Last Minute Reprieve for Troy Davis

Parole board grants Davis 90-day stay

By CARLOS CAMPOS
Published on: 07/16/07

The state parole board Monday temporarily halted the execution of convicted cop killer Troy Anthony Davis less than 24 hours before he was scheduled to die by lethal injection.

The board issued a 90-day stay of execution after a nine-hour closed-door clemency hearing in which last-minute questions of his innocence were raised. The board did not release its vote.
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The purpose of the stay is for "evaluating and analyzing the evidence provided during the board appointment," according to a press release issued by the parole board.

An order issued by the board granting the stay said "those representing Troy Anthony Davis have asserted that they can and will present live witnesses and other evidence to the members of the board to support their contention that there remains some doubt as to his guilt."

It also states that the board "will not allow an execution to proceed in this state unless and until its members are convinced that there is no doubt as to the guilt of the accused."

Davis' lawyers were elated that they will now have more time to make a case for his innocence.

"Of course we're disappointed that it wasn't full clemency, but I think the reaction of the board shows that there was, in fact, some doubt," said Danielle Garten, one of Davis' lawyers. "We're glad we were able to show that and to be the messengers of what Troy's story really is."

Garten said Davis' family was already on the telephone with him sharing the news.

"When we called the family to tell them, they were on the phone with Troy," Garten said. "Everybody was just really joyous, and it's a fantastic thing that Troy's not going to be executed tomorrow."

MacPhail's widow, Joan, who traveled from Texas to be at the clemency hearing, told the Associated Press she was disappointed by the decision.

"I believe they are setting a precedent for all criminals that it is perfectly fine to kill a cop and get away with it," she said.

Davis still faces execution unless the parole board commutes his sentence to life in prison, with or without parole, before the stay is up. Davis' lawyers also have appealed his case before the Georgia Supreme Court, seeking a new trial.

Seven of nine witnesses who helped implicate Davis have recanted their testimony while others have come forward to say it wasn't Davis who shot Savannah Police Officer Mark Allen MacPhail to death in 1989.

After the hearing, Mark Allen MacPhail Jr., MacPhail's 18-year-old son, said the family is comfortable with "God's will. Whatever He wants."

MacPhail, a high school senior, said the family believes Davis murdered his father.

"I believe the police did their job correctly," he told reporters after the hearing, "and found the right man."

MacPhail said he told the parole board what it was like growing up without a father.

"Picture every Father's Day, having no one to give anything to," he said.

U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) was among those who attended the hearing to support Davis' clemency request. Lewis left before the hearing was over, and did not comment to reporters. Davis' lawyers, Jason Ewart and Danielle Garten, declined comment after the hearing.

Lewis' office later released a statement of his testimony that read, in part: "I do not know Troy Anthony Davis. I do not know if he is guilty of the charges of which he has been convicted. But I do know that nobody should be put to death based on the evidence we now have in this case." Lewis went on to call the situation "frustrating ... tragic ... unjust." He also spoke of the pain of MacPhail family's quest for justice.

The congressman closed by saying "As a man of faith, I am sure I know what God wants you to do. Do justice. Commute the sentence of Troy Anthony Davis."

One of the witnesses, Tonya Johnson, has said that she saw the real killer run from the crime scene and stash two guns in an abandoned house ?- information she says she initially withheld from authorities.

Johnson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the parole board asked her about the events of the shooting, and why she took so long to come forward with her story.

"I told them I was scared [about coming forward earlier]," Johnson said.

Johnson said a change of heart caused her to come forward and address the parole board today.

"It felt like a relief," Johnson said of her testimony before the board. "I hope there's a good turnout."

Four other witnesses testified before the parole board, according to parole board documents.

Others in the hearing in support of Davis included Davis' mother and representatives of Amnesty International USA ?- a human rights group opposed to the death penalty that has taken up Davis' cause.

A jury sentenced Davis to death shooting MacPhail to death. MacPhail, working an off-duty job, responded to a report of a fight in a Burger King parking lot next to the Greyhound bus station in Savannah.

Courts have declined to hear Davis' new evidence, in part because of a federal law aimed at expediting seemingly endless death penalty appeals.

If the parole board commutes Davis' sentence, he would be only the ninth man in Georgia to receive clemency since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed executions to resume in 1976.