witness has provided a
description of the crimes that might indicate that Sylvester
Coles was the shooter." The Chief Justice stated that "the
collective effect of all of Davis's new testimony, if it
were to be found credible by the trial court in a hearing,
would show the probability that a new jury would find
reasonable doubt of Davis's guilt or a least sufficient
residual doubt to decline to impose the death penalty."
Troy Davis was less than two hours from execution on 23
September 2008 when the US Supreme Court issued a stay of
execution to give it time to decide whether to hear his
appeal against the Georgia Supreme Court's ruling. The stay
of execution was dissolved on 14 October when the Court
announced that it had decided not to take the case. The
State of Georgia immediately moved to set a new execution
date.
The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles has already
rejected clemency for Troy Davis, and has indicated that it
will not reconsider its decision. It has sole authority to
grant executive clemency in Georgia capital cases.
Tens of thousands of people in the USA and around the world
have appealed for executive clemency for Troy Davis. Among
them are former US President Jimmy Carter, Archbishop
Desmond Tutu and Pope Benedict XVI; the European Union, the
European Parliament, and the Secretary General of the
Council of Europe; former FBI Director William Sessions, and
former and current members of US Congress Bob Barr, Carol
Moseley Braun and John Lewis.
International standards prohibit the execution of anyone
whose guilt is in doubt. Amnesty International opposes Troy
Davis's execution unconditionally, regardless of questions
of guilt or innocence, as it does all use of the death
penalty.
Since the USA resumed executions in 1977, 1,125 prisoners
have been put to death, 43 of them in Georgia. In the same
period, more than 100 people have been released from death
rows around the country on grounds of innocence, many of
them in cases in which witness testimony has been shown to
have been unreliable. Several prisoners have gone to their
deaths despite doubts about their guilt.
In late 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a
landmark resolution calling for a global moratorium on
executions. There have been 26 executions in the USA this
year.
For a full report on Troy Davis's case, see USA: "Where is
the justice for me?" The case of Troy Davis, facing
execution in Georgia, February 2007,
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/023/2007.
FURTHER RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as
possible:
- explaining that you are not seeking to condone the murder
of Officer Mark Allen MacPhail, or to downplay the
seriousness of the crime or the suffering caused;
- expressing deep concern that the State of Georgia has
again set an execution date for Troy Davis despite
continuing doubts about his guilt;
- calling on the Board to reconsider its decision not to
grant clemency to Troy Davis, and to commute his death
sentence.
APPEALS TO:
State Board of Pardons and Paroles
2 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, SE, Suite 458
Balcony Level, East Tower
Atlanta, GA 30334-4909
Fax: 1 404 651 8502
Tel : 1 404 657 9350
Email: Webmaster@pap.state.ga.us
Clemency_Information@pap.state.ga.us
Salutation: Dear Board members
COPIES TO:
Governor Sonny Perdue, Office of the Governor
Georgia State Capitol
Atlanta, GA 30334
Fax: 1 404 657 7332
Email:
http://gov.georgia.gov/00/gov/contact_us/0,2657,78006749_94820188,00.html
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action Office if sending appeals after 27
October 2008.
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This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including
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Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.544.0200
Fax: 202.675.8566
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END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
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