With his execution hour looming, is there any hope Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis will be spared? The state plans to kill Davis by lethal injection at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Legal experts considered clemency Davis’ best chance of avoiding this fate, but the Georgia Board of Pardons and Appeals dashed that hope Tuesday when it denied his bid without explanation. Unlike governors of other states, Georgia’s Nathan Deal does not have the power to stop an execution by granting clemency.
International outcry continues over what many see as an unjust death sentence. There is no physical evidence linking Davis to the murder of police officer Mark Allen MacPhail and the key witnesses have recanted, several saying they were pressured by police.
Hundreds of thousands of petitions failed to sway the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles. Nor did petitions from Nobel laureates, presidents, and religious leaders, or warnings from conservative legal authorities like former FBI head William Sessions that the evidence was insufficient.
Is there anything that might stop Davis’ execution? Here is what his supporters are doing as the clock ticks down:
* Davis’ attorneys are filing an appeal in the Butts County courthouse. Unlike previous unsuccessful appeals that focused on witness testimony, The Associated Press reports this appeal contends ballistics used to convict Davis were flawed. The appeal also calls for rejection of testimony by one eyewitness, Harriet Murray, who testified at trial that Davis shot MacPhail. Murray’s initial statements and her accounts now are consistent with each other in identifying Sylvester “Redd” Coles as the shooter and contradict her trial testimony.
* Davis is offering to take a lie detector test. This offer is premised on the prison officials allowing the 3-hour test to take place and the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles agreeing to consider the results.
* Supporters led by Amnesty International are inundating D.A. Larry Chisolm’s office with online petitions and telephone calls. They are asking Chisolm to take action to have the death warrant withdrawn. Chisolm told The Associated Press Wednesday morning he is powerless to withdraw the death warrant.
* Demonstrations and vigils are underway from Europe to the outside of the prison where Davis is being held.
Multiple groups are asking the Board of Pardons and Paroles to reconsider its stance while the National Association of Colored People is considering an unlikely bid to get President Obama to stop the execution on the grounds that an as-yet unidentified federal interest is at stake.
While experts say the odds that Davis will see tomorrow are slim, the efforts to save him from what supporters consider an unjust and erroneous execution continue full-force.