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Troy Anthony Davis, the Georgia man convicted of murdering a Savannah police officer in 1989, is scheduled to be executed Monday, Oct. 27, on 7 p.m. While Davis has no appeals left and no impediments stand in the way of his execution, Amnesty International and other groups are planning demonstrations and marches over the next few days to protest the imposition of the death penalty in a case that’s attracted international attention.

First up, in a little less than two hours, a rally will begin (PDF) on the steps of the state Capitol that’s expected to last from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Originally, the Rev. Al Sharpton was scheduled to be the featured speaker, but the Amnesty folks just told us they can’t confirm he’ll be there.

Next, at 11 a.m. tomorrow morning, death-penalty activists will march in a funeral procession from Underground Atlanta to the State Board of Pardons and Paroles, which is located in GSU’s twin towers on the northeast corner of Piedmont and MLK Boulevard across from the Capitol. The group will carry a casket filled with more than 140,000 Amnesty International petitions from people opposed to Davis’ execution. Participants are asked to wear black.

To keep up with events over the weekend, go to the Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty website.

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Chatham County District Attorney Spencer Lawton has penned an editorial, published yesterday on AJC.com and Sunday on SavannahNow.com, to let people know why the upcoming execution of Troy Davis doesn’t weigh on his conscience.

The only problem: All of Lawton’s points are supported by evidence that supposedly hasn’t seen the light of day — except that it has. In fact, most of Lawton’s revelations have been addressed and contradicted by published reports and court documents. He also glosses over evidence that suggests Davis — who is scheduled to die Oct. 27 — could be innocent.

Lawton writes:

Many people are concerned that an innocent man is about to be put to death. I know this and I understand it. I am not likewise concerned, however, and I want to explain why.

The only information the public has had in the 17 years since Troy Davis’ conviction has been generated by people ideologically opposed to the death penalty, regardless of the guilt or innocence of the accused.

While they have shouted, we have been silent. The canons of legal ethics prohibit a lawyer — prosecutor and defense counsel alike — from commenting publicly in a pending criminal case. Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled, the case is over and I can tell our side.

After the jump, a dissection of Lawton’s ensuing argument.

(more…)

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Troy Anthony Davis, who is scheduled for execution tomorrow despite a heap of evidence that suggests he might be innocent, has gathered the support of former President Jimmy Carter, Nobel Peace Prize-winner Desmond Tutu, Pope Benedict XVI, the Rev. Al Sharpton, U.S. Rep. John Lewis, Libertarian presidential hopeful Bob Barr, and New York Times columnist Bob Herbert.

But his only really hope lies with the Supreme Court of Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court, and — yeah, right — George Bush.

Yesterday’s AJC described a visit the Rev. Sharpton paid to Davis on Georgia’s death row:

“He was not overly optimistic or pessimistic,” said the Rev. Sharpton, who visited Davis … at the request of Davis’ family. “He was suprisingly upbeat. He seemed like he was depending on his faith to see him through.”

Herbert, in his Friday Times column, opined:

Putting someone to death whose guilt is uncertain is always perverted, but there’s an extra dose of perversion in this case.

The United States Supreme Court is scheduled to make a decision on whether to hear a last-ditch appeal by Mr. Davis on Sept. 29. That’s six days after the state of Georgia plans to kill him.

And this morning, NPR chimed in, quoting the Southern regional director of Amnesty International, Jared Feuer:

“Troy Anthony Davis’ case symbolizes all that is wrong with the death penalty. You have questions of improper witness handling. You have procedural obstacles that get in the way of the truth. You have issues of race and, ultimately, you have a system that can’t go back and correct its mistakes.”

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Convicted cop-killer Troy Anthony Davis, who is scheduled for execution next week — despite evidence that suggests he might be innocent — wants his case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, according to a press release from the office of the Supreme Court of Georgia.

The Georgia Supreme Court narrowly voted earlier this year to prevent a lower court from hearing new evidence in Davis’ case — including seven of nine trial witnesses who’ve since recanted their testimony. The ruling came down to a technicality.

Now, the state’s highest court must decide whether Davis deserves a stay of execution in order to appeal his case to the country’s highest court.

The decision to appeal comes on the heels of the state Pardons and Parole Board’s decision not to grant Davis clemency — a decision that shocked Davis’ supporters. Last year, the board had indicated it was troubled by questions of Davis’ guilt.

Earlier this year, Davis’ Washington D.C.-based attorney, Jason Ewart, told CL that the odds of Davis’ case landing before the country’s highest court were slim.

“Getting your case heard in the U.S. Supreme Court is kind of like winning the lottery,” Ewart said. “We’re proceeding down that path, but we expect that the real action is going to be in the pardons and parole board.”

Time for Plan B.

(Photo of Troy Davis, courtesy of Georgia Department of Corrections)

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Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, an umbrella coalition for organizations and individuals opposed to the practice, has condemned the Georgia Board of Prisons  and Paroles’ decision to deny Troy Davis clemency.

From Sara Totonchi, chair of the coalition:

“We are horrified and ashamed as Georgians to see our state revealing its bloodthirst by executing Troy Davis, when so many questions remain on whether or not he is innocent. Executing Troy Davis is callous, careless and irreversible.  The state should be slowing down to address the well-documented, serious problems with a system that irreversibly takes human life, rather than rushing to carry out an execution of a possibly innocent man. This case is proof positive that the death penalty should be abolished.”

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Troy Anthony Davis, a convicted cop killer from Savannah who’s been on death row for 17 years, is scheduled for execution Sept. 23 — despite a parade of witnesses who’ve recanted most of the testimony that incriminated him.

AJC.com reports on the execution date, though the story fails to mention that the state Board of Pardons and Parole basically has been waiting for Davis’s execution date to be set so that it can rule on whether to allow it. Already, the board indicated in a statement issued earlier this year that Davis’s death sentence is troubling:

“The members of the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles will not allow an execution to proceed in this State unless and until its members are convinced that there is no doubt as to the guilt of the accused.”

Plus, if the board commuted this guy’s death sentence, it would be a travesty to allow Davis’s execution. Then again, the board did let this guy die.

(Photo courtesy of Department of Corrections)

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