Supreme Court says Troy Davis deserves another chance

Amnesty International USA
Press Release
Monday, August 17, 2009

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL WELCOMES SUPREME COURT ORDER
MANDATING EVIDENTIARY HEARING FOR TROY ANTHONY DAVIS

Contact: Wende Gozan at 212-633-4247, wgozan@aiusa.org, or Laura Moye at 404-452-8920, lmoye@aiusa.org.

(Washington, D.C.) – Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) today welcomed a U.S. Supreme Court order mandating a new evidentiary hearing for death-row inmate Troy Anthony Davis. In today’s ruling, the nation’s highest court decided that Davis should have another chance to prove his innocence before the state of Georgia puts him to death.

“We are grateful that the nation’s highest court has seen the wisdom in granting a new evidentiary hearing to Troy Davis,” said Laura Moye, director of AIUSA’s Death Penalty Abolition Campaign. “For years Amnesty International has maintained that this man’s compelling case of innocence needs to see the light of day. Finally it will. Given the lack of hard evidence tying Davis to Officer MacPhail’s murder, it would be nothing short of unconscionable to put him to death as a means of conveniently tying up loose ends. Finally there is an opportunity for justice to truly be served.”

According to SCOTUSblog, the Court told the District Court to “receive testimony and make findings of fact as to whether evidence that could not have been obtained at the time of trial clearly establishes [Davis’] innocence.”

Davis was convicted in 1991 of killing Savannah police officer Mark Allen MacPhail. Authorities failed to produce a murder weapon or physical evidence tying Davis to the crime. Seven of the nine original state witnesses have recanted or changed their initial testimonies in sworn affidavits. One of the remaining witnesses is alleged to be the actual perpetrator. Since the launch of its February 2007 report, “Where Is the Justice for Me?”, Amnesty International has campaigned intensively for a new evidentiary hearing or trial, as well as clemency for Davis, collecting hundreds of thousands of clemency petition signatures and letters from prominent individuals around the world.

Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots organization with more than 2.2 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries who campaign for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.