Then and now: Witnesses change their stories

By Bill Rankin

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Here is a comparison of the testimony of key witnesses in the Troy Anthony Davis murder case, with samples of what they said at trial in 1991 and what they said at Davis' hearing on Wednesday.

Darrell “D.D.” Collins

Trial: He testified that he had told police he had seen Davis shoot at a car at a pool party on the evening before Officer Mark Allen MacPhail was shot and killed. At the same time, Collins said he had been pressured by police “to say what they wanted to hear.”

Wednesday: “I was scared,” he said, adding that police threatened to charge him as an accessory. “That’s what they wanted me to say. I thought that was the only way I could get out of it.”

Dorothy Ferrell

Trial: She pointed out Davis as the shooter, saying she saw the killing from the balcony of the Thunderbird Inn across from the parking lot where the shooting occurred. “After the police officer fell, when he fired the first shot, he went up to him and he shot him again,” she testified. “Well, I’m real sure, positive sure, that that is him, and you know, it’s not a mistaken identity.”

Wednesday: Ferrell was on the witness list provided by Davis' legal team to the court but they did not call her to the stand.

Kevin McQueen

Trial: He testified that while he and Davis were both detained at the Chatham County Jail, Davis told him he shot and killed MacPhail because the officer saw him and recognized him. “Yeah, he said he did, 'cause I used to know him off the streets also,” McQueen testified.

Wednesday: “There’s no truth to it,” he said. “The man did not tell me he shot anybody, period."

Jeffrey Sapp

Trial: He testified that two nights after the killing, Davis told him he killed MacPhail. “Say a cop came running out and told him to freeze, and he say he froze, and the cop reached for his gun and he say he shot him,” Sapp said, recounting his conversation with Davis. “Troy shot the cop.”

Wednesday: “I was so scared I told them anything they wanted to hear,” he testified, saying he gave false testimony because irate police officers pressured him on what to say and he was worried he'd be charged for dealing drugs if he didn't.

Antoine Williams

Trial: He pointed out Davis as MacPhail’s killer, saying he saw the shooting from inside his car in the Burger King parking lot. “He shot him once, he fell down, then he shot him about three more times,” he told the jury.

Wednesday: He said he could not recognize the shooter because once the shots were fired he ducked. “I was in my car ducking and peeking," he testified, adding it was hard to see anything because it was dark and his car had three shades of limousine tint on the windshields.