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Georgia Supreme Court to Troy Davis: Innocence doesn’t matter

By Karl R. Keys, Esq.

The Georgia Supreme Court’s decision in Davis v. State, No. S07-A1758, is here. In a sharp 4-3 decision the Georgia Supreme Court denies relief over a strong claim of innocence. The evidence of innocence, the majority holds, comes too late. For the reasons set forth below, we conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying Davis?s extraordinary motion for new trial without first conducting a trial.. . . Davis?s extraordinary motion for new trial relied primarily on affidavit testimony consisting of four types, recantations by trial witnesses, statements recounting alleged admissions of guilt by Coles, statements that Coles disposed of a handgun following the murder, and an alleged eyewitness account. As the Chief Justice notes in dissent: I believe that this case illustrates that this Court?s approach in extraordinary motions for new trials based on new evidence is overly rigid and fails to allow an adequate inquiry into the fundamental question, which is whether or not an innocent person might have been convicted or even, as in this case, might be put to death...continue to full post

Full post as published by Capital Defense Weekly on March 17, 2008 (boomark / email).