Supreme Court stays execution for Georgia man

The case had attracted appeals from anti-death penalty advocates nationwide.

By Andrew Denney

Published Sept. 26, 2008

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay of execution on Tuesday evening for a Georgia man that was just hours from being put to death.

The court issued the reprieve for Troy Davis, who had been convicted of murder in 1991, at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday - less than two hours before his scheduled execution.

The court will meet Monday to discuss the possibility of a retrial for Davis before the court.

Davis' case has recently found an international audience, with former President Jimmy Carter, Pope Benedict XVI and several anti-death penalty groups calling for a stay of execution.

MU Students for Progressive Action, in association with the Mid-Missouri Fellowship of Reconciliation, protested the execution on Tuesday by placing numerous calls to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to urge the board to consider a stay of execution for Davis.

"I don't think justice would have been served if he had been killed," said Jack Buthod, president of the MU progressive group. "I think it's a bad idea to base justice around vengeance."

Amnesty International USA, which has advocated for clemency for Davis since last February, issued a news release Tuesday night praising the decision.

In the release, Amnesty USA Executive Director Larry Cox said the Georgia court "seemed doggedly determined to ram this execution through before justice could fully run its course."

"We are grateful that the U.S. Supreme Court has shown the foresight to stay the execution," he said. "We hope that it takes up the case and looks at it with fresh eyes, marking the first time that evidence pointing to Davis' innocence will have been heard in a court of law."

Davis was convicted in the 1989 murder of Savannah, Ga., police officer Mark MacPhail.

According to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, Davis shot MacPhail in the parking lot of a Burger King in Savannah on Aug. 19, 1989.

MacPhail had been working off-duty security at a nearby Greyhound Bus Terminal, and went to the parking lot to assist a man that, the board alleges, was being assaulted by Davis and two other males.

The board alleges that Davis shot McPhail and continued to shoot him as he lay on the ground.

According to Amnesty USA, though Davis admitted he was at the scene of the crime, there was no physical evidence linking him to the murder. In addition, seven of the nine witnesses that testified in the case recanted their testimonies, and nine witnesses have submitted affidavits naming another shooter in the murder.

Davis submitted a request for clemency last year and the board issued him a stay of execution in July 2007. The Georgia Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal in the case, but denied the appeal this March. Davis submitted another request for clemency in September. He was denied, and his execution date was set for Tuesday night.

MU criminology professor John Galliher, who also directs the peace studies department, said if the Supreme Court did not grant Davis a trial, he could be given a new execution date.

Galliher said Davis, who is black, would have been given a retrial by the Georgia court if it weren't for his race.

"The South has used the death penalty as a means of controlling black folks," he said.

Galliher, who said he is against the death penalty, said oftentimes minority defendants and defendants without the means to afford proper legal representation, are disproportionately sentenced to capital punishment.