NPR: Authorities Grant Stay of Execution for Ga. Man

Authorities Grant Stay of Execution for Ga. Man

Georgia's parole board has granted a stay of execution for a black man convicted of killing a white police officer in 1989, NPR reports. Troy Davis, 38, was scheduled to be executed by injection today.

The stay will be in effect while the board weighs the evidence presented as part of Davis' request for clemency, according to Agence France-Presse.

The Washington Post reports that police officer Mark MacPhail was working an off-duty shift in August 1989 when he went to stop a fight between two men in a Burger King parking lot. He was shot in the chest and face. Without any physical evidence, authorities used only the testimony of witnesses at Davis' trial.

Since the trial, however, three of four witnesses who testified that Davis shot the officer have signed statements contradicting their identification of the gunman. Two other witnesses who told police that Davis had confessed to the shooting have said they made it up. Other witnesses say it was another man at the Burger King that night.

Some legal experts say the Davis case show flaws in the system that have limited a prisoner's ability to have a death sentence reconsidered over the past few decades. Even after witnesses recanted, a U.S. District judge denied Davis' request for an evidentiary hearing, citing a federal law (the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996) that limits such actions.

Former FBI Director William Sessions had submitted a written appeal on Davis's behalf, while Rep. John Lewis appeared at the parole board hearing, AFP reports. Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu spoke out against the execution, and the Council of Europe urged the United States to reconsider.

The Associated Press reports that MacPhail's widow condemned the parole board's decision, saying it set "a precedent for all criminals that it is perfectly fine to kill a cop and get away with it."

9:35 AM ET | 07-17-2007 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

The true tragedy is the American concept of justice.

What happened to the morality of rehabiliation, the original design of the United States' penal system in its foundation so many years ago?

Why has it been supplanted by the vicious lust for retribution?

Sent by John K | 11:17 AM ET | 07-17-2007

Rehabilitation is a noble concept, but has never been one of the penal system. You commit a crime, you go to jail, and basically that is all it is. It is expensive, it is over-crowded, but criminals are out of our site and therefore out of every citizen's mind.

Much of it reminds me of the Witch Trials. Rather than attempting to redefine our approach to criminal justice, we make laws tougher or more expensive thinking that a man or woman will first think before they act. I beg a few people to think about that logic before they respond. The system works for what we expect. If we expect more out of ourselves, it will change.

Sent by Harryj8 | 11:30 AM ET | 07-17-2007

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