Jun 26 2009
I am Troy
Death-row inmate Troy Davis’ habeas corpus petition was reviewed yesterday by the Supreme Court. Davis, who was convicted in 1991 for murdering a white police officer in Georgia, has been scheduled for execution on three separate occasions throughout the time of his incarceration. Each time he has barely escaped death due to last-minute stays of execution, largely as a result of activists and organizations fighting for his life. Supporters of Troy claim that the evidence against him is flimsy because no physical evidence directly links Troy to the murder, and 7 of the 9 eye-witness accounts, on which his indictment was largely based, have been recanted. The Supreme Court is expected to issue its decision on Davis’ petition by Monday, June 29. If the Supreme Court fails to intervene, and rejects the petition, Davis could be scheduled an execution date as early as next month. To ratchet up the fight for Davis’ life, the NAACP has launched a new campaign called ‘I Am Troy’ asking people to wear T-shirts that say ‘I Am Troy’, make ‘I Am Troy’ signs and share them with supporters in solidarity with Troy Davis. The campaign includes an online petition at iamtroy.com, aimed at the District Attorney of Chatham County, GA, the Governor of Georgia, and the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles asking each to do what they can to re-open the case and help save Troy Davis’ life.
GUEST: Ed Dubose, NAACP Georgia State Conference President
For more information, visit www.iamtroy.com.
One Response to “I am Troy”
Chatham County’s district attorney explains why he’s not concerned that an innocent man may be put to death.
Many people are concerned that an innocent man is about to be put to death. I know this, and I understand it. I am not likewise concerned, however, and I want to explain why.
The only information the public has had in the 17 years since Troy Davis’ conviction has been generated by people ideologically opposed to the death penalty, regardless of the guilt or innocence of the accused.
While they have shouted, we have been silent. The canons of legal ethics prohibit a lawyer – prosecutor and defense counsel alike – from commenting publicly, or engineering public comments, on the issue of guilt or innocence in a pending criminal case.
Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled, the case is over, and I can try to tell our side.
First , Davis’ advocates have insisted that there was no physical evidence in the case. This is not true.
Crime lab tests proved that the shell casings recovered from the shooting of Michael Cooper at a party earlier in the evening were fired from the same weapon as the casings recovered from the scene of Officer Mark MacPhail’s murder. Davis was convicted of shooting Cooper.
And, while it isn’t physical evidence, consider the “testimony” of Officer MacPhail himself: When he comes to the rescue of a homeless man being harassed and pistol-whipped, the officer ran past Sylvester Coles on his way to catch Davis. This makes Davis the only one of those two with a motive to shoot Officer MacPhail. Yet Davis’ lawyers argue to condemn Coles for shooting MacPhail. Why would he?
In fact, Davis’ advocates are eager to condemn Coles based on evidence far weaker than their characterization of the evidence against Davis. Where is their sense of fairness? This is the same Sylvester Coles who promptly presented himself to police, and who was advised by counsel to tell all that he knew – with his lawyer not even present. Which he did. No lawyer who even faintly suspects a client of criminal conduct would let him talk to the police without counsel.
Second , they claim that seven of nine witnesses have recanted their trial testimony. This is not believable.
To be sure, they’ve produced affidavits; a few handwritten and apparently voluntarily and spontaneous, except for concluding with “further the affiant sayeth not.” Who wrote that stuff? The lawyers, perhaps?
The law is understandably skeptical of post-trial “newly-discovered evidence.”
Such evidence as these affidavits might, for example, be paid for, or coerced, or the product of fading memory.
If every verdict could be set aside by the casual acceptance of a witness’s changing his mind or suggesting uncertainty, decades after the event, it is easy to see how many cases would have to be tried at least twice (perhaps ad infinitum).
Thus the law sets strict standards for such “newly discovered” evidence.
For example, it cannot be for a lack of diligence that the new evidence was not discovered sooner, and the defendant is expected to present that evidence at the earliest possible time.
Yet these affidavits were not offered in a motion for new trial until eight days before the first scheduled execution in 2008 seventeen years after Davis’ conviction. If this affidavit evidence was so compelling, why didn’t they rush to seek a new trial in 2003 when they had most of the affidavits they now rely upon? Or collect those affidavits earlier?
Each of the now-“recanting” witnesses was closely questioned at trial by lawyers representing Davis, specifically on the question whether they were in any way pressured or coerced by police in giving their statements or testimony. All denied it.
And while an 80 percent recantation rate – the first in the history of the world ? – may seem to some as overwhelmingly persuasive, to others of us it invites a suggestion of uncanny coincidence, making it very difficult to believe.
Third , they claim that their “newly discovered evidence” (i.e., the recantations) hasn’t been adequately considered by the courts. This is not true.
The affidavits, in various combinations, had already been reviewed by 29 judges in seven different types of review, over the course of 17 years, before Tuesday’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The state Parole Board halted the execution in 2007, saying they wouldn’t allow a possibly innocent man to be executed. Then, after more than a year of reviewing all of the evidence on both sides, and hearing from every witness Davis’ lawyers presented – including Davis – they refused to grant clemency.
The trial was fair. Davis was represented by superbly skilled criminal defense lawyers. He was convicted by a fair jury (seven black and five white). The post conviction stridency we’ve seen has been much about the death penalty and little about Troy Davis.
The jury found that Davis, after shooting another man earlier in the evening, murdered a police officer who came to the rescue of a homeless man Davis had beaten. Mark MacPhail had never even drawn his weapon.
Spencer Lawton Jr. is Chatham County District Attorney.