Troy Davis: Execution

Georgia death row inmate, Troy Davis (42), is scheduled in less than a week to be executed by lethal injection for his conviction of shooting off duty police officer, Mark MacPhail, who was coming to help a homeless man being assaulted in a parking lot in the a.m. of Aug.19, 1989, as reported by HuffPost Crime.

William S. Sessions, former FBI director under Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton and a former federal district judge in TX says the execution should be stopped due to "pervasive, persistent doubts" regarding his guilt.

Since his trial in '91, 7 of the 9 witnesses have taken back or changed their stories that they told the jury. With these inconsistencies, Davis obviously attempted to get a retrial but was shot down by the state and federal courts.

The absolute kicker to this story is, finally a hearing was granted in June 2010, requested by the U.S. Supreme Court. Davis' lawyers showed evidence that reflected his innocence to federal judge William T. Moore Jr such as, witnesses that testified in the first trial came clean saying, they were forced by the cops to nab Davis or lied for lenience for their own legal issues. A prime witness stated in an affidavit, "I am not proud for lying at Troy's trial, but the police had me so messed up that I felt that's all I could do or else I would go to jail."

In August 2010, Judge Moore Jr. did admit the state's case "may not be ironclad," but Davis did not show "clear and compelling" proof of his innocence. So Davis' appeal was dismissed.

This execution has gained national attention due to this not being an open and shut case. Many have asked for clemency for Davis, who's execution is scheduled for Sept. 21 at 7 p.m., among them are: President Jimmy Carter, Pope Benedict XVI, the NAACP and Amnesty International.

Davis' lawyers are issuing a late appeal prior to execution.

For the full story and to find out who strongly believes Davis is guilty, click to Huffpost Crime.
-------------------------------------
UPDATE
Troy Davis was executed Wednesday (yesterday) evening.

Moments before his death, Davis said, "I am innocent. "All I can ask ... is that you look deeper into this case so that you really can finally see the truth. I ask my family and friends to continue to fight this fight."

Davis, whose execution had been stalled three times since 2007, was scheduled to die at 7 p.m. local Georgia time. 7pm came and left while the U.S. Supreme Court weighed the case. Three hours plus later, the Supreme court said it would not intercept. The justices did not comment on their order. Hmm... that's odd.

From the outside looking in, this case looks a lot like this:
black man + reasonable doubt + dead white police officer + southern state = dead black man

For more information on this story, click to CBS News.