Posted by Jonathan Adler:
Bob Barr Defends Troy Davis:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_05_31-2009_06_06.shtml#1243860152
Former Republican Representative (and Libertarian presidential
candidate) Bob Barr has an [1]op-ed in today's New York Times calling
on the Supreme Court to grant the habeas petition filed on behalf of
Georgia death row inmate [2]Troy Davis.
Mr. Davis is facing execution for the 1989 murder of an off-duty
police officer in Savannah, Ga., even though seven of the nine
witnesses have recanted their testimony against him. Many of these
witnesses now say they were pressured into testifying falsely
against him by police officers who were understandably eager to
convict someone for killing a comrade. No court has ever heard the
evidence of Mr. Davis�s innocence.
After the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit
barred Mr. Davis from raising his claims of innocence, his
attorneys last month petitioned the Supreme Court for an original
writ of habeas corpus. This would be an extraordinary procedure �
provided for by the Constitution but granted only a handful of
times since 1900. However, absent this, Mr. Davis faces an
extraordinary and obviously final injustice.
According to Barr, federal courts have read the Anti-Terrorism and
Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) too narrowly, and the law was not
intended to preclude habeas petitions asserting actual innocence.
References
1. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/01/opinion/01barr.html
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Anthony_Davis
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