A landmark Georgia case brought about the abolition of capital punishment in the United States, and another landmark Georgia case reinstated it. But even with those monumental precedents on the books, no Georgia death sentence has drawn as much international attention and controversy as the one scheduled Wednesday night for Troy Anthony Davis.
If Davis is put to death as scheduled, the legacy of this bitterly fought case could be the persistence of unyielding prosecutors -- and the victim's family -- who stared down worldwide criticism and innocence claims to see his execution carried out. It will also leave many wondering if the state executed an innocent man.
"Justice will be done and that's what we were fighting for," said Anneliese MacPhail, whose son was a 27-year-old Savannah police officer when he was gunned down 22 years ago. When asked if she thinks Davis killed her son, she answered, "There is no doubt in my mind."
Davis sits on death row for the 1989 killing of Savannah Police Officer Mark Allen MacPhail, a former Army Ranger who was moonlighting on a security detail when he was shot three times before he could draw his handgun. Today marks the fourth execution date for Davis; on the three prior occasions, he was granted a stay.
A decision early Tuesday by the state Board of Pardons and Paroles rejecting pleas to halt Davis' execution appears to have all but sealed his fate. The board has the sole authority in Georgia to grant clemency to a condemned inmate.
Still, Davis' lawyers said they plan to file last-ditch appeals today claiming there remains new evidence that shows Davis was convicted and sentenced to death based on misleading evidence and testimony. "I am utterly shocked and disappointed at the failure of our justice system at all levels to correct a miscarriage of justice," Brian Kammer, one of Davis' attorneys, said.
Davis' supporters said they would ask Chatham County prosecutors to void the execution warrant. "This is a civil rights violation, a human rights violation in the worst way," the Rev. Raphael Warnock, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, said at a Tuesday press conference.
The five-member parole board did not disclose the breakdown of its vote. It also did not address questions involving Davis' innocence claims or say it was convinced beyond any doubt he is guilty.
Instead, in a statement, the board said its members "have not taken their responsibility lightly and certainly understand the emotions attached to a death-penalty case." The board said it considered all the information and "deliberated thoroughly" before reaching its decision.
University of Georgia law professor Donald E. Wilkes Jr. criticized the board for not addressing innocence claims that have attracted international concern and support for clemency from a former president, the pope, a former FBI director and a former chief justice of the state's highest court.
"The state of Georgia will now be exposed to criticism that it will go ahead and execute someone even when there is a question about guilt," Wilkes said. "That's a tragedy for everybody, including the state of Georgia."
New York attorney George Kendall, who has litigated numerous capital cases, wondered if Georgia will someday regret having executed Davis. He noted that in recent years, a number of governors commuted death sentences because of lingering doubts about guilt.
"In a death penalty case, there should be no doubt about who did it," he said. "We need to insist on guilt being very, very clear, not like this. For people who support the death penalty, this is not a good day for the death penalty."
Since the 1991 trial, a number of key prosecution witnesses have recanted or backed off their testimony and others have come forward saying another man at the scene told them he was the actual trigger man. A vigorous public relations and social media campaign on Davis' behalf, buoyed by Amnesty International and the NAACP, spawned worldwide rallies for his cause.
Davis has mounted repeated challenges to his conviction and sentence, but courts never found there was enough evidence to overturn them. In 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in, directing a federal judge to consider Davis' innocence claims. But that judge, after hearing new evidence, determined that Davis had not clearly established he was an innocent man.
Former District Attorney Spencer Lawton, who prosecuted Davis, said the legacy of the case will be the injustice that MacPhail's family has been forced to endure.
"There are two Troy Davis cases," Lawton said. "The first is the case predicated on fact and presented repeatedly in court. That battle we have won at every turn because it is based on fact."
Lawton said he has respect for the opinions of those who familiarized themselves with the actual record of the case and still feel there is sufficient doubt to question the outcome. "I have no respect for those who know the facts and have chosen to distort them," he added.
Lawton acknowledged the prosecution lost the second Troy Davis case -- "the public relations war" -- at every turn. "I am afraid the integrity of the criminal justice system will suffer an unfair blow through the creation not of fact-based doubt but the appearance of doubt," he said. "The appearance of doubt has taken on a life of its own -- as if it is doubt itself."
On Tuesday, members of the MacPhail family said they were anxious to see the death sentence carried out.
Mark MacPhail Jr., now 22, was an infant when his father was killed and plans to witness the execution. "Most of the people who are focused on Davis are just against the death penalty -- they know nothing about the case," he said. "It's painful to listen to these people put out out-and-out lies."
Staff writer Rhonda Cook contributed to this article.
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