Troy Davis Denied Final Bid For Clemency

After being denied his final bid for clemency by the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles last night, Troy Davis is set to be strapped to a gurney and executed by lethal injection at 7 PM tomorrow evening.  While unlikely, Davis' only hope of having his life spared, at this point, would come in the form of a US Supreme Court intervention.   Davis was sentenced to death after being found guilty of the 1989 murder shooting of off duty police officer Mark MacPhail, in Savannah, Ga.

MacPhail was working as a security guard at a Burger King, when he was fatally shot after breaking up a fight between several men. The Davis case has been an increasingly controversial issue over the last 20 years as doubts over Davis' guilt have risen. To add to the question of guilt, 7 of the 9 original eyewitnesses have recanted their testimony, claiming they were coerced by police into pointing the finger at Davis. Additionally, 10 new witnesses have come forward to identify another man as the shooter. There is no DNA evidence connecting Davis to the crime, and no murder weapon was ever found.

The likes of former president Jimmy Carter, former FBI head William Sessions, and 51 congress members have all expressed there concern regarding what seems to be nothing more than a misappropriated state sanctioned killing.  Over 600,000 people world wide have signed a petition to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles requesting clemency for Davis.  These requests and concerns however have been disregarded.

Within the next 30 hours, we will know definitely the fate of Troy Davis.  While I don't know all of what was said during the 3 hours of testimony last night, I find it hard to believe that they have chosen to uphold the sentence. Especially considering that one of the former jurors, Brenda Forrest,  testified that had "she known then what she knows now, she would have found differently" in the case. I fear that the blood of Troy Davis is on the hands of the members of the Ga Board of Pardons and Paroles.