Sunday, May 25, 2008
News

Should Troy Davis be executed?

Three questions with Josh Clark

By Josh Clark

On May 17, Amnesty International led a rally at the state Capitol to protest the Georgia Supreme Court’s decision not to allow death row inmate Troy Anthony Davis a new trial.

What was Troy Davis convicted of that landed him on death row?

In August 1989, Davis, then 20 years old, was involved in the murder of an off-duty police officer in Savannah. After a homeless man was pistol-whipped from behind, 27-year-old Officer Mark MacPhail, who was working a security job, chased Davis and two buddies. At trial, witnesses said that MacPhail’s murderer stopped running, turned and shot the policeman.
  
Here’s where it gets particularly brutal. Witnesses said Davis, who was identified as the shooter, walked over to the injured MacPhail, smiled, and shot him again. MacPhail died from injuries inflicted by three shots—one to the thigh, one to the chest and one to the face. The third bullet wound was never conclusively accounted for; witnesses said that Davis had shot twice.
  
Ballistics matched shells from the MacPhail murder to those found at a party earlier that evening where Michael Cooper had been shot. Cooper identified Troy Davis as his assailant.
 
At the trial, Davis fingered Sylvester Coles—one of his two friends who’d also been at the party where Cooper was shot—as MacPhail’s killer. It was Coles who had originally led the cops to Davis, and the prosecution called witness after witness who testified that Troy Davis had been the person who had murdered Mark MacPhail.
  
Since the shooting took place at night, there was room for error in identifying the shooter. So the tiniest details became important: What color was the gun? Was it chrome like Coles’? Or dark like Davis’? Was the shooter the same person who had struck the homeless man? Witnesses eventually showed that the person who assaulted homeless Larry Young was the same person who murdered MacPhail.      

In 1991, convinced of his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, the jury voted to convict Troy Davis of the murder of Mark MacPhail. Because his victim was a police officer, the prosecution sought the death penalty and it was granted.

Why do some people think he should receive a new trial?

Fast-forward 18 years. While Troy Davis awaited execution on death row in Jackson, his friends went on with their lives. As time progressed, word began to spread that perhaps Davis didn’t murder MacPhail after all.
  
In addition to those who said Davis’ buddy Coles told them he’d killed MacPhail himself, the defense re-interviewed the witnesses whose testimony had helped convict Davis. In all, seven of nine witnesses recanted their original testimony, saying they’d either been unsure at the time or had outright lied in their original testimony. Some said they felt pressured by police to go along with the idea that Davis was the shooter. Another witness said he wasn’t sure exactly who smacked the homeless guy. This particular bit was important, because Davis was convicted in part by testimony that the person who hit Young was the same person who shot MacPhail.

Additionally, the gun used in the murder had never turned up, and a new witness came forward with testimony that he’d seen Coles dumping a gun following MacPhail’s killing. (Davis’ defense pointed out that Coles’ photo wasn’t even included in the photo lineup presented to witnesses.)

Based on this new and recanted testimony, Davis’ attorney appealed to the state Pardons and Parole Board. The board granted Davis a reprieve less than 24 hours before he was to be executed, giving him time to petition the Georgia Supreme Court for a new trial. He was granted his petition and lawyers argued his revised case in July 2007. Last March, however, the Court said Davis’ new material didn’t warrant a new trial. Based on case law, the Court puts less emphasis on recanted testimony than it does on testimony given at trial. After all, lawyers running out of hope that they’ll ever be able to spring their client can be pushy in the appeal process. Then again, so can cops looking to close the murder of one of their own.

Would the execution of Troy Davis threaten the continuation of the death penalty itself?

Troy Davis’ case has become a warning against executions; he’s the poster boy of a capital system that critics say has run amok. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Harry Belafonte and former FBI Director William Sessions have all sounded off in favor of a new trial for Davis. And grass roots efforts to get signatures on a petition to grant him clemency is growing.

Such outcry isn’t out of the ordinary. The death penalty’s always been criticized, but it has taken more lumps than usual lately. New Jersey banned state executions last December, and the American Medical Association has even weighed in, reminding doctors that the Hippocratic Oath admonishes them to do no harm. Some AMA officials have suggested that those who assist in executions should lose their licenses.

The constitutionality of the most common method of execution in the United States today—lethal injection—has also come under scrutiny. The cocktail of sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride used in executions was originally created to euthanize dogs. Veterinarians discontinued use of the cocktail, determining that it was a cruel way to dispatch a pet.
      
Execution witnesses in Kentucky reported seeing prisoners twitching or waking up during what should have been a painless death, and those reports generated lawsuits from death row inmates. Some came to believe that even inmates who appeared to go gentle into that good night were in a state of paralysis, very conscious of the pain caused by the poison coursing through their veins.
 
Nonetheless, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that lethal injection is an acceptable form of execution. States that had suspended executions until the Court made its decision scrambled to set new dates for their condemned inmates’ deaths. Georgia was the first state to take a life following the ruling, executing murderer William Earl Lynd on May 6. Davis’ date with death could be announced by the time you read this.
        
By then, only Gov. Sonny Perdue, who is a veterinarian, will have the power to keep him off the gurney. SP