The Troy Davis Case in Georgia

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has, "Condemned cop killer denied new trial."  The Georgia state Supreme Court ruling is here.

The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday, by a 4-3 vote, rejected Troy Anthony Davis' bid for a new trial, keeping the condemned cop killer who claims he is innocent on death row.

Davis was sentenced to death in Chatham County for the murder of Savannah Police Officer Mark Allen MacPhail. Since his trial 17 years ago, seven witnesses used by prosecutors to convict Davis have recanted their testimony.

We simply cannot disregard the jury's verdict in this case," Justice Harold Melton wrote for the majority. He was joined by Justices George Carley, Harris Hines and Hugh Thompson.

"We conclude that Davis has failed to show that these alleged recantations support his extraordinary motion for new trial," the ruling said.

Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears, joined by Justices Carol Hunstein and Robert Benham, said she would have granted Davis a new hearing to allow a judge to weigh the new evidence.

"In this case, nearly every witness who identified Davis as the shooter at trail has now disclaimed his or her ability to do so reliably," Sears wrote.

"Perhaps these witnesses' testimony would prove incredible if a hearing were held," Sears said. "Perhaps the majority is correct that the allged eyewitnesses' testimony will actually show Davis' guilt rather than his innocence."

But the collective effect of all of the new testimony, if it were to be found credible by a judge, Sears wrote, "would show the probability that a new jury would find reasonable doubt of Davis' guilt or at least sufficient residual doubt to decline to impose the death penalty."

And:

Davis was less than 24 hours from lethal injection in July 2007 when the state Board of Pardons and Paroles, troubled by last-minute questions about his guilt, stayed the execution for 90 days. The purpose of delaying the execution, the board said, was for "evaluating and analyzing the evidence."

But a few weeks later, the Board of Pardons and Paroles suspended its consideration for clemency after the Georgia Supreme Court, by a 4-3 vote, agreed to consider Davis' appeal.

Troy Davis' case was the subject of a great deal of attention last summer as an execution date neared.  Earlier coverage of this controversial case is here.