Breaking: Court denies Davis’s Appeal
The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision today denying more appeals for Georgia death row inmate Troy Anthony Davis. In 1991, a Savannah jury convicted Davis of the 1989 murder of Savannah police officer Mark Allen MacPhail. Since the original trial, seven of nine witnesses the prosecution used have either changed their testimony or recanted in sworn affidavits.
Attorneys for Davis argued in December 2008 before a three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit that these recantations show Davis is innocent and that his execution would violate the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
Amnesty International, a group which has helped bring world-wide attention to the Davis case, condemned the decision. From an AI press release: Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) condemned in the strongest terms today’s 11th Circuit Court decision to deny Troy Davis a second petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the district court.
The human rights organization considers the decision a contrived barrier to justice that could ultimately lead to the execution of a man with a strong claim of innocence. “Today’s decision is an affront to basic human rights and demonstrates that legal technicalities have become a dangerous excuse to undermine justice,” said Larry Cox, executive director for AIUSA. “Yet again the courts are placing procedural obstacles over the critical issue of innocence, and, by extension, the value of human life.
The bar for admitting evidence has been raised to such a level that no one arguing his innocence would be able jump that hurdle.” Davis’ attorneys filed a November 10 brief in support of the second petition on the grounds that it was the first time Davis was presenting a free-standing innocence claim and that no court has yet held an evidentiary hearing on the new evidence of recanted testimony.
On December 9th, the Court heard oral arguments in the case. However the 11th Circuit Court today denied the petition, with the majority noting several times that they were “constrained” by procedural rules. The Court did mandate a 30-day continuation of Davis’ stay of execution so that he has the opportunity to file a habeas corpus petition with the U.S. Supreme Court.
”It is time for lawmakers in Georgia and across the United States to confront our morally bankrupt and perilously broken death penalty system,” said Jared Feuer, southern regional director for AIUSA. “Troy Davis’ case shows us everything that is wrong with the death penalty system, including its inability to correct its mistakes.”
Georgians For Alternatives to the Death Penalty (GFADP), another group that has worked tirelessly on behalf of Davis, said today’s decision contains a 30 day stay of execution provision in order to allow Davis to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has yet to even consider the case. GFADP warns the state could move to set an execution date at any time.