ATLANTA—A federal judge in Savannah has scheduled a hearing June 23 for Troy Davis, a death-row prisoner in Georgia. His fight for freedom has won broad support, as the May 19, 2009, protest shown above, demonstrates.

Davis was convicted in 1991 of killing an off-duty police officer. He has maintained his innocence for the past 20 years.

There was no physical evidence linking Davis to the killing. He was convicted on the basis of eyewitness testimony. Since his 1991 trial, seven of nine state witnesses against him have recanted or contradicted their testimony. Several of them have said they were pressured by the cops to finger Davis.

In August 2009, in the face of international protests, the Supreme Court ordered a hearing by a federal judge to determine whether new evidence exists that can prove Davis’s innocence.

—JACOB PERASSO