Three House Dems take on Georgia death case

[tblue]

Source: Politico

Three House Democrats are making a last-minute appeal to halt the planned execution of Troy Davis, a Georgia man found guilty two decades ago of killing a police officer but whose conviction has since been thrown into doubt.

Reps. John Conyers of Michigan – the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee – Bobby Scott of Virginia and Hank Johnson of Georgia argued in a letter to the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles that Davis’s legal team didn’t have enough time to show testimony from eyewitness experts to the board.

Several witnesses who went on the stand in Davis’s murder trial have since recanted their testimonies that linked Davis to the 1989 death of Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail.

“As you are well aware, the only evidence linking Mr. Davis to the crime is eyewitness testimony,” the lawmakers wrote to the parole board, which rejected Davis’s bid for clemency on Tuesday.

Davis, 42, has seen his execution delayed several times in recent years, with the U.S. Supreme Court intervening and asking a Georgia judge to reexamine the case. But Davis’s appeals have so far ultimately failed, and his execution is scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight.

“As a criminal defense attorney, judge and member of the House Judiciary Committee, it disturbs me to my core that an unnecessary and unjust killing may take place,” Johnson said in a statement. “If we execute a man despite new evidence that casts doubt on his guilt, it shakes the public’s faith in the integrity of justice in Georgia.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0911/Three_House_Dems_take_on_Georgia_death_case.html

---

KEEP WISHING, HOPING, PRAYING!