Post by janet on Mar 20, 2008 12:01:16 GMT -5
In a split decision, the Gerogia Supreme Court refused Monday to allow a new trial for a man sentenced to death for the 1989 murder of a Savannah police officer, despite recantations from seven of nine witnesses who originally testified against him.
The ruling is a blow to advocates for the convicted man, Troy A. Davis, 39, who had collected affidavits from many of the witnesses who originally testified against him. Many said that their trial testimony had been coerced by investigators who were under pressure to convict someone in the murder of a fellow officer.
In the 4 to 3 decision, the court's majority wrote that the sworn testimony at the trial was more important than the later recantations, noting that many of the witnesses have simply said they did not feel able to identify the person who shot the officer.
"We simply cannot disregard the jury's verdict in this case," the court wrote.
The dissent, written by Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears, called the court, "overly rigid in it's considerations of the new evidence in support of a new trial and said it faled to allow an adequte inquiry into the fundamental question, which is whether or not an innocent person might have been convicted or even, as in this case, might be put to death."
The chief justice acknowledged that sworn trial testimony is generally considered more credible than later recantations made out of court. But, she wote, "it is unwise and unnecessary to make a categorical rule that recantations may never be considered in support of an extraordinary motion for a new trial."
On Aug. 3, the court stayed Mr. Davis' impending execution to consider new testimony by 13 witnesses that Mr. David was not the one who shot the officer in the 1989 case. The shooting killed Mark A. MacPhail, an off-duty police officer who was working as a security guard at a Greyhound bus station in Savannah when he tried to break up a fight between two men who were throwing punches over beer.
Mr. Davis has long maintained his innocence, and there was little physical evidence presented against him in the case.
Amnesty International, a human rights group that has collected more than 60,000 signatures in a petition calling for a new trial for Mr. Davis, blasted the court's decision.
"the claim that evidence in Davis' favor was not sufficient to reopen his case is simply stunning." said Larry Cox, executive director of the group. "In turning a blind eye to the realities of the case, the legal system has shrugged off the very notion of justice at every level, from Savannah to the U.S. Supreme Court. The board of pardons must recognize that a blind adherence to technicalities cannot trump a concerted search for the truth, expecially when a human being's life is at stake."
Mr. Davis' supporters had petitioned the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles for clemency last summer in a last-ditch effort to save his life. The board suspended its consideration of Davis' case pending the Supreme Court's decision.
It was unclear Monday when the board would resume its deliberations.
(source: New York Times
Brenda Goodman)
The ruling is a blow to advocates for the convicted man, Troy A. Davis, 39, who had collected affidavits from many of the witnesses who originally testified against him. Many said that their trial testimony had been coerced by investigators who were under pressure to convict someone in the murder of a fellow officer.
In the 4 to 3 decision, the court's majority wrote that the sworn testimony at the trial was more important than the later recantations, noting that many of the witnesses have simply said they did not feel able to identify the person who shot the officer.
"We simply cannot disregard the jury's verdict in this case," the court wrote.
The dissent, written by Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears, called the court, "overly rigid in it's considerations of the new evidence in support of a new trial and said it faled to allow an adequte inquiry into the fundamental question, which is whether or not an innocent person might have been convicted or even, as in this case, might be put to death."
The chief justice acknowledged that sworn trial testimony is generally considered more credible than later recantations made out of court. But, she wote, "it is unwise and unnecessary to make a categorical rule that recantations may never be considered in support of an extraordinary motion for a new trial."
On Aug. 3, the court stayed Mr. Davis' impending execution to consider new testimony by 13 witnesses that Mr. David was not the one who shot the officer in the 1989 case. The shooting killed Mark A. MacPhail, an off-duty police officer who was working as a security guard at a Greyhound bus station in Savannah when he tried to break up a fight between two men who were throwing punches over beer.
Mr. Davis has long maintained his innocence, and there was little physical evidence presented against him in the case.
Amnesty International, a human rights group that has collected more than 60,000 signatures in a petition calling for a new trial for Mr. Davis, blasted the court's decision.
"the claim that evidence in Davis' favor was not sufficient to reopen his case is simply stunning." said Larry Cox, executive director of the group. "In turning a blind eye to the realities of the case, the legal system has shrugged off the very notion of justice at every level, from Savannah to the U.S. Supreme Court. The board of pardons must recognize that a blind adherence to technicalities cannot trump a concerted search for the truth, expecially when a human being's life is at stake."
Mr. Davis' supporters had petitioned the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles for clemency last summer in a last-ditch effort to save his life. The board suspended its consideration of Davis' case pending the Supreme Court's decision.
It was unclear Monday when the board would resume its deliberations.
(source: New York Times
Brenda Goodman)
