Court stops Davis’ death

Jackson —- The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a stay of execution for Troy Anthony Davis less than two hours before he was to die by lethal injection.

Davis’ family and supporters, who for years have pressed for a new trial on claims Davis is innocent, broke into tears and song when they learned the high court had at least temporarily postponed the execution.

“I’ve been praying for this moment forever,” said Davis’ sister and most outspoken proponent, Martina Correia. Davis’ mother, Virginia Davis, said God had answered their prayers.

Davis, 39, sits on death row for the Aug. 19, 1989, killing of Savannah Police Officer Mark Allen MacPhail.

The height of jubilation experienced by Davis’ family matched the depths of frustration felt by MacPhail’s.

Annelie Reaves, the slain officer’s sister, said the family was angry but would return to witness the execution when it is rescheduled. “It should have happened today,” she said, “but justice will be served.”

In response to Davis’ statements that he hopes the real killer will be found, the officer’s family and friends laughed. “He knows who the killer is,” Reaves said.

Protestors of Davis’ execution arrived at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison by the busload, many wearing “I Am Troy Davis” T-shirts and bearing hand-printed signs. Davis’ case has attracted worldwide attention, with calls to stop his execution from Pope Benedict XVI, former President Jimmy Carter, Nobel Peace Prize-winner Desmond Tutu, Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr, the NAACP and Amnesty International.

It was the second time Davis won a reprieve shortly before he was to be put to death. In July 2007, the state Board of Pardons and Paroles postponed his execution less than 24 hours before it was to be carried out.

This time, the stay came from the nation’s highest court.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s justices are scheduled to meet Monday to decide whether to hear Davis’ appeal. The high court will review a ruling issued last March by the Georgia Supreme Court, which rejected Davis’ bid for a new trial or a court hearing to present new evidence.

In its order, the U.S. Supreme Court said if it declines to hear Davis’ case, “this stay shall terminate automatically.” If the court agrees to hear the case, the stay will remain in force until the high court issues its ultimate ruling, the order said.

The high court did not say when it would announce its decision.

Davis disclosed the news of his stay in a phone call to his sister and the civil rights activist the Rev. Al Sharpton.

“I truly feel blessed and I know we still have work to do,” Davis said, according to Sharpton. “With God, all things are possible.”

According to Sharpton, Davis said he had already recorded his last statement, as is customary for condemned inmates. Davis said he had also prayed for the family of MacPhail, a 27-year-old father of two who was gunned down at a Savannah Burger King parking lot.

Because the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to announce its decision in the next week or so, Davis may not be spared for long, Sharpton said.

“One week may not seem like a long time, but when you have only two hours to live it’s a lifetime,” he added.

Davis’ brother, Lester Davis, said, “It’s not over yet. Hopefully, this gives them enough time to understand the injustice of this case.”

Since his 1991 trial, seven of nine key prosecution witnesses who testified against Davis have recanted their testimony.

In March, a deeply divided state Supreme Court turned down Davis’ appeal, saying the recantations were not enough to get a new trial or court hearing.

“We simply cannot disregard the jury’s verdict,” Justice Harold Melton wrote in the 4-3 ruling. The majority, he added, could not ignore the trial testimony, “and, in fact, we favor that original testimony over the new.”

Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears issued a strong dissent.

“If recantation testimony, either alone or supported by other evidence, shows convincingly that prior trial testimony was false, it simply defies all logic and morality to hold that it must be disregarded categorically,” she wrote.

The new testimony, if found credible, could lead a new jury to find reasonable doubt of Davis’ guilt or enough residual doubt to impose a sentence other than death, she wrote.