Troy Davis executed in Georgia

JACKSON, Ga. - Defiant until the end, Troy Davis was executed Wednesday night for the murder of an off-duty police officer. He convinced hundreds of thousands of people around the world, but not a single court, that he was innocent.

As he lay strapped to a gurney in the death chamber, the 42-year-old told relatives of Mark MacPhail that he was not responsible for his 1989 slaying.

"I am innocent. The incident that happened that night is not my fault. I did not have a gun," he insisted.

"All I can ask ... is that you look deeper into this case so that you really can finally see the truth," he said.

Davis was declared dead at 11:08 p.m. The lethal injection began about 15 minutes earlier, after the Supreme Court rejected an 11th-hour request for a stay.

"Justice has been served for Officer Mark MacPhail and his family," state Attorney General Sam Olens said in a statement.

The high 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.

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Hundreds of thousands of people signed petitions on Davis' behalf, and prominent supporters included an ex-president and an ex-FBI director, liberals and conservatives. His attorneys said seven of nine key witnesses against him disputed all or parts of their testimony, but state and federal judges repeatedly ruled against him -- three times on Wednesday alone.

Davis asked his friends and family to "continue to fight this fight." Of prison officials he said, "May God have mercy on your souls. May God bless your souls."

MacPhail's widow, Joan MacPhail-Harris, said there was "nothing to rejoice," but that it was "a time for healing for all families."

"I will grieve for the Davis family because now they're going to understand our pain and our hurt," she said in a telephone interview from Jackson. "My prayers go out to them. I have been praying for them all these years. And I pray there will be some peace along the way for them."

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 Barack Obama deflected calls for him to get involved.

"They say death row; we say hell no!" protesters shouted outside the Jackson prison before Davis was executed. In Washington, a crowd outside the Supreme Court yelled the same chant.

A Georgia State Patrol trooper watches over demonstrators calling for Georgia state officials to halt the scheduled execution of convicted cop killer Troy Davis at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, Georgia, on Wednesday, September 21, 2011.

(Credit: Getty Images)

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 was "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 before Davis was put to death.

About 10 counterdemonstrators also were outside the prison, showing support for the death penalty and MacPhail's family.

Members of Davis' family who witnessed the execution left without talking to reporters. MacPhail's son and brother also attended.

"I'm kind of numb. I can't believe that it's really happened," MacPhail's mother, Anneliese MacPhail, said in a telephone interview from her home in Columbus, Ga. "All the feelings of relief and peace I've been waiting for all these years, they will come later. I certainly do want some peace."

Of Davis' claims of innocence, she said, "He's been telling himself that for 22 years. You know how it is, he can talk himself into anything."

Davis' execution had been stopped three times since 2007, but on Wednesday he ran out of legal options. The pardons board rejected him, and Georgia's governor does not have the power to grant condemned inmates clemency.

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.

Davis' 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.

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.

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.

Troy Anthony Davis enters a courtroom for a hearing Jan. 16, 1991, during his trial for the shooting death of off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail.

(Credit: AP Photo)

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," MacPhail-Harris said. "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.

[ChristopherTorres]

Another one bites the dust!

[Me1208]

I am no friend to a cop killer. However, when the possibility of killing an innocent man is at hand, I would rather the US Government enact a law overriding the decisions to go forward without certainty. We should also tie the outcome to the personal wealth of the decisionmakers. Look at Bernie Madoff etc. We tied the burden of his wrong decisions to his personal wealth. I believe its time to do that with the Criminal Justice System. It should no longer be allowed to error when life is concerned, without baring the cost to something other than moral conscience.

[ChefLaurel]

Dumphimnow sounds like a racist, an ignorant white racist!!! I'm White and I'm married to a very educated white man (Stanford masters degree), so you have no excuse to point at me as a racist. The person from Texas is astonishing, are you a moron. . . or just a Guber? Shame on the Governor of Georgia, SHAME ON YOU! You got your guy and that's all you needed, right? I'm flabbergasted by arrogance, and ignorance of people. Most people when facing execution, will confess their part in a crime in hopes that GOD will forgive them. I however and not religious, but do know that people who are will confess, or reject their guilt if they are guilty, or innocent. GA has one of the highest execution rates in the US, as does Texas, and Florida. Most of the people being executed are hands down Black & Hispanic! Does this not alarm anyone? I'd say this Govenor is on his way out on the next election!!! This elected officials need to go, and GA needs a Black Govenor since the Black to White ratio is a bit skewed. . . No more big plantation mentality!!!
Also, my heart goes out to Troy Davis's family. I'm so sorry that Troy was executed and not given a fair trial. There was already some one who confessed. . .where is he? Your votes are so important, come in droves and vote these elected officials out of office! That's how it's done. . . VOTE. I'm disgusted.

[1QuickComment]

We should obviously be concerned about ratios of black to whites being executed rather than just executing the guilty.(Sarcasm)

[BGF2010]

It is so sad that this country would do this when it was not a clear case. When you online to the United States Supreme Courts site or many of the Georgia legal sites. Read what they say it is just amazing that this country would take someone's life when it was not clear that this person was guilty.

[alim1976]

I just have to point out that the United States executes more people than almost any other country in the world. Which highly-esteemed countries kill more of their own citizens? Only four: China, Iran, North Korea, and Yemen.

I would think the citizens of the United States would be ashamed to have our government and our legal system be so closely associated with those of nations with such poor human-rights records. Is this what we, as a nation, aspire to?

[jmt5]

Yawn.

[spartan1827]

Next year most people will not even remember his name or the officer that was murdered.Its just the way it is in america all we care about is forcing people to believe in our view and if you don't we will destroy you(Ever watch the view or fox news).And the bigoted and racist talk here about Georgia just proves it

[deoppressoliber1964]

Texas just executed a white man. So there goes your southern racist theories.

[ianlou]

Texas isn't the South!
Texans are Mexicans on their way to Oklahoma.

[jmt5]

Where are the protesters for the Texas execution? Oh, that right. He was white and killed a black man. Headlines are reserved for the evilest of black men only.

[Transatlantique]

Boycott Georgia! It is obvious that their desire for justice has overridden their desire for truth. But that's typical of the south where they don't have anything better to do than sleep with their sisters. The justice system is definitely broken and favours the prejudice of the jurors. On the brighter side, Mr. Davis is in a better place now that he doesn't have to suffer fools anymore. The human mind can be a dangerous weapon. Humans won't have to worry about a god killing them, they are hypocritically doing it to each other very well.

[seenoland]

Like you spend time or money in Georgia. Your presence won't be missed.

[ianlou]

Boycott Georgia?

What do you suggest, we all stop eating peaches?
Should we ask the meth heads to buy from another state?

[debbiedee58]

thank god for justice!!!

[Transatlantique]

If there is a judgement day, I would certainly hate to be you.

[eiddam]

The KKK alive and well in Georgia-
The Tea Party well and satisfied.

[debbiedee58]

yea they are thank god!!!!

[seenoland]

Would that be the same KKK that killed the white supremist in the dragging murder? Guess you need a lesson in who the KKK was. They atrted as the holdouts of the Confederate army after the Civil War, they were Democrats. For their entire history they were Sheriffs, mayors, lawyers, legislators and governors...all Democrat. These good Democrats carried out Jim Crow, poll, taxes, segregation and lynchings. Until his recent death, the senior senator in the Democrat party was Byrd who never gave up using the "N" word and was a Grand Kleagle in the KKK... Iguess the "tolerant" Democrats saw to overlook that in one of their own. When conservatives split from the Democrat Party in the sixties, the staunch segragationists, Russell, Hollings, etc, stayed in the Democrat party. So don't be trying the tired old revisionist history trick that the KKK was Republican, history knows better

[jerryomara]

It always amazes me that the vast majority of Americans will tell you that only God has the right to give or take life but then the barbarians get into it and lower themselves to be no better than the people they exectute. In Europe no country in the EU has the death penalty and they have a lower number of violent crimes than we do but then they do not have more guns than people.

[RealiteBites]

Some of the comments over at HuffPo are disgusting!

Those people who are insulting the mom of the officer who was shot in the face after coming to the aid of the homeless man who was getting beat up by somebody trying to steal his beer. Once a defendant has been convicted of the crime for which he's been charged, the burden of proof shifts on him to prove his innocence to have the conviction overturned (on the merits) on appeal.

Idiots. So you all can save the holier than thou act because you don't support the death penalty, because you're just as barbaric as anybody else to say some of the things you do ...

[Transatlantique]

"Circumcision," the euphemism for genital mutilation, is also virtually non existent in Europe. It is where sex and violence meet.