Georgia on My Mind
Troy Davis has faced a rollercoaster of results this past year in his attempts to present evidence of his innocence to the state of Georgia. After the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals denied his second petition to make the case for his innocence in court last month, Davis's lawyers filed a petition with "the Supreme Court for an original writ of habeas corpus." As former Congressman and attorney Bob Barr noted in a recent New York Times op-ed about Davis's situation, this "extraordinary procedure" has only been granted "a handful of times." If the Court doesn't grant his petition, "Mr. Davis faces an extraordinary and obviously final injustice," at the hands of Georgia's state executioners.
Though his legal options are slowly running out, Mr. Davis does have
some major champions: after meeting with him just this weekend, Georgia
Congressmen John Lewis and Hank Johnson said they're heading back "to
Washington to pursue other legal means to resolving Davis' case." Rep.
Lewis went even further, saying he has considered pursuing "a
presidential pardon" (but has not yet spoken to the President about
this) and he "plans to talk to the chairmen of the House and Senate
Judiciary Committees to discuss possible legislation related to Davis'
case."
Also on Mr. Davis's side are "27 former judges, justices, and prosecutors" who filed an amicus brief asking that the Supreme Court require Mr. Davis's case to be sent back to a lower court so that "a judge can consider the recantation testimony of a number of key witnesses who testified for the state at the 1991 trial." This impressive cadre of legal experts, including Bob Barr and former FBI Director William Sessions, note that there is important "new, never reviewed evidence that strongly points to his innocence," that should be heard in court.
The state of Georgia has yet to set an execution date, but could do so any time, since the 30-day stay of execution issued by the appeals court last month expired this past weekend. For now, I leave you with Bob Barr's introduction. It seems a fitting summary of Troy Davis's situation, and of the broader implications of implementing capital punishment with a system that is inherently flawed: "There is no abuse of government power more egregious than executing an innocent man. But that is exactly what may happen if the United States Supreme Court fails to intervene on behalf of Troy Davis."
Also on Mr. Davis's side are "27 former judges, justices, and prosecutors" who filed an amicus brief asking that the Supreme Court require Mr. Davis's case to be sent back to a lower court so that "a judge can consider the recantation testimony of a number of key witnesses who testified for the state at the 1991 trial." This impressive cadre of legal experts, including Bob Barr and former FBI Director William Sessions, note that there is important "new, never reviewed evidence that strongly points to his innocence," that should be heard in court.
The state of Georgia has yet to set an execution date, but could do so any time, since the 30-day stay of execution issued by the appeals court last month expired this past weekend. For now, I leave you with Bob Barr's introduction. It seems a fitting summary of Troy Davis's situation, and of the broader implications of implementing capital punishment with a system that is inherently flawed: "There is no abuse of government power more egregious than executing an innocent man. But that is exactly what may happen if the United States Supreme Court fails to intervene on behalf of Troy Davis."