WABE: Davis Denied Clemency, Scheduled for Execution (2008-09-12)

Atlanta

Davis Denied Clemency, Scheduled for Execution

Odette Yousef (2008-09-12)

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ATLANTA, GA (WABE) - Georgia's Board of Pardons and Paroles has upheld the scheduled execution of Troy Davis on September 23rd. That's in spite of new evidence they heard today, which suggested that Davis was framed in the 1989 murder of a Savannah police officer, and that witnesses were coerced into implicating him.

The news came just hours after Davis's lawyers and supporters expressed hope that the Board would change his death sentence.

Since Davis's conviction, seven of nine witnesses have recanted their testimony, and there's no physical evidence to link Davis to the crime. The Board is the only authority that consented to hear new evidence that questioned whether Davis killed officer Mark MacPhail.

Jared Feuer, regional director for Amnesty International, is bewildered by the Board's decision, and says only one option is left:

FEUER: At this point, the hope is that the U.S. Supreme Court will grant a stay of the execution.

But the high court doesn't come back into session until after Davis's scheduled execution, and Feuer acknowledges they rarely make early interventions.

The MacPhail family has maintained their belief that Davis was rightly convicted.

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