Fresh Loaf

What was planned as a vigil instead became a celebration.

This evening, less than two hours before he was scheduled to be executed by the state of Georgia, longtime death row inmate Troy Davis was granted a stay of execution by the U.S. Supreme Court. To celebrate the eleventh hour decision, Davis supporters gathered on the western steps of the state Capitol.

“I was stunned,” says Laura Moye, deputy director of Amnesty International USA’s Southern regional office. Moye learned of the court’s decision while she was taping a radio interview. “We’d hoped for it all day. I was prepared for the worst, but I’d hoped for the best.”

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court’s justices are scheduled to decide whether or not to hear Davis’ case. If they refuse to hear it, the stay will end.

“The struggle is not over,” Moye says. “We at least have a little more time. Every day is a gift. We will celebrate today, we will organize tomorrow.”

(Photo by Thomas Wheatley)

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The U.S. Supreme Court has granted a stay of execution to Troy Davis — less than two hours before he was scheduled to die by lethal injection, according to Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

This is the second time that Davis has been granted a stay less than 24 hours before his scheduled execution.

GFADP and Amnesty International will host a celebration at 6:30 p.m. at the Georgia State Capitol downtown, near the corner of MLK Drive and Washington Street.

More details to come …

UPDATE: According to CNN.com:

Troy Anthony Davis first learned that his execution had been stayed when he saw it on the news, he told CNN’s Rusty Dornin in an exclusive phone interview minutes after the stay was announced.

UPDATE: According to AJC.com:

The U.S. Supreme Court’s justices are scheduled to decide Monday whether to hear an appeal of a ruling issued in March by the Georgia Supreme Court. In that 4-3 decision, the state Supreme Court rejected Davis’ request that he be granted a new trial or a court hearing to present new evidence.

In its order, the U.S. Supreme Court said if the justices decline to accept Davis’ appeal, “this stay shall terminate immediately.” If the appeal is granted, the stay will remain in force until the high court issues its ultimate ruling on Davis’ appeal, the order said.

(Photo courtesy Georgia Department of Corrections)

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There are a bunch of events planned today for Troy Davis, the longtime death row inmate scheduled for execution tonight — despite evidence that suggests he might not have killed Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail.

Unless the U.S. Supreme Court grants a last-minute stay of execution, Davis will die by lethal injection sometime after 7 p.m. at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison in Jackson, Ga.

Here’s the run-down of protests, organized by Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty and Amnesty International:

• 1:15 p.m. — GFADP organizers and volunteers will meet at Johnny Rocket’s near Underground Atlanta (50 Upper Alabama St.) to stage a nearby “die-in.” According to the group: “This means laying down in front of a particular site as someone holds a sign explaining why people are lying down.”
• 6:30 p.m. (in Jackson) — If there is no stay of execution, protesters will gather outside the site of the execution. Get directions here.
• 6:30 p.m. (in Atlanta) — Davis’ supporters will meet at the Georgia State Capitol downtown, near the corner of MLK Drive and Washington Street, either to protest Davis’ death or celebrate a stay of execution.
• Additional protests are planned in Americus, Athens, Augusta, Clarkesville, Dawson, Marietta and Savannah. Details here.

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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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