[Ppnews] Amnesty - Supreme Court Refusal to Hear Troy Davis Case "Truly Shocking"

[Political Prisoner News]

Supreme Court Refusal to Hear Troy Davis Case "Truly Shocking"

<http://www.amnesty.org>Amnesty International. 
Posted 
<http://www.alternet.org/ts/archives/?date%5BF%5D=10&date%5BY%5D=2008&date%5Bd%5D=14&act=Go/>October 
14, 2008.

"The Supreme Court has effectively ended a 
longstanding battle to have new evidence in 
Davis' favor heard in a court of law."


Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) decried today's 
U.S. Supreme Court 
<http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/102917/supreme_court_rejects_troy_davis_case%2C_gives_green_light_for_his_execution/>decision 
to deny a new hearing for Georgia death-row 
inmate Troy Anthony Davis. The Court had granted 
Davis a stay of execution just hours before he 
was scheduled to be put to death while it decided 
whether to hear the case. In denying Davis' 
petition for a writ of certiorari, the Court has 
effectively ended a longstanding battle to have 
new evidence in Davis' favor heard in a court of law.

"The Supreme Court's decision is truly shocking, 
given that significant evidence of Davis' 
innocence will never have a chance to be 
examined," said Larry Cox, executive director for 
AIUSA. "Faulty eyewitness identification is the 
leading cause of wrongful convictions, and the 
hallmark of Davis' case. This was an opportunity 
for the Court to clarify the constitutionality of 
putting the innocent to death –- and in Davis' 
case, his innocence could only be determined with a new hearing or trial."

"It is disgraceful that the highest court in the 
land could sink so low when doubts surrounding 
Davis' guilt are so high," Cox added.

The U.S. Supreme Court denied Davis’ petition for 
writ of certiorari that was submitted on 
constitutional grounds of due process and cruel 
and unusual punishment violations if an 
individual is put to death despite significant 
claims to innocence. Davis’ attorneys filed the 
petition after the Georgia Supreme Court’s narrow 
4-3 ruling to deny Davis an evidentiary hearing 
last March; the ruling was based on 
technicalities rather than basic questions of guilt and innocence.

Davis was convicted in 1991 of killing Savannah 
police officer Mark Allen MacPhail. Authorities 
failed to produce a murder weapon or any physical 
evidence tying Davis to the crime. In addition, 
seven of the nine original state witnesses have 
since recanted or changed their initial 
testimonies in sworn affidavits. One of the 
remaining witnesses is alleged to be the actual perpetrator.

Since the launch of its February 2007 
<http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/023/2007>report, 
"Where Is the Justice for Me? The Case of Troy 
Davis, Facing Execution in Georgia," Amnesty 
International has campaigned intensively for a 
new evidentiary hearing or trial and clemency for 
Davis, collecting well over 200,000 clemency 
petition signatures and letters from across the 
United States and around the world. To date, 
internationally known figures such as Pope 
Benedict XVI, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former 
U.S. President Jimmy Carter have all joined the 
call for clemency, as well as lawmakers from within and outside of Georgia.

For more information about the Troy Davis case, 
please visit: 
<http://www.amnestyusa.org/troydavis>www.amnestyusa.org/troydavis .




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