On 28 March, the US supreme court refused to hear the death penalty case of Troy Anthony Davis. It was his last appeal. Davis has been on Georgia’s death row for close to 20 years, after being convicted of shooting dead off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail in Savannah. Since his conviction, seven of the nine non-police witnesses have recanted their testimony, alleging police coercion and intimidation in obtaining the testimony. Despite the doubt surrounding his case, Troy Anthony Davis could be put to death within weeks.
Davis is now at the mercy of the Georgia state board of pardons and parole, which could commute his sentence to life without parole. It will be a tough fight, despite widespread national and international support for clemency from figures like Pope Benedict XVI, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former US president Jimmy Carter. More.