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Vol. 72/No. 40      October 13, 2008

 
Fight continues to stop
execution of Troy Davis
 
BY CLAY DENNISON  
ATLANTA, September 30—The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to announce by October 6 whether to hear the case of Troy Davis, a 39-year-old Black man facing execution. A death warrant was issued September 3, but a stay of execution was granted by the high court September 23—two hours before he was scheduled to be killed.

Even if the court decides not to hear the case, the death warrant will have expired and the prosecutors would have to seek a new one. “That means that there will be a 10-day waiting period, which will give us time for organizing, for people to come together,” James Clark, a student at Emory University, told the Militant.

Protests and public vigils demanding the execution be halted have been taking place in Atlanta and in the Savannah, Georgia, area. One meeting was held here September 28 at the Iconium Baptist Church, and another on the steps of the Georgia State Capitol the following evening. Both were organized as prayer vigils with speaking time allotted for anyone who wanted to discuss the case. Each event was attended by about 40 supporters.

Davis was sentenced to death in 1991 for the killing of an off-duty policeman in Savannah. There was no physical evidence linking Davis to the killing, and he was convicted on the word of nine eyewitnesses. Since then, seven of the witnesses have recanted their testimony or contradicted their story. Because of limitations on death row appeals enacted in the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, Davis has been unable to bring his case to the U.S. Supreme Court until now. Davis’s lawyers are arguing that the U.S. Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment bars the execution of innocent people and requires at least a court hearing to look at the witness recantations.  
 
 
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