[Peace] Proposed action Fwd: Troy Davis will die on September 21 / sign petition

[Karen Medina]

Troy Davis has 10 days to live before he is executed by the State of
Georgia. But 7 witnesses say Troy is innocent, and that another man
committed the crime for which Troy will be killed.

Evidence presented at Troy’s trial was considered shaky at the time.
Since then, seven of the state's witnesses have recanted their
testimony, many saying they were pressured by police into false
testimony.

There’s no physical evidence Troy committed the crime. And, according
to Amnesty International, nine people have signed affidavits
implicating another man.

Troy's case has long stood as one of the worst examples of the bias
and flaws inherent in the death penalty system. He was convicted of
murdering off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail in 1989, but there has
long been compelling evidence of his innocence. Even so, Georgia
officials are pushing to kill Troy--and have scheduled his execution
for 7 p.m. on September 21.

Amnesty International has an online petition:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=6oJCLQPAJiJUG&b=6645049&aid=12970
Also, Troy’s sister Kim Davis started a petition on Change.org asking
the Georgia Parole Board to stop Troy's execution.
http://www.change.org/petitions/chairman-state-of-georgia-board-of-pardons-and-paroles-grant-clemency-to-my-brother-troy-davis

You can contact the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles and voice
support for Troy. Call 404-656-5651, e-mail webmaster at pap.state.ga.us
and fax 404-651-8502.

Fact sheets, petitions, and clemency letters are available at the
Campaign to End the Death Penalty website http://nodeathpenalty.org/



In response, activists in the U.S. and around the globe are gearing up
to send one message to Georgia officials: Don't allow an innocent man
to be executed!

A coalition of anti-death penalty organizations has reportedly
selected Friday, September 16 for a global day of action to support
Troy. In Georgia's capital of Atlanta, Troy's supporters will gather
at Woodruff Park downtown and march to the famous Ebenezer Baptist
Church for a service at 7 p.m. Activists in other cities are planning
demonstrations in solidarity, plus tablings and petitionings to put
pressure on the pardons board.

He was convicted largely based on the testimony of eyewitnesses, but
seven of the nine witnesses who testified against Troy at his original
trial have since recanted, with several saying they were coerced by
police into falsely identifying Troy as the man who shot MacPhail.

Witness Dorothy Ferrell, for example, signed an affidavit in 2000
admitting she had felt pressure from police to identify Troy as the
killer because she was on parole at the time. "I don't know which of
the guys did the shooting, because I didn't see that part," she said
in her statement. Of the two witnesses who haven't recanted, one is
Sylvester "Red" Coles--the man who has since been identified by
several witnesses as the actual shooter.

Likewise, no murder weapon was ever uncovered, nor was there ever any
physical evidence connecting Troy to the shooting.

The courts, however, have continually refused to consider this
compelling evidence. Last year, in a review ordered by the U.S.
Supreme Court, U.S. District Judge William T. Moore Jr. claimed that a
reasonable jury would still find Troy Davis guilty today. Moore
dismissed the testimony of witnesses who said that they lied when they
originally identified Troy as the shooter as "smoke and mirrors."

But the real "smoke and mirrors" is the state's claim that executing
Troy Davis has anything to do with "justice."

As Marlene Martin, national director of the Campaign to End the Death
Penalty, said:

The case against Troy has fallen apart--nearly all of the witnesses
have recanted their original testimony, no DNA connects him to the
crime, and another man has admitted to committing the crime, according
to several witnesses. At the very least, Troy should have been granted
a new trial. But instead, we see the state of Georgia is set to kill
him.

What is the definition of cold-blooded murder? I would have to say this is it.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

THIS IS the fourth time since 2007 that state officials have scheduled
Troy's execution. In the past, the courts have stepped in--sometimes
at the last minute--to stay the order. In March of this year, however,
the Supreme Court refused to hear Troy's appeal of Moore's decision,
opening the door to this latest execution order and clearing some of
the last legal hurdles for the state on its mission to kill Troy.

As Troy's sister and advocate Martina Correia told SocialistWorker.org
earlier this year when the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of
Moore's ruling:

I cannot imagine facing three execution dates and the possibility of a
fourth...In this fight, Troy is no longer voiceless and my family is
no longer invisible, yet the court still refuses to hear what we have
to say. Innocence does matter and beyond a reasonable doubt should be
of utmost.

One thing for certain is that the global concern about this case is
growing and yet the highest court in the United States is not willing
to address the issue of innocence and new evidence. We live in country
that is supposed to promote democracy and human rights for other
countries, yet it is not unconstitutional for us to execute innocent
people in the U.S. if the courts feel they received a fair trial...

No matter the final outcome of this case, my war against the death
penalty is far from over. I will no longer be a victimized by this
system in the United States, where justice depends on your ability to
pay for it.

A clemency hearing before the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles has
been set for September 19, but activists can't wait for the board to
do the right thing. Every day between today and the date of Troy's
scheduled execution is a day to organize to stop the killing of an
innocent man. As Martina Correia told Atlanta's WSAV News on
Wednesday:

I'm very disappointed in Georgia, because there's still doubt, but I'm
holding the parole board to their standard that when there's doubt
that they won't execute...We believe in Troy's innocence, and we're
going to fight to prove that until the very end--and no matter what
the outcome when we get the clemency hearing, we're still going to
fight until we clear Troy's name.

The death penalty represents the worst aspects of a "justice" system
that is fundamentally biased against minorities and the poor, where
actual innocence matters less than scoring easy convictions. As
Marlene Martin said:

Troy's case, like so many others on death row, has everything to do
with race and class. When I asked Troy if he thought he would have
gotten the death penalty had he been the son of a white senator, he
said that not only would he not have been sentenced to death, he never
would have been arrested in the first place.

This fight to save Troy is going to be tough, but we can do it.
Kenneth Foster Jr. won a commutation from Texas Gov. Rick Perry in
2007, not because the governor felt anything toward Kenny, but because
of the grassroots fight that Kenny's family and activists built to
push his case into the forefront of the news.

Troy's case has a much broader level of support, both nationally and
internationally, and that means these next two weeks will be critical
in mobilizing actions that can pressure the parole board to do the
right thing and grant Troy clemency.