More than 1,000 attend Troy Davis funeral

Funeral directors bring the casket of Troy Davis into the Jonesville Baptist Church before his funeral in Savannah, Ga., Saturday, Oct. 1, 2011. Davis died by lethal injection for the 1989 slaying of off-duty Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail. / AP Photo/Stephen Morton

Last Updated 3:46 p.m. ET

SAVANNAH — More than 1,000 family members and supporters gathered in Georgia on Saturday to say farewell to Troy Davis, who insisted even until his execution that he was innocent.

The funeral at Jonesville Baptist Church in Savannah opened with a slideshow of photos of Davis in his blue-trimmed prison uniform with his mother, sister and other family members.

The service, which lasted three and a half hours, took on a political tone with speakers calling for the death penalty to be abolished.

"Troy's last words that night were he told us to keep fighting until his name is cleared in Georgia," said Benjamin Jealous, head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a leading civil rights group. "But most important, keep fighting until the death penalty is abolished and this can never be done to anyone else."

An undated photo of Death Row inmate Troy Davis.

/ AP/Georgia Dept. of Corrections

The 42-year-old Davis was executed Sept. 21 for the 1989 slaying of Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail. Courts ultimately upheld his death sentence, despite emotional pleas for his life from thousands across the globe.

The Saturday funeral was also attended by Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International, and comedian and activist Dick Gregory.

Davis' 17-year-old nephew, DeJaun Davis-Correia said his uncle, who spent hours helping him with homework over the phone, would want his loved ones to stay upbeat.

"You really shouldn't be sad all the time, you should be happy and be positive. That's the attitude my uncle instilled in me," he said.

Blue and white roses were placed on the casket because of Davis' love for the Dallas Cowboys pro football team.

The Rev. Raphael Warnock, pastor at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. preached, delivered the eulogy.

"I did not come here all the way from Atlanta to tell you this is God's will," said Warnock, who served as a spiritual adviser to Davis on death row. "God's will is not revealed in this tragedy."

On Friday at a church memorial Davis was remembered as a gentle man who faced his execution with grace and dignity.

More than 250 people, including NAACP president Benjamin Jealous and comedian and civil rights activist Dick Gregory, jammed the New Life Apostolic Temple in Davis' hometown of Savannah for the memorial that served as a prelude to Saturday's funeral. Friends, pastors, anti-death penalty activists and Davis' lawyer all took turns at a podium behind his closed casket, decorated with a spray of white and purple flowers.

Supporters remember Troy Davis at memorial

Longtime friend Earl Redman, who said he'd known Davis since age 8, told the crowd Friday that during prison visits Davis would often say that he expected to die in the death chamber.

"He looked me in the eye and he told me, 'Don't let me die in vain. Don't let my name die in vain,"' Redman said as a church usher tore paper towels off a roll for teary attendees to dry their eyes.

The Rev. Randy Loney, a Macon pastor who often visited Davis in prison, said he was always struck by Davis' gentle nature despite the death sentence looming over him. Referring to the catchphrase adopted by his supporters — "I am Troy Davis" — Loney said he came to realize that "in a lot of ways, we are not Troy Davis."

"We did not wake up every morning and go to sleep every evening with the specter of the executioner in our eyes," he said.

[skitzo913]

When you murder someone this is the consequence...so learn something and remember.

[nosuprise]

make sure the man is guilty you miss the point totally

[IAmTroyDavis]

These hateful people in Georgia will never change from their hatred, so therefore they are cursed forevermore!

[IAmTroyDavis]

Amen!

[vlwilsonphillips]

Black on Black crime, no problem. Grandaughter killed in drive by while buying milk for her baby, one of multiple killers involved in prison charged. Killer already in federal prison , will probably get more than a 10 year sentence, if that, but killer or MLK gets 99 years in jail, which we know most will live to 99 years, police involved in Arthur McDuffie murder found not quilty in a change of venue, which Davis was not granted, caused at least 3 days of riots in Miami, Rodney King police brutality caught on vides, but officers found not guilty until pressure placed, etc, so please don't thing that quote un qoute law enforcement personal are all of that, they are not. In no way am I saying that officer MacPhail deserved what happened to him, he did not, nor did other good officers of the so called law be it black, white or other deserve to be shot to death, just MAKE ABSOLUTELY SURE you get the right person for the crime, and do not let the media dictate the evidence, find out for yourself if you can, before you bash a person without all of the facts, even if it is a person with stripes and pocadots, color does not matter, JUST MAKE SURE is is the right person that did the crime.

[andie52]

There was physical evidence, according to Coulter, in the form of cartridges recovered at the scene which matched cartridges from Davis' gun. Not the most conclusive of evidence, but one of those "gee, I guess he's just getting reeeeally unlucky with these coincidences" sorts of deals.

That one "recantation" is damning by what it doesn't say. As Troy Davis is about to be executed for murder, one of his acquaintances, merely says he can't be positive that he his friend shoot a man, from a sighting distance of five feet away?

That's pretty much just saying "I don't want to be responsible for his death, but I'm not going out on a limb for him, either." Guy can't even definitely say his old friend didn't do it. He's just no longer sure.

[Overruled1]

There was physical evidence, according to Coulter, in the form of cartridges recovered at the scene which matched cartridges from Davis' gun.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Where is the gun if they can identify the cartridge?
It would be in police custody since they used it against him in a conviction previously, they would not return a gun to a felon would they?
With all due respect to Georgia, get real.

[kbbpll]

Sheesh, this clown was also convicted of shooting someone else the same day multiple witnesses watched him stand over Mark MacPhail and shoot him in the face. Gentle nature my butt. Any "causes" aligned with this scumbag lose all credibility.

[vlwilsonphillips]

There was no DNA, no gun, so what are you talking about. And yes it is a black man that killed the officer, but Davis was not that man. Maybe if your could hear the real killer saying that he did it, like so many here is Savannah have heard him say, then you would be calling Davis a cold blooded killer, you are on the outside looking in, with blinders on top of those glasses, or are you really someone else signing on here
pretending to be from Massachuettes

[RealiteBites]

The outfit he was wearing that was identified by ALL the eyewitnesses, was found in his apartment with "forensic evidence" on it - ie gun shot residue. It just wasn't admitted into evidence as fruit of an illegal search and seizure.

So what are YOU talking about - Davis was guilty.

[vlwilsonphillips]

I guess you are one of those citizens that believes in the justice system. How many of those on that same jury have now said that if they knew now, what the DID NOT know then, would have not judged the same way. I had a granddaughter killed in a drive by while getting milk for her baby, and the killer bragged about it in jail (same as the killer of the officer is bragging now), except the real shooter in the Davis case is not in jail), but I do not wish death for this person that killed my granddaughter with an AK47 by the way. I would hope he rots in jail and suffers. If I were asked to be on any jury, I would do the nut roll and make sure I was not accepted, because I was not there at the scene of the crime, I am not GOD, and sometimes with police brutality (verbal or otherwise),they can make you think they are always right with they claimed to have found to make a case, but I am sure you have never been through anything like this, because you are an upstanding citizen.

[scalini1]

Sayonara, Davis
1000 of 306 million isn't too good a turnout.

[MitchReno]

Oh Yea? How many are going to show up for your funeral??

[spacengin]

Make that 1001. I would have attended if I weren't so far away. The data that I assimulated indicated that Georgia murdered an innocent man. The system failed. Find the actual killer and execute it. Until then Georgia is cursed.

[vlwilsonphillips]

You must be involved in this case somehow to claim that there were 34 witnesses and not 9, but the gun was never recovered, NO DANA (DNA) and DAND don't lie, so if the gun was never found, how can you say the casings came from a unfound gun?

[vlwilsonphillips]

Some of the comments I have read here are awful. I wonder do these people still have a tree with a rope ready in their front yards, and I say front yards because they are obviously proud of themselves and were taught hatred. Unfortunately, some of us can not afford high powered attorneys, but are stuck with what they call public offenders, which I am sure that their paychecks come from the state, so as far as I am concerned they work for the state, and those who are fortunate enough to have a good attorney,(in Ga not a GA attorney)because they seem to be afraid to fight the system here, but a good attorney from elswhere who is willing to provide make sure that suspects that have admitted on the street that they commited the crime in question are in court when necessary, and not bow down to the system that clearly is only out to get someone, anyone, not necessarily the right one, especially when a cop is involved. Maybe some of you people need to read up on cases like Arthur Mcduffie, Pitts and Lee, etc. to gain knowledge of how the justice system really works for some and what could happen if people would really stand up to the system. Bet Miami knows what could happen, and I hate to say it, but I wish some of you with these comments, where some of the ones exited I95 in Liverty City that day in May of 1980. I have seen comments asking did the NAACP stand up for McPhail, well no, he was white, and if you do no know NAACP stand for the advancement of COLORED people, most white people are just fine and have been for hundreds of years, we have not been. Case in point, Conrad Murray/Michael Jackson case, black on black crime, so it is called manslaughter, which it should just be malpractice to me, Casey Anthony, Susan Smith, etc, white on white crime, no death sentence, WHAT PART DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND!!!!!!!!!

[MitchReno]

So it doesn't matter that many "eye" witnesses recanted their testimony? Look into how unreliable eye witness testimony can be. It's not as perfect as you must think it is.