Parole board grants Davis 90-day stay of execution

[brettdale]

Parole board grants Davis 90-day stay of execution


http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=6799181&nav=menu37_3

ATLANTA (AP) - The state Board of Pardons and Paroles has up to 90 days to weigh evidence presented in the clemency request for death-row inmate Troy Davis.

The 38-year-old Davis had faced a lethal injection tonight for the 1989 murder of Savannah police Office Mark MacPhail. But the pardons board granted a stay of execution yesterday evening after less than an hour of deliberation.

A spokeswoman for the board said it must decide whether to commute the death sentence by October 14th, but if it denies clemency before then it could lift the stay.

Lawyers for Davis spent more than five hours pleading with the board to grant a reprieve. Prosecutors were given a chance during the closed-door hearing to rebut the request for clemency.

Davis lawyer Jason Ewart said five witnesses who testified at trial spoke to the board on his behalf. He said the stay will give the defense time to present the rest of its innocence case.

Among those present for the state were McPhail's widow, mother and the district attorney for Chatham County. They have argued that Davis received a fair trial and has had plenty of appeals that failed.