That's the title of a post at ACS Blog by the distinguished former jurist and former Director of the FBI, William Sessions. It his latest thoughts on the Troy Davis case in Georgia. The U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay of execution in Davis' case last month. The Court is deciding whether to review Davis' innocence claim, which would revisit a line a cases that started with the 1993 Texas case of Herrera v. Collins.
The release of 130 individuals from death row has made clear that the administration of the death penalty is not infallible. When there are important questions about whether someone facing execution is actually guilty, those questions must be examined and resolved before the ultimate punishment is meted out. On Monday, October 6, the U.S. Supreme Court will likely announce its answer to such a question, and its decision literally means life or death for Troy Anthony Davis.
Mr. Davis has been on death row in Georgia for more than 17 years for the murder of a police officer, and related violent crimes. I was the director of the FBI under Presidents Reagan, Bush, and Clinton, and I believe that there is no more serious violent crime than the murder of an off-duty police officer who was putting his life on the line to protect innocent bystanders.
That being said, we must be convinced that the right person has been convicted. Serious questions have been raised about Mr. Davis’s guilt. The murder weapon was never found and other important physical evidence was missing. Key witnesses made inconsistent statements, and seven out of the nine non-police witnesses have now recanted or changed their original testimony, some stating that they had been pressured by the police to implicate Mr. Davis. One of the two witnesses who has not recanted his testimony has now been implicated as the real murderer by two witnesses at trial and four new witnesses. In addition, concerns have been raised about the conduct of the police and prosecutors.
And:
On September 12, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles denied Mr. Davis’ petition for clemency and scheduled his execution for September 23 at 7 p.m. Two hours before the execution was to take place, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a stay of execution until it could vote on whether to grant a writ of certiorari — that is, to decide to hear his case.
I hope the Court will grant certiorari to avoid a miscarriage of justice. At the very least, Mr. Davis’ substantive claims must be examined. The political process has failed Mr. Davis. Let us hope that the court of last resort rises to the challenge.
Judge Sessions is a member of the Constitution Project's Death Penalty Initiative. Thanks to Daniel Schuman for distributing this.
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