Doubts linger for many after Davis execution

ATLANTA - Georgia's execution of Troy Davis for the murder of an off-duty police officer has done little to resolve the debate over his guilt that captured the attention of thousands worldwide, including a former president and the pope.

Davis remained defiant even after he was strapped to a gurney Wednesday night in the state's death chamber, declaring his innocence and urging the victim's family to continue searching for the truth.

"I ask my family and friends to continue to fight this fight," Davis said in his final statement.

Demonstrators wept during a candlelight vigil outside the prison. High-profile figures, including former President Jimmy Carter, said there was too much doubt surrounding Davis' conviction and that his execution called the entire death penalty system into question.

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Relatives of the slain officer, Mark MacPhail, said the execution marked an end to years of legal turmoil and rejected his claims of innocence.

"He's been telling himself that for 22 years. You know how it is, he can talk himself into anything," said the officer's mother, Anneliese MacPhail.

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)

Davis had been convicted of MacPhail's 1989 killing. Prosecutors said Davis was pistol-whipping a homeless man after asking him for a beer when MacPhail, who was working as a security guard at the time, rushed over to help. Authorities said Davis had a smirk on his face when he shot the officer in a Burger King parking lot in Savannah.

Witnesses placed Davis at the crime scene and identified him as the shooter, but seven of nine key witnesses have recanted all or parts of their accounts. 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, though state and federal judges have repeatedly ruled against him.

No gun was ever found, but prosecutors say shell casings were linked to an earlier shooting for which Davis was convicted.

Davis' execution had been halted three times since 2007. The U.S. Supreme Court even gave Davis an unusual opportunity to "clearly establish" his innocence in a lower court last year. But a lower court judge ruled that defense attorneys didn't meet that standard -- a higher bar than is set for prosecutors in proving guilt.

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While the nation's top court didn't hear the case, they did 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, a lower court judge ruled in prosecutors' favor, and the justices didn't take up the case.

On Wednesday night, his execution was again delayed as officials awaited word on whether the nation's high court would take up Davis' case. The justices ultimately declined without explaining the decision, clearing the way for Davis to be put to death shortly after 11 p.m.

Carter said he hoped the case led the nation to reject capital punishment.

"If one of our fellow citizens can be executed with so much doubt surrounding his guilt, then the death penalty system in our country is unjust and outdated," Carter said.

Other supporters included, Pope Benedict XVI, a former FBI director, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, several conservative figures and many celebrities.

Hundreds of thousands of people signed petitions on Davis' behalf. 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. President Barack Obama, who could not have granted Davis clemency because it was a state case, deflected calls to get involved.

Minister Lynn Hopkins, left, comforts her partner Carolyn Bond after hearing that the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a last minute plea of Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis In Jackson, Ga., Sept. 21, 2011.

(Credit: AP Photo/Stephen Morton)

Dozens of protesters outside the White House called on the president to step in, and about 12 were arrested for disobeying police orders. Outside the U.S. Supreme Court and the Jackson prison where Davis was put to death, demonstrators chanted, "They say death row; we say hell no!" As many as 700 were outside the prison, though the crowd thinned as the night wore on and the outcome became clear.

For now, though, the nation's executions will carry on: Mere hours after Davis' execution, a judge signed a death warrant for another condemned inmate. And an Alabama inmate was set to be executed Thursday evening.

Davis remained upbeat and prayerful in his final hours, turning 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 before the execution. "They say, `I am Troy Davis,' in languages he can't speak."

Officer MacPhail's widow, Joan MacPhail-Harris, said 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."

[busterdawggy]

by dianeelillie September 22, 2011 9:07 PM EDT
What about the murdered babies through abortion, where is justice for them? A child, born or unborn, is precious to God who made them, just like the homeless man, and God loves them. God have mercy on us, for we have sinned.

=============

I would presume that if you are against abortion then you are against capital punishment. That is logical. If all life is precious and worth saving then that would hold true for a violent murderer as it would for an innocent fetus, wouldn't it. I am surprised at those who are against abortion and pro-death penalty. It just isn't logical.

[busterdawggy]

"Some jurors have said they've changed their minds about his guilt."

This statement is key. I believe in capital cases, the bar should be raised from reasonable doubt to absolute certainty. We know eyewitness testimony is notoriously unreliable. I do not know if Mr. Davis is innocent or guilty, but I believe there is at least doubt. If he is exonerated in the future it will be too late. God forbid the state has killed an innocent man.

[RealiteBites]

That's just a back-door way of the minority trying to thwart the will of the majority.

It gives eyewitnesses the power to play God with somebody's life without recourse through the democratic process.

All legislators, district attorneys, governors, judges are elected officials, answerable to the public (unless they've been appointed by elected officials). An eyewitness is just some random person. It's not their place to decide AFTER SENTENCING that they want to set a murderer free to kill again because they're against the death penalty.

[RealiteBites]

It also gives murderers an incentive to kill even more people, to make sure there's no eyewitnesses left to testify against them.

[ipmutt]

I wonder why there are doubts. I see every major court in the country incloding the supreme court is not going to overturn this verdict. I guess I can see where hollywood can latch onto something like this in search of causes that get publisity. I can see where some americans will follow along with hollywood. But it seams to me the system worked and a cop killer is put to death and the vast majority of americans support this.

[Overruled1]

"No gun was ever found, but prosecutors say shell casings were linked to an earlier shooting for which Davis was convicted."

So no gun, but somehow this man was convicted before in a shooting that a gun linked to him was used.

Question: Where would the gun be that convicted him for that other shootring?
ANS.: In prosecutor's hands because they used it against him the first time, so how did this man get the same gun back?

If I'm correct about how this man was convicted, then it's the prosecutors' mishandling of evidence that should be looked into.

[dianeelillie]

What about the murdered babies through abortion, where is justice for them? A child, born or unborn, is precious to God who made them, just like the homeless man, and God loves them. God have mercy on us, for we have sinned.

[RetiredArmy_Nurse]

Hopefully, this is the beginning of the end for the death penalty in America. Too many innocents have died as a result of this archaic punishment. I'm not an expert on the details of this case, but enough doubts were raised that a stay, and a new trial, were warranted. When the end comes most tell the truth with little regard to what others may think of them. This man stated his innocence in the last minutes of his life. In the absense of any evidence to the contrary, I have to believe him. The tragedy may be doubled in that an innocent man died and the true killer is free.

[busterdawggy]

Blackstone, the English jurist, said it best: "Better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer."

[AnnieDanny]

If the people who don't like capital punishment wish to find a case that serves as their best "worst" example: ~~ THIS IS NOT THAT CASE~ ~~ In fact, supporting THIS case hurts their cause, in my opinon.

[kailumego]

The tragedy here, there has been a plethora of injustices, starting with the individual that implicated Davis as the shooter in order to save his own skin, the seven eye witnesses who lied under oath claiming they lied under pressure from the police. However, I've learned they lied under oath because the real shooter had threatened them. And law enforcement overzealousness to bring a 'cop killer' to justice, which they could have condemned an innocent man to 'death. And I judiciously state 'could have condemned an innocent' man, because there are a lot of missing pieces to this puzzle. Many African American leaders, supporters, etc.are outraged over what they see as a flagrant injustice. due to the fact there wasn't any evidence tying Davis to this crime. Yet he was convicted based on the eye-witness testimony by some pretty shady characters, which the police should have viewed as questionable in the first place. So we not only have an injustice on the part of law enforcement, but injustices committed by the alleged shooter, the seven eye-witnesses and Davis himself for not being forthcoming. This winds up being a case where you are guilty by association, hanging around with the wrong crowd, and know who your friends really are.

[plushfurr]

I haven't heard that. since when no black american is guilty of any crime. we all are human and if you convict a crime you will be punished unless the law or some high authority is hiding something from the public. white or black, crime equals time.

[DocD--2008]

""He's been telling himself that for 22 years. You know how it is, he can talk himself into anything," said the officer's mother, Anneliese MacPhail."

Just curious what she will say when she meets her maker and he tells her, this guy was innocent.... He might even say something like "now you're going to understand his pain and his hurt".

[pak31]

The only person who knows if he truly killed MacPhail is Davis himself. There wasn't 100% beyond a doubt proof. That being said, how can all these people including the MacPhail family want this man dead if they don't know for sure? It's just something to make them feel better but it's not going to bring her son back. IF this man was executed and WAS innocent, then I am quite confident that God will let her know. I guess I find it funny that all these people on comment sections are so vengeful and are basically hateful and happy that this "scum" is dead when they don't even know for sure that he did kill this officer. That is scary in itself.

[footdr2]

The big question is why was he convicted to begin with if "there was too much doubt"? Why didn't the appeals courts and the Supreme Court find that there was "too much doubt"?

Surely the entire justice system can't be that wrong. Can they? And if they are we have a huge problem because if there is any doubt the accused should not be convicted.

One problem is the way Appeals work, from what I have observed the majority of the time you can only appeal on those specific trial proceedings that your Attorney objected to and "preserved" at trial.

I don't believe this was the case here. Perhaps the death penalty should only be used in murder cases were there is tangible evidence not witness only testimony. I am in favor of the death penalty in Murder cases but only when there is substantial tangible evidence and is clearly beyond any reasonable doubt. One would think a Judge should play a role in the possible sentence of death in which he/she questions the doubt. But then again, if there is doubt the shouldn't be a conviction. So, either he should have been acquited or overturned on Appeal or we have to believe he was guilty of Murder. I for one don't want to pay for housing and feeding a cold blooded murderer. "an eye for an eye"

[RetiredArmy_Nurse]

Yes, the justice system can be "that wrong." Once they convict someone they are loath to reverse that conviction. It is a tremendous failing in our justice system that punishes the most vulnerable in our society, the poor, the black, the brown, the disadvantaged, the mentally challenged.