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John Berendt on the Troy Davis Case

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Berendt, the author of the monster best-selling book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, set in Savannah, writes the OpEd, "Why the rush to execute Davis?"  It appears in today's edition of the Savannah Morning News.Time is running out for Troy Davis, who was convicted of murdering Savannah policeman Mark MacPhail in 1989. He now faces the death penalty, despite new evidence that suggests he might actually be innocent. Seven of the nine witnesses who identified Davis as the shooter have since recanted their testimony in sworn affidavits. Some complain the police pressured them. One of the two witnesses who did not recant became a suspect himself when five new witnesses came forward to say they had heard him confess. Nonetheless, District Attorney Spencer Lawton refused to order an evidentiary hearing, bucking a growing consensus that the most reasonable course would be to reopen the case - a position supported by former FBI chief William Sessions, former Congressman Bob Barr, Jimmy Carter, the European Parliament, Amnesty International and others...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on June 23, 2009 (boomark / email).