Davis' Kin: Death Row Families Suffer Most

Martina Correia

Having a loved one on death row would be stressful enough for most people. The trial, sentencing, appeals and the wait to see if there is any possibility that the worst you can imagine may not come to pass can take its toll on anyone’s physical, emotional and mental health.

Martina Correia understands that better than most. The sister of Death Row inmate Troy Davis has been going through that emotional roller coaster for years and wrestling with a number of health issues, including her own battle with Stage IV breast cancer.

Davis, who is black, was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1989 murder of white Savannah policeman Mark MacPhail.

No physical evidence has linked Davis to the killing, and seven of the nine witnesses who implicated Davis at trial have since recanted, saying that they were pressured into naming him. Last year, the presiding judge of an evidentiary hearing in the case ruled that Davis failed to establish his innocence, clearing the way to set a new execution date.

In late March, the U.S. Supreme Court did not address Davis' appeal of the judge's ruling. Barring any other legal remedies, the remaining option would be getting the state of Georgia's Board of Pardons and Paroles to grant him clemency.

The pressure definitely took a toll on Davis’ family. His father died six months after he was convicted; an aunt died 16 months ago, and his mother died in April.

Correia told BlackAmericaWeb.com that within 30 minutes of telling Davis that his mother had died, prison officials also told him he could not have his monthly contact visit with his family. Authorities contended, Correia said, that there was concern about how Davis would react with relatives present so shortly after hearing the news about his mother.

So, beyond just working to see that her brother receives justice in the courts, Correia is also monitoring his treatment in prison while undergoing treatment for breast cancer, raising her teenaged son and caring for her husband, who recently began intensive dialysis treatments.

“I just have a strong faith in God,” Correia said when asked how she manages. “Whenever I have something happening, and it’s too much of a burden for me to carry, I just give it over to God."

She said lawyers for Davis continue to seek legal avenues to have his case heard.

In not hearing Davis’ case in March, Correia said, “They didn’t deny Troy’s case; they didn’t select Troy’s case. There’s a difference,” which may leave an opening for further appeal.

Correia said a new warden was assigned a year ago to the prison where Davis is incarcerated and has taken a hard line on the treatment of death row inmates, including limiting or eliminating contact with families, severely restricting inmates’ physical movement and increasing fines for minor infractions.

“For 20 years, there was no problem until the new warden came in,” she said. “They talk real nice to the family on the phone, and then go antagonize the inmates” to provoke them into committing infractions for which they can be punished.

“They put dog cages on the yard so they can’t go out for recreation. They have to go into these cages that are 5-by-9 or 6-by-9 and just stand. My brother said he hasn’t been outside for a year,” Correia said.

At one time, inmates were allowed to have books in their cells, some minimal art programs, “just things to keep them sane,” but all of those things have been eliminated or severely curtailed.

“The morale is so low that they’ve had suicide attempts and one suicide success. We get outsiders to talk (to officials on Davis’ behalf) because it minimizes the punishment,” Correia said, noting the Georgia state NAACP and the Southern Center for Civil Rights have been helpful go-betweens.

Through it all, she said, her brother has shown resilience. “He asks God if it’s his will to use him to make a bigger statement about innocence, then that’s God’s will."

Beyond getting her brother off death row and getting evidence that could prove his innocence heard, Correia said there is a push to change death penalty law in general. The law, as it is written, doesn’t require a confirmation of guilt, just a guilty verdict.

“The lawyers have told us it is not illegal to execute innocent people in this country if the courts feel they got a fair trial."

In the meantime, Davis’ family and supporters are urging people to go to www.JusticeforTroy.org, and sign the petition calling for his release, link the site to their Facebook pages and get friends to sign the petition too.

“Get Troy’s address from the site, and send him words of encouragement,” Correia said. “Not letters of ‘Woe is me’ and ‘the Department of Corrections sucks’ - which we already know."

Once the execution day is set, a Global Day of Solidarity will be scheduled five to 10 days before the date, with events held in various locations around the world and in Georgia, where Davis is imprisoned.

Correia said she wants people to remember that “both (MacPhail’s and Davis’) families are victims; Death Row families especially because they keep dealing with the uncertainty over the appeals."

“I just think my mother died of a broken heart, but she made sure we were strong enough to deal with this," Correia said. "It’s not just the inmate who is on death row. That whole family is on death row."

Source: blackamericaweb.com, May 19, 2011

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Georgia plan would keep 3-drug executions

Georgia's top prison official is considering a plan that would allow the state to stick with a 3-drug combination for lethal injections by substituting a new drug for one seized by federal regulators in March, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

The proposal, which is being considered by Corrections Commissioner Brian Owens, would allow the state to use pentobarbital instead of sodium thiopental. The AP obtained the documents through an open records request. There is no timetable for a decision, said Georgia corrections spokeswoman Joan Heath.

State corrections officials have been working on the change since the Drug Enforcement Administration took Georgia's supply of sodium thiopental amid questions of whether the state circumvented the law to obtain the drug amid a nationwide shortage.

Earlier, state officials had visited Ohio, which uses only pentobarbital in lethal injections, and Oklahoma, which uses the sedative as part of a 3-drug combination, to study those procedures.

Most of the nation's 34 death penalty states have scrambled over the last year to find a new supplier of sodium thiopental since its sole manufacturer in the U.S. announced in January it will no longer make the drug. Several states postponed executions amid the shortage, and some have looked overseas to secure a supply.

Georgia's situation was made worse when the state had to surrender its stockpile of the drug after defense attorneys questioned whether the state properly registered with the DEA before importing the drug from London. Documents also show the drug was purchased from a London company that operates at the same address as a driving school.

State officials have said they don't have concerns about the quality of the sodium thiopental and that they are cooperating with investigators. Meanwhile, corrections officials have quietly begun laying the groundwork for a switch, collecting hundreds of pages of legal filings and other documents about the drugs, according to more than 1,000 pages of files reviewed by the AP.

The new procedure would require prison staffers to inject two syringes containing 2.5 grams of pentobarbital each into the death row inmate's bloodstream, followed by a syringe of saline to ensure a steady flow of the drug. After at least 5 minutes, staffers would then inject pancuronium bromide to paralyze the inmate and then potassium chloride to stop the heart.

The plan would also require officials to post a certificate from the DEA certifying the drugs were obtained legally at the medical room of the death chamber, which is housed in the Georgia State Prison in Jackson.

A switch would clear the way for Georgia to schedule the execution of Troy Anthony Davis, who was sentenced to die for the 1989 slaying of an off-duty Savannah police officer. The U.S. Supreme Court in March rejected his most recent legal appeal, but the state couldn't execute him because it didn't have the lethal injection drug.

The switch could also lead to legal challenges from defense attorneys and death penalty opponents. William Montross of the Atlanta-based Southern Center for Human Rights said he hoped Georgia corrections officials consulted with medical authorities in developing the policy.

"This new protocol was developed without public scrutiny and is highly experimental," he said.

Source: Associated Press, May 6, 2011

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URGENT APPEAL for Troy Davis facing the possibility of his 4th execution date

Troy Davis

Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis is facing the possibility of his fourth execution date in four years after the US Supreme Court dismissed his appeal on 28 March. Doubts persist about his guilt in the crime for which he was sentenced to death two decades ago.

Troy Davis was sentenced to death in 1991 for the murder of police officer Mark Allen MacPhail in Savannah, Georgia in 1989. No physical evidence directly links Davis to the murder – no murder weapon was ever found. The case against Davis primarily rested on witness testimony. Since his trial, seven of nine key witnesses have recanted or changed their testimony, some alleging police coercion.

In 2009, the US Supreme Court ordered a federal evidentiary hearing to review Troy Davis’ innocence claim.

At the hearing in June 2010, US District Court Judge William Moore addressed not whether the state could demonstrate a watertight case against Troy Davis, but whether Davis could show “by clear and convincing evidence that no reasonable juror would have convicted him in the light of the new evidence” that had emerged since his 1991 murder trial. Under this “extraordinarily high” standard, Judge Moore wrote, “Mr Davis is not innocent”. Elsewhere in his ruling, however, he acknowledged that the new evidence presented by Troy Davis cast “some additional, minimal” doubt on his conviction, and that the state’s case was not “ironclad”. In 1991, the jury had found Troy Davis guilty “beyond a reasonable doubt,” Judge Moore noted, “but not to a mathematical certainty”.

On 28 March, the US Supreme Court refused to take the Davis case, clearing the way for Georgia to set an execution date. Troy Davis was less than 24 hours from execution in 2007 when the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles issued a stay. The Board said in 2007 that it would not allow an execution to go ahead “unless and until its members are convinced that there is no doubt as to the guilt of the accused”. Since then Troy Davis has faced two more execution dates, both in 2008, which were stayed by the courts.

Since 2007, three states in the USA have legislated to abolish the death penalty. When signing the abolitionist bills into law the three state governors all pointed to the risk of irrevocable error as a reason to support abolition. Since Troy Davis has been on death row, more than 90 prisoners have been released from death rows around the country on grounds of innocence. In each case, at trial the defendant had been found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

In the past four years, three states in the USA – New Jersey, New Mexico and Illinois – have legislated to abolish the death penalty. Signing the bills in law, the three governors pointed to the risk of irreversible error in an imperfect system as a reason to support abolition. In 2007, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine said that “government cannot provide a foolproof death penalty that precludes the possibility of executing the innocent”. In 2009, Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico said that to carry out an irrevocable punishment, “we must have ultimate confidence – I would say certitude – that the system is without flaw or prejudice.” This, he added, “is demonstrably not the case”. In March 2011, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn said that the capital justice system was “inherently flawed”, and that it was “impossible to devise a system that is consistent, that is free of discrimination on the basis of race, geography or economic circumstance, and that always gets it right.” He said that, “as a state, we cannot tolerate the executions of innocent people because such actions strike at the very legitimacy of a government”.

More than 130 people have been released from death rows across the USA since 1976 on the grounds of innocence. Among other things the cases reveal the frequent unreliability of witness testimony. The Troy Davis case is one in which most of the witnesses who testified against the defendant have since retracted or contradicted their trial testimony in sworn statements. Nevertheless, a prisoner seeking to rely on revised witness testimony faces a high hurdle in the face of deference to the original jury verdict. At the June 2010 evidentiary hearing in US District Court, the Georgia prosecutor argued that “every court in the United States at every level has said, recantations are not favoured, they are looked at with great scepticism, they’re unreliable.” She concluded about the Troy Davis case: “This was their chance. The standard is extremely high…, they have not met it”.

One of the witnesses who appeared at the hearing was Benjamin Gordon, who in 2008 had signed a statement that an alternative suspect (a relative of his by marriage) had told him that he had shot Officer MacPhail. At the hearing, Benjamin Gordon asserted for the first time that he had actually seen this individual shoot the police officer. Benjamin Gordon, who had just turned 16 at the time of the crime, again alleged that he had been coerced by police into signing a statement implicating Davis. He said that he had not come forward sooner with the assertion about seeing who shot the officer out of fear, and that he had decided to “come in today and just let the truth be known”. Judge Moore concluded that Benjamin Gordon was “not a credible witness”.

The international community has agreed safeguards for capital cases in those countries that still retain the death penalty. One of these concerns the burden of proof on the death penalty state: “Capital punishment may be imposed only when the guilt of the person charged is based upon clear and convincing evidence leaving no room for an alternative explanation of the facts”. The “extraordinarily high” burden of proof chosen by Judge Moore is less protective than this.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases, unconditionally, regardless of questions of guilt or innocence, the crime in question, or the method of execution. There have been 1,246 executions in the USA since judicial killing resumed there in 1977, including 12 so far this year. Georgia currently does not have the drugs necessary to carry out a lethal injection after the Drugs Enforcement Administration of the US Department of Justice seized sodium thiopental in the possession of the state in order to conduct an investigation into how it was obtained. It is not known how long this may delay an execution date being set.

For further information on the Troy Davis case, see USA: ‘Unconscionable and unconstitutional’: Troy Davis facing fourth execution date in two years, May 2009, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/069/2009/en ; USA: Less than ‘ironclad’, less than safe, 27 August 2010, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/077/2010/en

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:

-Acknowledging the seriousness of the crime for which Troy Davis was sentenced to death;

-Noting that doubts persist in the case even after the federal evidentiary hearing in 2010;

-Pointing out that the Board acts as a failsafe against irreversible error, and recalling its statement in 2007 that it would not allow any execution to proceed where there was any doubt about the guilt of the prisoner;

-Pointing to the substantial evidence of the fallibility of the capital justice system;

-Calling on the Board to grant clemency and to commute the death sentence of Troy Davis.

APPEALS TO:

State Board of Pardons and Paroles

2 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, SE

Suite 458, Balcony Level, East Tower

Atlanta, Georgia 30334-4909, USA

Salutation: Dear Board members

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.

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Death Penalty Opponents Assail Troy Davis Ruling

Troy Davis

Anti-death penalty activists criticized the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to reject without comment death row inmate Troy Davis’ appeals seeking to delay his execution while he attempts to prove he was wrongfully convicted of killing a white police officer in 1991.

Without another appeal, commutation or pardon, Monday’s decision likely will allow the state of Georgia to set another execution date for Davis. There may be a slight delay in scheduling because of questions over the state’s supply of a key lethal injection drug.

Federal regulators seized the entire stockpile of sodium thiopental earlier this month after questions arose about the way the state obtained the drug.

“We are deeply shocked and disappointed because we think that [Davis] has made a compelling case of innocence and that there are too many questions to go forward with his execution,” Diann Rust-Tierney, executive director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

Davis was convicted in 1991 of killing Mark MacPhail, an off-duty Savannah, Georgia police officer, largely on the basis of eyewitness testimony, but 7 of the 9 witnesses who implicated Davis have since recanted, and other witnesses have come forward to say another man confessed to killing MacPhail. Further, there has been no physical evidence linking Davis, who had no prior criminal record, to the killing.

Restrictions on federal appeals prevented Davis from having a hearing in federal court on the reliability of the witness testimony used against him. The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles also rejected Davis’ application for clemency. An appellate court stayed Davis’ execution date so that his lawyers could file the appeals to the Supreme Court.

Davis was granted a stay of execution by the U.S. Supreme Court 2 hours before he was to be put to death in 2008, and the court in 2009 ordered the federal District Court to take another look at the case.

After holding a hearing to review evidence, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled earlier that Davis "failed to show actual innocence" in the case. The District Court suggested that, for procedural reasons, Davis should take his appeal of its ruling directly to the Supreme Court.

In January, Davis’ lawyers filed two pleas. One sought review of the Georgia federal judge's rejection of the innocence claim, and the other asked for a test of the 11th Circuit's refusal to review the case.

"Nobody walking out of that hearing could view this as an open-and-shut case," Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA, told WSAV-TV after Monday’s Supreme Court ruling.

"The testimony that came to light demonstrates that doubt still exists, but the legal bar for proving innocence was set so high it was virtually insurmountable," said Cox. “It would be utterly unconscionable to proceed with this execution, plain and simple."

“I think the position of the state has been the burden of proof is on the defense since there’s been a determination in the process,” Rust-Tierney said. “But when all the legalese is pushed aside, the question is is there enough confidence in this conviction to go forward with an execution?”

Davis' sister told CNN Monday that she was "very disappointed" by the Supreme Court's rejection.

Martina Correia-Davis said Davis' attorney told her they would continue to pursue all possible legal options, including a possible repetition of the Georgia State Board of Parole.

MacPhail’s son, Mark MacPhail, Jr. told WSAV-TV in Savannah that the High Court’s ruling proved what the evidence has always shown and what his family has known all along: that "Troy Davis is guilty."

MacPhail, Jr., who was just a few months old when his father was slain, told the television station he had been getting somewhat frustrated and nervous and "wondering what was taking so long."

But Davis’ case has received broad support from entertainment, social and political figures, including former President Jimmy Carter and Pope Benedict XVI. There also have been calls for the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole to commute Davis’ sentence.

It is unclear what Davis’ lawyers' options are, but defense attorney Jason Ewart told The Associated Press the likeliest route is appealing to the pardons and parole board, a five-member board that rarely postpones executions.

"The Troy Davis case is emblematic of everything that is wrong with capital punishment," Laura Moye, director of AIUSA's Death Penalty Abolition Campaign, told WSAV. "In a system rife with error, mistakes can be made.

“There are no do-overs when it comes to death," said Moye. “Lawmakers across the country should scrutinize this case carefully, not only because of its unprecedented nature, but because it clearly indicates the need to abolish the death penalty in the United States."

Source: BlackAmericaWeb.com, March 30, 2011

Why the war to save Troy Davis isn't over

On March 28, 2011 I woke up elated about my 10 year anniversary as a cancer survivor. I looked outside and it was cold and gloomy, the sun was nowhere to be found. It's about 9:30 a.m. and the phone rings, it's my brother Troy Davis' lawyer and from the tone in his voice I knew, it was not good news.

My heart sank to a heavy place as I listened to his monotone voice saying, "We just received news that the United States Supreme Court has denied Troy's appeal." Knowing that the appeals for Troy have always been an uphill battle and the lawyers have always stated that from a legal standpoint. Yet today I also heard optimism in the statement, "We will seek and exhaust all legal means available to us." I know from a legal standpoint denial by the Supreme Court is nothing a lawyer finds optimism in, yet I felt the readiness for yet another battle.

My first concern was my mother and my brother Troy. I cannot imagine facing three execution dates and the possibility of a fourth. I knew Troy would be more concerned about our family than himself, but I also knew that as much faith and spirituality as my mother has, she is still a mother and we are fighting for my brother's very existence. In this fight Troy is no longer voiceless and my family is no longer invisible, yet the court still refuses to hear what we have to say. Innocence does matter and beyond a reasonable doubt should be of utmost.

One thing for certain is that the global concern about this case is growing and yet the highest court in the United States is not willing to address the issue of innocence and new evidence. We live in country that is supposed to promote democracy and human rights for other countries yet it is not unconstitutional for us to execute innocent people in the U.S. if the courts feel they received a fair trial.

I am both enraged and empowered, for this battle to save Troy is a war of life and death for me! Until there is no breath left in my body I will fight for Troy, fight against the injustice of the death penalty, because this battle is bigger than Troy it is a war against a system is not impartial, a system that cares less for fairness and more for finality. In no way have we ever diminished the loss and hurt of the McPhail family, yet both families have been victimized. Being a mother and having Stage 4 cancer I understand the importance of life and I am willing to give my life to spare my brother's. No matter the final outcome of this case, my war against the death penalty is far from over and I will no longer be a victimize by this system in the United States, that justice depends on your ability to pay for it.

The hearing held in June 2010 in Savannah was like a puppet show, it was entertaining to some, upsetting to others, yet once the judge opened his mouth and looked at my brother with disgust I knew that no matter what Troy's lawyers had to present the judge had already made his decision to deny Troy, so he was just going through the motions like a puppeteer. I saluted the witnesses, even though they were criminalized by the state prosecutor for recanting their trial testimony. When they testified against Troy all those years ago, the police treated them like heroes, even though they had the same criminal history in 1989. It also seemed amazing that all the police who testified had amnesia about their role of misconduct with the witnesses, yet the judge chose to believe them over recanted testimony of the very witnesses they used to secure a conviction and death sentence for my brother.

The Georgia Parole Board said they will not execute when there is doubt. The case of Troy Anthony Davis is full of doubt.

As Troy said to me, "It's not over 'til God says it's over, this fight for justice did not begin with me and will not end with me."

The battle for Justice and the War to save Troy wages on! My name is Martina Correia and I am on Death Row because that is where my brother lives, our lives intertwined. If Troy is executed he will become even more powerful, because people all around the world are saying, "I AM TROY DAVIS," and his story will be heard.

Source: Opinion, Martina Correia, The Grio, April 3, 2011
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High court rejects appeal from Troy Davis

The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis, clearing the way for the state to resume planning for Davis' execution.

The justices on Monday refused to order the federal appeals court in Atlanta to examine Davis' case and they declined to do so themselves.

In 2009, the high court ordered a federal judge to examine evidence Davis said would show he was innocent of the 1989 killing for which he has been sentenced to death.

But the judge decided last year that Davis had failed to clear his name.

At the moment, executions are on hold in Georgia after federal agents seized the state's supply of a key lethal injection drug.

Source: Associated Press, March 28, 2011

Appeal denied in high-profile US death row case

The US Supreme Court Monday rejected an appeal to death row inmate Troy Davis who is seeking a new trial after 7 of the 9 witnesses against him recanted their murder trial testimony.

The Supreme Court rejected a request for an appeal hearing submitted by lawyers on behalf of Davis, a 42-year-old convicted of murdering a police officer in the southern state of Georgia in August 1989.

The decision clears the way for the execution of Davis, who has been on death row in Georgia since 1991 but has always maintained his innocence.

Davis's conviction rested on the testimony of the 9 witnesses, with no direct physical evidence such as a murder weapon, DNA or fingerprints linking him to the crime.

After a series of failed earlier appeals, the Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling in August 2009 allowing Davis to present what he claimed was exculpatory evidence that was not reasonably available during his trial.

But after the rare hearing in August 2010, the judge decided there was not enough evidence to prove Davis's innocence.

With its racial overtones -- Davis is black, the officer Mark Allen MacPhail was white -- and the prisoner's continued claims of innocence, the case has triggered an international outcry.

Critics have included the European Union, whose member states oppose the death penalty, as well as Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu of South Africa and Pope Benedict XVI.

Source: Agence France-Presse, March 28, 2011

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Troy Davis Appeal Denied – Execution Date Could Loom

Posted by: Brian Evans,

18Share

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear Troy Davis’ appeals and set the stage for him to possibly face a fourth execution date.  Davis will not be allowed to challenge the August 2010 ruling of the federal district court judge that he failed to establish his innocence, nor will he be able to challenge the standard used to make that ruling.

Doubts about Davis’ guilt, of course, have not been resolved, as most of the witnesses used to convict him continue to maintain that their trial testimony was false and, in many cases, coerced by Savannah police. 

With such witnesses as virtually the only evidence, the case against Troy Davis was always thin, but, ironically, that has meant that, once convicted, Davis has had little to drawn on to prove his innocence.  Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases, but, especially in this case, where the evidence available to establish either guilt or innocence is so flimsy, an execution would be a terrible miscarriage of justice.

Troy Davis files new appeal with U.S. Supreme Court

Attorneys for Troy Anthony Davis are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overrule a federal judge who decided last year the Georgia death row inmate failed to clear his name after getting a rare chance to prove his innocence.

Davis' latest appeal, filed Friday, says the U.S. District Court judge ordered by the Supreme Court to hear his innocence claim last year "evinced a clear hostility to Mr. Davis and his claims throughout the hearing."

Davis has long said he could prove he was wrongly convicted of the 1989 slaying of off-duty Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail if a court agreed to hear new evidence.

The Supreme Court in late 2009 ordered U.S. District Court Judge William T. Moore Jr. in Savannah to preside over such a hearing. Moore heard 2 days of testimony in June.

In August, the judge ruled evidence presented by Davis' attorneys wasn't nearly strong enough to prove he's innocent. He wrote that while the evidence casts some additional doubt on Davis' conviction, "it is largely smoke and mirrors."

In their latest appeal, Davis' lawyers say the judge was wrong in refusing to hear from witnesses who say another man later confessed to MacPhail's killing.

They say the judge should have ruled that other testimony casting doubt on the case would have been sufficient to sway reasonable jurors from convicting Davis.

"The evidence, new and old, establishes that Mr. Davis is innocent by any reasonable standard," Davis' attorneys wrote.

A rejection by the Supreme Court would clear the way for Georgia officials to resume planning Davis' execution.

His case has taken a number of unexpected turns over the years. Davis has been scheduled for execution three times since 2007, but was spared each time by courts agreeing to take another look at his case.

Davis' lawyers tried to challenge Moore's ruling last year in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. That court refused to hear Davis' appeal, saying he must go straight to the Supreme Court because it ordered the hearing on his innocence claim.

Davis' lawyers are asking the Supreme Court to return the case to the 11th Circuit. But they also filed arguments challenging Moore's opinion in case the Supreme Court refuses to return the case to the lower appellate court.

MacPhail was working off-duty at a Savannah bus station on Aug. 19, 1989, when he was shot twice after rushing to help a homeless man who had been attacked. Eyewitnesses identified Davis as the shooter at his trial, but no physical evidence tied him to the slaying.

Davis' case has attracted international attention, including support from the NAACP, Amnesty International, former President Jimmy Carter and Pope Benedict XVI.

Source: Associated Press, January 25, 2011

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