GA deathrow inmate Troy Anthony Davis' life hangs in the balance
At 7:00pET, the State of Georgia is scheduled to execute 39-year old African American, Troy Anthony Davis, despite protestations from such ideologically disparate public figures as former President Jimmy Carter, Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr, and Pope Benedict XVI.
According to one Davis attorney (separate from his defense team), Carol Gray, the state has still not sought to find and interview perhaps the only eyewitness to the murder of a White police officer for which Mr. Davis has been convicted and sentenced to death.
Afro-Netizen has received a press release overnight from Ms. Davis that puts forth the an argument for why a stay of execution for Mr. Davis is imperative:
Attorney Carol Gray, who assisted the Troy Davis defense team by interviewing and taking statements from key witnesses, is urging that Davis’ Tuesday 7PM death sentence be stayed to allow time to interview a critical witness to the murder who has never been spoken to by the prosecution or defense.
Gray had done extensive investigation of the Davis case including interviewing and taking a statement from a lead prosecution witness, Dorothy Ferrell, who claimed at trial that she saw Davis shoot Officer Mark Allen MacPhail in 1989. Ferrell recanted this testimony to Gray and signed a statement admitting that she never saw who killed the officer but had been pressured to identify Davis by the police who were threatening to revoke her parole if she did not cooperate.
In addition, Gray reports that “there is a critical witness who has never been spoken to by the prosecution or the defense. I know this because I investigated this case in depth seven years ago assisting the defense team.”
According to Gray, “Davis was convicted of killing Officer Timothy MacPhail in 1989. The shooting happened in the parking lot of a Burger King across from a motel called The Thunderbird. Two of the people in that parking lot were Troy Davis and Sylvester Coles. Coles went to the police department the day after the shooting with a lawyer saying that Davis shot the officer. In the decade that followed, Coles confessed to several people that it was he (Coles) who shot the officer. In addition, 7 of the 9 witnesses from trial who testified against Davis have recanted their testimony.”
“But no one has spoken with perhaps the best witness of all: the clerk at the motel right across from the Burger King parking. According to another witness, the clerk screamed when the shooting happened. Her office had a large window facing the parking lot, so she likely saw the shooting. I searched at length for this witness, but was unable to find out who or where she was. However there is a sure way to find her: subpoena the tax records for that motel for the year Officer MacPhail was killed. Both the state and federal tax records for the Thunderbird should have this woman listed as an employee, along with her social security number. With her social security number, she could be located through various investigative databases.
Gray reported that there was no record of any attempt to interview the Thunderbird clerk in any of the police reports in the Davis case. “Either the police were completely incompetent in missing this critical witness or they did speak to her but she did not help their case so no report was created. The hiding of such information would be a grave constitutional violation that would likely result in a new trial.“
“It would be unconscionable for Troy Davis to be executed without making all efforts to interview this critical witness. Tomorrow’s execution should be stayed and this critical witness should be found,” Gray concluded.
Gray, now in Amherst, MA, received her JD from Northeastern University School of Law and LLM from Georgetown University Law Center. She has a decade of criminal defense experience as an attorney or investigator, including with the Massachusetts Committee for Public Counsel Services.
Listen to Troy Davis' side of the story in his own words.
Unlike both major party candidates, Afro-Netizen opposes the death penalty -- even if it were ever to be administered in a non-discriminatory manner irrespective of defendants' race or class.
EMAIL ADDRESSES FOR THE FIVE MEMBERS OF THE GEORGIA STATE BOARD OF PARDONS & PAROLES:
Chairperson L. Gale Buckner
gale_buckner@pap.state.ga.us
Garland Hunt
garland_hunt@pap.state.ga.us
Robert Keller
robert_keller@pap.state.ga.us
Milton Nix
milton_nix@pap.state.ga.us
Garfield Hammonds
garfield_hammonds@pap.state.ga.us
FAX NUMBERS FOR THE GEORGIA STATE BOARD OF PARDONS & PAROLES:
(404) 651-8502
(404) 651-5282
(404) 463-6627
damn the Supreme Court!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081014/ap_on_go_su_co/scotus_georgia_execution;_ylt=AjNuDUegM.gpXyAwGUGk._.s0NUE
they refused to step in. the DOJ and Supreme Court have been shit the last 8 years. Clarence Thomas how can you sleep at night "bruh"??
Posted by: fredgrff | Tuesday, October 14, 2008 at 10:50 AM
The US Supreme Court has just ordered a stay of Execution for Davis! The efforts were not in vain.
Posted by: SjP | Tuesday, September 23, 2008 at 06:59 PM