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Troy Davis is scheduled to be executed next Tuesday, July 17th. He was sentenced to death seventeen years ago for the murder of Police Officer Mark Allen McPhail in Georgia. The case against him consisted entirely of witness testimony which contained inconsistencies even at the time of the trial. Since then, all but two of the state's nine non-police witnesses from the trial have recanted their testimony. Many of these witnesses have stated in sworn affidavits that they were pressured or coerced by police into testifying or signing statements against Troy Davis. Despite mounting evidence that Davis may in fact be innocent of the crime, appeals to courts to consider this evidence have been repeatedly denied for procedural reasons. Instead, the prosecution based its case on the testimony of purported "witnesses," many of whom allege police coercion, and most of whom have since recanted their testimony. One witness signed a police statement declaring that Davis was the assailant then later said "I did not read it because I cannot read." In another case a witness stated that the police "were telling me that I was an accessory to murder and that I would...go to jail for a long time and I would be lucky if I ever got out, especially because a police officer got killed...I was only sixteen and was so scared of going to jail." There are also several witnesses who have implicated another man in the crime but the police focused their efforts on convicting Troy. Despite these compelling facts, Mr. Davis' habeas corpus petition was denied by the state court on a technicality -- evidence of police coercion was "procedurally defaulted" so the court refused to hear it. The Georgia Supreme Court and 11th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals deferred to the state court and rejected Davis' claims. On Monday, June 25, The United States Supreme Court refused to grant certiorari in Mr. Davis' case. All of his avenues of judicial relief have now been exhausted and an execution date has been set. Please urge the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to commute the death sentence of Troy Anthony Davis. Check out the following links, and take action as soon as possible. Youll find a link to letters that only need to be printed, signed, and mailed or faxed. Time is running out- the board decides whether Troy Davis lives or dies on Monday, July 16th. With a little effort, you can save a mans life. The state of Georgia is refusing to hear recent evidence and testimonies including the recanting of key eye witnesses, some of whom have reported police coercion. These emergency letters are really his best chance at stopping the execution of a man that may be innocent. Please act now! Information from Amnesty International: http://snipr.com/1o6o6 Link to the NY Daily News Article: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/col/louis/index.html Listen to the report that aired on NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11854264 Link to Postcard to Send on Behalf of Troy to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles: http://www.troyanthonydavis.org/DavisPostcard.pdf Link to Letter to Send on Behalf of Troy to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles: http://snipr.com/1o6ok For more information on Troy Anthony Davis: http://snipr.com/1o6ol _____________________________ Note: This message comes from the peace-justice-news e-mail mailing list of articles and commentaries about peace and social justice issues, activism, etc. If you do not regularly receive mailings from this list or have received this message as a forward from someone else and would like to be added to the list, send a blank e-mail with the subject "subscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or you can visit: http://lists.enabled.com/mailman/listinfo/peace-justice-news Go to that same web address to view the list's archives or to unsubscribe. E-mail accounts that become full, inactive or out of order for more than a few days will become disabled or deleted from this list. FAIR USE NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the information in this e-mail is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. I am making such material available in an effort to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. I believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of copyrighted material as provided for in the US Copyright Law.
