Parole board postpones clemency hearing for Davis

Parole board postpones clemency hearing for Davis
State Supreme Court considering convicted cop killer's case

By BILL RANKIN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/06/07

The state Board of Pardons and Paroles on Monday suspended its
consideration of clemency for a death-row inmate convicted of killing
a Savannah police officer. The board will now wait until the Georgia
Supreme Court hears the Troy Anthony Davis' final appeals.
On July 16, one day before Davis was to be executed by lethal
injection, the Board of Pardons and Paroles granted him a 90-day stay
of execution. It was also going to consider Davis' case again this
Thursday and hear testimony from a number of witnesses, including
some who testified for the prosecution and have since recanted.
The hearing is now postponed until the board takes up the issue
again. The 90-day stay of execution was also rescinded. In an order
signed Monday, the board said its rules allow it to consider a
clemency petition only when it appears all appeals through the courts
have been exhausted.
On Friday, the state Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision, agreed to
consider Davis' case. He is appealing a ruling in July by a Chatham
County judge who denied his extraordinary motion for a new trial. The
state Supreme Court will hear arguments on the appeal sometime this
fall.
Davis was sentenced to death for killing Savannah police Officer Mark
Allen MacPhail in a Burger King parking lot on Aug. 19, 1989. Since
his trial, however, seven of nine witnesses who testified against
Davis for the prosecution have stepped forward and said their
original testimony was false. Other witnesses have come forward and
provided additional information, alleging another man may have
committed the murder.

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