Reaction to ruling that Troy Davis didn't prove innocence

A federal judge has ruled Georgia death row inmate Troy Anthony Davis has not proven  he's innocent of the 1989 death of Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail, after Davis was granted a rare evidence hearing by the U.S. Supreme Court. 

Tuesday's ruling against Davis sets the stage for Georgia officials to move forward with executing him for the 1989 shooting death of Savannah Police Officer Mark MacPhail.

In June, U.S. District Court Judge William T. Moore Jr. heard two days of testimony from witnesses seeking to cast doubt on Davis' conviction. The Supreme Court ordered the hearing for Davis a year ago.

Davis has been spared from execution three times as his attorneys pushed their argument that new evidence showed police ignored MacPhail's real killer as they rushed to pin the shooting on Davis.  Attorneys said it was would be unconstitutional to execute Davis because he's innocent.

Moore's ruling apparently sets important legal ground in  that he concludes that the State killing a person who's innocent would violate the Constitution.  However the judge said Davis had not proved innocence to him. 

"For the reasons that follow, the Court concludes that while executing an innocent person would violate the United States Constitution, Mr. Davis has failed to prove his
innocence.  Accordingly, the petition is DENIED," writes Judge Moore.

Court documents say that in July of 2007 Davis filed an extraordinary motion for a new trial in Chatham Count Superior court, arguing he was innocent and that new evidence showed someone else (Sylvester "Redd" Coles) had murdered Officer MacPhail.

Then in May of 2009, Davis filed a petition for a writ of Habeas Corpus within the original jurisdiction of the United States Supreme Court.  In the petition, Davis again argued that his execution wold be unconstitutional under both the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.

Judge Moore wrote  that "the court begins its analysis by considering the feasability of a freestanding claim of innocence and then the  Court determines the appropriate burden of proof and whether Davis has met that burden."

Judge Moore wrote that Davis needed to show by "clear and convincing evidence that no reasonable juror would have convicted him in the light of the new evidence. The Court now considers whether Mr. Davis has shown, by clear and convincing evidence, that no reasonable juror would have convicted him in light of the evidence he has presented since trial."

During the June hearing, Judge Moore heard testimony from a number of witnesses who recanted their testimony from the original trial, indicating that Davis was not the killer. In his ruling Judge Moore wrote " that Courts look at recantation evidence with suspicion."

Judge Moore also wrote "Ultimately, while Mr. Davis's new evidence casts some additional, minimal doubt on his conviction, it is largely smoke and mirrors.  The vast majority of the evidence at trial remains intact, and the new evidence is largely not credible or lacking in probative value.  After careful consideration, the Court finds that Mr. Davis has failed to make a showing of actual innocence that would entitle him to habeas relief in federal court.  Accordingly, the Petition for a Write of Habeas Corpus is DENIED."

Moore then wrote "this Court concludes that executing an innocent person would violate the Eight Amendment of the United States Constitution.  However, Mr. Davis is not innocent: the evidence produced at the hearing on the merits of Mr. Davis's claim of actual innocence and a complete review of the record is this case does not require the reversal of the jury's judgment that Troy Anthony Davis murdered City of Savannah Police Officer Mark Allen MacPhail on August 19, 1999."

Moore also indicated in his filing that Davis attorneys had intentionally not called the man they claim is the real killer to the stand during the June evidence hearing so he could be "impeached."

Moore's ruling will now be sent back to the U.S. Supreme Court.  However, it appears to once again set the stage for the state of Georgia to finally execute Davis.

In reaction to the ruling, Mark MacPhail, Jr. told us "this is what the evidence has always shown and what his family has known all along, that Troy Davis is guilty."

MacPhail, Jr. says he was getting somewhat frustrated and nervous and "wondering what was taking so long. But after seeing how long this ruling is I can understand."

MacPhail, Jr. says August 19th was a particularly hard day as it was the 21st anniversary of his father's death. He was just a few months old when Officer MacPhail was killed. MacPhail, Jr. says he will "never stop fighting for his father until this is finally over. "

Martina Correia, Troy Davis's sister told us while their family is disappointed, they all still believe in Troy's innocence.  Correia answered one of the points in the judge's ruling that many of the witnesses who recanted were not credible.  "They weren't credible when they testified agaiinst Troy years ago," she told us.  "So if they were so credible at trial, why are they not credible now?'

Davis can still appeal this decision to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.  And Moore's ruling wll go back to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ordered the evidence hearing.  MacPhail, Jr. told us "I know it's going back to the Supreme Court, but we hope after that, that an execution date will finally be set."

Correria responded, "we will still keep fighting for Troy.  We know the MacPhails want closure, but what if Troy is executed and then we find out he's innocent, what then."

Amnesty International released this statement about the ruling:

Washington, D.C.) – Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) today expressed deep concern that a federal district court decision puts Georgia death-row inmate Troy Anthony Davis back on track for execution, despite doubts about his guilt that were raised during a June evidentiary hearing.  Judge William T. Moore, Jr. ruled that while executing an innocent person would violate the United States Constitution, Davis didn’t meet the extraordinarily high legal bar to prove his innocence.

“Nobody walking out of that hearing could view this as an open-and-shut case,” said Larry Cox, executive director of AIUSA. “The testimony that came to light demonstrates that doubt still exists, but the legal bar for proving innocence was set so high it was virtually insurmountable. It would be utterly unconscionable to proceed with this execution, plain and simple.”

Amnesty International representatives, including Cox, attended the hearing in Savannah, Ga.  The organization noted that evidence continues to cast doubt over the case:

·        Four witnesses admitted in court that they lied at trial when they implicated Troy Davis and that they did not know who shot Officer Mark MacPhail.
·        Four witnesses implicated another man as the one who killed the officer – including a man who says he saw the shooting and could clearly identify the alternative suspect, who is a family member.
·        Three original state witnesses described police coercion during questioning, including one man who was 16 years old at the time of the murder and was questioned by several police officers without his parents or other adults present.

“The Troy Davis case is emblematic of everything that is wrong with capital punishment,” said Laura Moye, director of AIUSA’s Death Penalty Abolition Campaign.  “In a system rife with error, mistakes can be made.  There are no do-overs when it comes to death.  Lawmakers across the country should scrutinize this case carefully, not only because of its unprecedented nature, but because it clearly indicates the need to abolish the death penalty in the United States.”

Since the launch of its February 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 hundreds of thousands of 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.