Trymaine Lee of Huffington Post Black Voices is reporting that the state of Georgia has set an execution date for Troy Davis, the high-profile death row inmate who has maintained his innocence before and during his incarceration.
Lee reports that it is the fourth time in as many years that officials have set an execution date. This time the date is Sept. 21.
Davis, convicted of the 1989 killing of an off-duty Savannah police officer, has steadfastly maintained his innocence. In the decades since his conviction, his case has become somewhat of a cause célèbre, with former President Jimmy Carter, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and even Pope Benedict XVI, among others, urging the courts to grant Davis a new trial. Advocacy groups rallied. Letter-writing campaigns were launched.
In 2009 Davis, by filing an original writ of habeas corpus with the U.S. Supreme Court, convinced the justices to order a federal court in Georgia to look into new evidence that he said would establish his innocence. Earlier this year the Supreme Court turned down what likely was Davis' last set of appeals.
Some of the witnesses in the case against Davis have recanted their testimony. Even with that evidence, Judge William T. Moore Jr., the trial judge, concluded that Davis' evidence was "largely smoke and mirrors" and ruled against a new trial.
Davis will be put to death at 7:00 p.m., two Wednesdays from now.
Davis' fight for his life continues. The only thing that can save him from his fate at this point is a pardon from the governor. Knowing the state of Georgia, that isn't coming. If the prison system kills a man who at best is innocent and at worst may be innocent, then it will prove what we already know: The system is flawed and does not value the very lives it claims to protect.
Read more at Huffington Post Black Voices.
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