Justice for Officer Mark MacPhail
After 22 years and numerous frustrating delays, including a lengthy one on the final day, the family of Savannah police officer Mark Allen MacPhail finally received justice. Convicted cop killer Troy Anthony Davis was executed today by lethal injection at the Georgia Diagnostic Prison in Jackson.
Davis, who was convicted in 1991 for the Aug.
Davis' execution came at the end of a day of desperate appeals by his attorneys, all of which were rejected. Supreme Court rejected his last effort on March 28.
When the day began, his attorneys attempted to have Davis take a polygraph test to "prove his innocence," but the Department of Corrections would not allow the death row inmate's final day routine to be interrupted.
The Georgia Board of Pardon and Paroles, which denied Davis clemency for the second time on Tuesday, today told his attorneys they would not consider any further appeals.
Late in the afternoon, Butts County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wilson declined to issue a stay, rejecting Davis' last minute effort to halt his execution. The state Attorney General opposed the stay, saying it was only a delaying tactic since all of Davis' appeals had been exhausted.
Then the Georgia State Supreme Court voted unanimously to reject the Davis appeal. Supreme Court. Supreme Court issued an order denying Davis' appeal for a stay of execution.
Thousands Deceived by 'Smoke and Mirrors'
Thousands of Troy Davis supporters opposed his execution because they believe the reports that seven of nine state witnesses at his 1991 trial have since recanted their testimony. Those supporters, and the journalists who have blindly repeated those claims, might be enlightened by reading the actual court record of the case and the details of those so called recantations.
On Aug. District Judge William T. Moore Jr. Supreme Court.
In his 172 page report, Judge Moore reviewed the entire 20 year case record from the initial police interviews with witnesses, to the testimony of those witnesses at the 1991 trial and finally the statements of those witnesses at the 2010 hearing in federal district court.
Judge Moore painstakingly compared the so called recantation testimony of the seven witnesses with their previous statements to police and in court and to the testimony from other credible witnesses.
Those who read the full court report will get a better understanding why Judge Moore called Davis' claim of innocence "smoke and mirrors." Judge Moore said the claim that seven witnesses had recanted their testimony "vastly overstates" the actual evidence presented at the hearing.
Summary of the So Called Recantations
According to Judge Moore's summary of the evidence:
Two of the recanting witnesses neither directly state that they lied at trial nor claim that their previous testimony was coerced.
Two other recantations were impossible to believe, with a host of intrinsic reasons why they could not be trusted, and the recantations were contradicted by credible, live testimony.
Two more recantations were intentionally and suspiciously offered in affidavit form rather than as live testimony, blocking any meaningful cross examination by the state or credibility determination by this Court.
While these latter two recantations are not totally valueless, Judge Moore wrote, their import is greatly diminished by the suspicious way in which they were offered and the live, contrary testimony.
McQueen Wasn't Believable at Trial
Judge Moore did rule that one of the recantations was credible that of jailhouse snitch Kevin McQueen, who admitted that his testimony at Davis' wholesale youth jerseys trial was "complete fabrication."
But Judge Moore said, McQueen's testimony at trial was so patently false and filled with inconsistencies with other witnesses in the case it is "hard to believe" his testimony was important to the conviction.
Therefore, Judge Moore said although McQueen's recantation was credible, it was of limited value.
Forgotten Memories, Partial Changes
Two of the so called recantations were not recantations at all, but witnesses saying 20 years later they no longer recall all of the details of the night officer MacPhail was shot.
Some of the recantations were only partial recantations, in which the witnesses changed minor details, but those details were contrary to other credible, live witnesses.
Two of the recantations were given by close friends of Davis who were obviously lying to help their friend, Judge Moore ruled, because their original statements were backed up by "an overwhelming body of evidence."
Judge Moore said two of the witnesses were waiting right outside the hearing and could have been called to testify live, but Davis did not call them, Moore said, because they would not have stood up under cross examination. He offered their affidavits instead, which do not carry the weight of live, cross examinable testimony.