Vol. 73/No. 17      May 4, 2009

The court also ordered a 30-day stay of execution to allow Davis to appeal to the Supreme Court.

In a 2-1 decision the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that innocence alone is not grounds for a new trial. Citing the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, the court ruled that Davis must also show that a constitutional violation in the original trial led jurors to the wrong conclusion and that he couldn’t have made this argument during his previous habeas corpus appeal. That act, signed by President William Clinton, placed deadlines and limited the number of appeals death-row prisoners can make.

The Circuit Court majority said it was denying the request for a new hearing because Davis had not raised some of the issues and evidence earlier and that the 1996 act was designed “to bring some finality and certainty to the seemingly never-ending” appeals process.

Davis, 20 years old at the time, was arrested in 1989. No weapon, DNA, or other physical evidence linking Davis to the killing was produced. Seven of the nine witnesses that originally testified against Davis have since recanted or contradicted their statements. Some cited threats and pressure from the cops to finger Davis. New witnesses have come forward who say someone else committed the murder.

Dissenting from the decision, Judge Rosemary Barkett wrote, “The concept of punishing an innocent defendant with the penalty of death simply because he did not file his papers as early as he should have is draconian.” To do so in the face of a significant amount of evidence that may establish his actual innocence, she said, is “unconscionable and unconstitutional.”

Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty called an emergency meeting April 23 to organize a response.

“It’s disgusting and aggravating that the court system holds Troy accountable for the indigent defense system not providing the resources necessary for a real defense,” Martina Correia, Davis’s sister, told the Militant. “This system did not produce justice.” She’s encouraging everyone to organize protests and work together.

The Circuit Court noted in its decision the impact of the worldwide fight against Davis’s execution. After its September 2008 denial of a stay of execution for Davis, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole took the “unusual step” of explaining its decision, the court said, because of extensive publicity of the case.
 
 
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