[FADPUpdate] Troy Davis - Georgia Execution Set For July 17

[melliott3 at aol.com]

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Friends,

Georgia has scheduled the execution of Troy Davis for July 17.? Troy has a strong case for innocence.? Monday, the?U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear?his appeal and Georgia?immediately scheduled his execution.? Please use the link below to send a letter or card asking the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles?to commute his sentence to life in prison.? Amnesty International will hand?deliver the cards and letters to the Georgia Board?at a media event on?July 9.? Troy's family wishes to thank all those who are sending appeals.

For more information on?how to help and to read the letters to the Georgia Board from Sister Helen Prejean, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and others, please go to:

http://www.troyanthonydavis.org.

You can also write a letter asking?that his life be spared?(please?print?your name and address below your signature to make it more effective) and send it to:

Amnesty International
730 Peachtree St.
Suite 1060
Atlanta, GA 30308
Attn: L. Moye

Or, fax it to 404-876-2276

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Highlights of Troy Davis innocence claim:



There was?NO PHYSICAL EVIDENCE?against Troy Davis. 

The weapon used was NEVER FOUND. 

The case against him consisted ENTIRELY OF WITNESS TESTIMONY. 

All but two of the state's non-police witnesses have RECANTED OR CONTRADICTED THEIR TESTIMONY. 

Many of these witnesses have stated that they were PRESSURED OR COERCED BY POLICE. 

One of the witnesses who has not recanted is Sylvester Coles, the PRINCIPLE ALTERNATIVE SUSPECT. 

NINE individuals have signed affadavits implicating Sylvester Coles. 

Troy Davis has?NEVER had a hearing in federal court on the reliability of the witness testimony used against him. 


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July 17 EXECUTION SET FOR SAVANNAH CONVICT

The Georgia Department of Corrections has ordered the execution of a man
who was convicted of killing a Savannah policeman in 1989.

Troy Anthony Davis, 38, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on
July 17 for the murder of officer Mark McPhail, despite attempts by
lawyers for Davis to appeal for a retrial. They argue he should have
another day in court after 7 of the 9 witnesses in the case recanted their
original statements alleging police coercion.

Organizations such as Amnesty International have been fighting for a new
hearing for Davis as well. According to an April 2007 statement released
by the organization, no physical evidence from the crime scene was used to
convict Davis, and his conviction "was based solely on inconsistent
witness testimony."

On Monday, lawyers for Davis went before the U.S. Supreme Court in a
last-ditch effort to get a retrial, but the court denied their plea and
upheld Davis' sentence. The ruling ended a 12-year attempt to appeal the
case.

According to Amnesty International, the seven witnesses who recanted were
coerced by police to lay the blame on Davis. One man said they told him he
would be charged as an accessory to murder if he did not confess.

Witness Sylvester "Red" Coles, who some believe might be the actual
killer, was at the scene of the crime and confessed to police that he had
been carrying a gun that night, but he said he had thrown it away.

McPhail was responding to a report of an assault when he was killed behind
a Burger King in Savannah in 1989. Eyewitnesses identified Davis among
several at the scene as the killer.

In 1991, Davis was convicted of McPhail's slaying and of another shooting,
which occurred on the same night.

If executed, Davis will join 40 other men who have been executed in
Georgia since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1973.
He would be the 18th to die by lethal injection.

(source: Savannah Morning News)

http://www.savannahnow.com/node/315956

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Mark Elliott

Director, Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, FADP.org

2840 W. Bay Drive, #118
Belleair Bluffs, FL 33770 
(727) 215-9646

?mark at fadp.org
mark at fadp.org

?

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
"Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal."
"The time is always right to do what is right."
Martin Luther King



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