The state of Georgia executed Troy Davis in Jackson, Ga. at 11:08 p.m. on Sept. 21. He was 42 years old and had spent 20 years on death row. The Supreme Court denied his lawyer’s request for a stay of execution, after the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles and the Georgia Supreme Court denied it earlier in the week. Doubts remained about his guilt, and protestors demonstrated in multiple cities, including Atlanta, Paris, and Washington D.C.
The NAACP, which had collected hundreds of thousands of signatures asking for clemency for Davis, posted his last words. They were: “I'd like to address the MacPhail family. Let you know, despite the situation you are in, I’m not the one who personally killed your son, your father, your brother. I am innocent.
“The incident that happened that night is not my fault. I did not have a gun. All I can ask ... is that you look deeper into this case so that you really can finally see the truth. I ask my family and friends to continue to fight this fight. For those about to take my life, God have mercy on your souls. And may God bless your souls.”
Davis was convicted of murdering 26-year-old police officer Mark MacPhail. MacPhail was trying to protect a homeless man who was being beaten in Savannah, Ga. According to the Georgia Board, “On August 19, 1989, MacPhail was working in an off-duty capacity as a security officer at the Greyhound Bus Terminal which was connected to a Burger King restaurant located at 601 W. Oglethorpe Avenue. At approximately 1 a.m., on that date, Officer MacPhail went to the Burger King parking lot to assist a beating victim where MacPhail encountered Davis. Davis shot Officer MacPhail and continued shooting at him as he lay on the ground, killing MacPhail. Davis surrendered on August 23, 1989.”
Davis had always maintained his innocence. The reasons for doubt about Davis’ guilt were that no weapon was found, no DNA or other physical evidence was found, and a majority of the eyewitnesses recanted their testimony. DeKalb County State Court Judge Wayne M. Purdom, addressing jurors at county court on Sept. 21, said that eyewitness testimony is unreliable. “If we reenacted something for you right now, and then asked you what you saw, we’d have 20 different stories.”
Former FBI Director William S. Sessions wrote an editorial for the Atlanta-Journal Constitution in which he said, “What the (Board) hearing demonstrated most conclusively was that the evidence in this case—consisting almost entirely of conflicting stories, testimonies and statements—is inadequate to the task of convincingly establishing either Davis’ guilt or his innocence. Without DNA or other forms of physical or scientific evidence that can be objectively measured and tested, it is possible that doubts about guilt in this case will never be resolved.”
According to a statement from the Georgia Board, which had the legal authority to stay Davis’ execution: “The Board members have not taken their responsibility lightly and certainly understand the emotions attached to a death penalty case. It … weighs each case on its own merit. The Board has considered the totality of the information presented in this case and thoroughly deliberated on it, after which the decision was to deny clemency.”
The American Civil Liberties Union, which has campaigned to end the death penalty in America, issued a statement condemning the action. “The execution of an innocent man crystallizes in the most sickening way the vast systemic injustices that plague our death penalty system. No innocent person should ever be put to death, and it is unconscionable and unconstitutional to carry out an execution where, as in the case of Troy Davis, significant doubts exist,” said Denny LeBoeuf, director of the ACLU Capital Punishment Project, in a press release the night Davis was executed.
Davis had come close to execution three times before. Each time, he refused to eat a final meal. He refused to eat dinner the evening of Sept. 21.
