Mos Def Challenges BET, Oprah, and Obama to Pay Tribute to Executed Prisoner Troy Davis

On September 21, 2011, at 11:08 p.m. in Jackson, Georgia, a death row inmate named Troy Davis, convicted 20 years ago for the murder of off-duty Savannah policeman Mark MacPhail, was executed by lethal injection. For decades, though, Davis, his supporters, and many justice advocates had proclaimed the prisoner's innocence. And in the final weeks leading up to his scheduled execution, celebrities and rap stars helped lead a last-minute push to save Davis's life, even pleading with President Obama to personally intervene. However, the Supreme Court denied any stay of execution. Obama did not act. And Davis's time ran out. But last night, halfway through the Black Star show at the Fillmore Miami Beach, Mos Def paused between songs to challenge the BET Hip-Hop Awards, Oprah, and Obama to pay tribute to the recently executed death row inmate. "The BET Awards are happenin' in Atlanta, Georgia, apparently this weekend on Saturday, right?," Def said. "I'm making a strong, serious recommendation and suggestion.

Mos Def message to BET Awards 2011 (Live at The Fillmore)

"In the interest of humanity and the rights of human beings all over God's spaceship, Earth," he continued while Talib Kweli stood with his arms crossed, nodding his approval, "if you are doing or hosting this event in Atlanta, Georgia, right after this young man, Troy Davis, was brutally murdered, in public for the whole world to see, you should definitely dedicate one part of your show. "If it's the opening, the beginning, the middle, or the end ... Bring his mama out there, show her your support and show her some words of comfort and encouragement. "This is not the moment for your silence, BET! Or anybody else! And that goes to every peep from Oprah to Obama: When you get a free moment, call Troy Davis mama!"

Funeral of Troy Davis Takes Place Today

More than 1,000 attend Troy Davis funeral

Funeral directors bring the casket of Troy Davis into the Jonesville Baptist Church before his funeral in Savannah, Ga., Saturday, Oct. 1, 2011. Davis died by lethal injection for the 1989 slaying of off-duty Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail. (AP Photo/Stephen Morton) (CBS/AP) Last Updated 3:46 p.m. ET

SAVANNAH — More than 1,000 family members and supporters gathered in Georgia on Saturday to say farewell to Troy Davis, who insisted even until his execution that he was innocent. The funeral at Jonesville Baptist Church in Savannah opened with a slideshow of photos of Davis in his blue-trimmed prison uniform with his mother, sister and other family members. The service, which lasted three and a half hours, took on a political tone with speakers calling for the death penalty to be abolished. "Troy's last words that night were he told us to keep fighting until his name is cleared in Georgia," said Benjamin Jealous, head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a leading civil rights group. "But most important, keep fighting until the death penalty is abolished and this can never be done to anyone else."

An undated photo of Death Row inmate Troy Davis. (Credit: AP/Georgia Dept. of Corrections) The 42-year-old Davis was executed Sept. 21 for the 1989 slaying of Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail. Courts ultimately upheld his death sentence, despite emotional pleas for his life from thousands across the globe. The Saturday funeral was also attended by Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International, and comedian and activist Dick Gregory. Davis' 17-year-old nephew, DeJaun Davis-Correia said his uncle, who spent hours helping him with homework over the phone, would want his loved ones to stay upbeat. "You really shouldn't be sad all the time, you should be happy and be positive. That's the attitude my uncle instilled in me," he said. Blue and white roses were placed on the casket because of Davis' love for the Dallas Cowboys pro football team. The Rev. Raphael Warnock, pastor at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. preached, delivered the eulogy. "I did not come here all the way from Atlanta to tell you this is God's will," said Warnock, who served as a spiritual adviser to Davis on death row. "God's will is not revealed in this tragedy." On Friday at a church memorial Davis was remembered as a gentle man who faced his execution with grace and dignity. More than 250 people, including NAACP president Benjamin Jealous and comedian and civil rights activist Dick Gregory, jammed the New Life Apostolic Temple in Davis' hometown of Savannah for the memorial that served as a prelude to Saturday's funeral. Friends, pastors, anti-death penalty activists and Davis' lawyer all took turns at a podium behind his closed casket, decorated with a spray of white and purple flowers. Supporters remember Troy Davis at memorial Longtime friend Earl Redman, who said he'd known Davis since age 8, told the crowd Friday that during prison visits Davis would often say that he expected to die in the death chamber. "He looked me in the eye and he told me, 'Don't let me die in vain. Don't let my name die in vain,"' Redman said as a church usher tore paper towels off a roll for teary attendees to dry their eyes. The Rev. Randy Loney, a Macon pastor who often visited Davis in prison, said he was always struck by Davis' gentle nature despite the death sentence looming over him. Referring to the catchphrase adopted by his supporters — "I am Troy Davis" — Loney said he came to realize that "in a lot of ways, we are not Troy Davis." "We did not wake up every morning and go to sleep every evening with the specter of the executioner in our eyes," he said.

A line of people wait outside the Jonesville Baptist Church before the funeral of Troy Davis in Savannah, Ga., Saturday, Oct. 1, 2011. (Stephen Morton/AP Photo)

Big Boi, Killer Mike Protest Troy Davis Death Penalty [Photos + Video]

Big Boi Documents Troy Davis Execution Protest ~ September 22, 2011

PHOTOS & MORE: http://tinyurl.com/6gorwhy Antwan "Big Boi" Patton leads the protest in Jackson County, Georgia in an attempt to stop the execution of Troy Davis. Full Story: http://StraightFromTheA.com

Artist Chaz Guest paints Troy Davis

http://www.amnestyusa.org/troy Artist Chaz Guest is known for painting the portrait of Thurgood Marshal that hangs in President Obama's private study as well as the portrait of Obama that was used for part of his inauguration. Now he focuses his artistic talent on Troy Davis, a man on death row in Georgia. Troy Davis was convicted of murdering a Georgia police officer in 1991. Nearly two decades later, Davis remains on death row — even though the case against him has fallen apart. This film was directed by David Serota and produced by David Serota, Allison Behrstock, and Roger Wolfson. It was shot on location in the studio of Chaz Guest.

The Only Woman Electrocuted in Georgia's Electric Chair

The Only Woman Electrocuted in Georgia's Electric Chair Such is the story of Lena Baker, an African-American mother of three, who was electrocuted at the Georgia State Prison in Reidsville. She was convicted for the fatal shooting of E. B. Knight, a white Cuthbert, Georgia mill operator she was hired to care for after he broke his leg. She was 44 and the only woman ever executed in Georgia’s electric chair. For Baker, a Black maid in the segregated south in the 1940’s, her story was a tough sell to a jury of 12 white men. And rumors that she was romantically involved with victim E. B. Knight did not help. Her murder trial lasted just a day, without a single witness called by her court-appointed lawyer. She was convicted and sentenced to death. John Cole Vodicka, director of an Americus-based inmate advocacy program known as the Prison and Jail Project, said Knight had kept Ms. Baker as his "virtual sex slave." She was his paramour, she was his mistress, and, among other things, his drinking partner. If you read the transcript and have any understanding of black-white relations, Black women were often subjected to the sexual whims of their white masters, their white bosses, or some white man who had control over their lives or the lives of their families. "Here is one who resisted and paid the price.” The undertaker who brought her body back to Cuthbert buried her in a grave that went unmarked for five decades, until the congregation of Mount Vernon Baptist Church raised $250 for a concrete slab and marker. Relatives are still trying to clear her name with the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole. Lena Baker, who had a sixth-grade education, stated publicly her innocence to the very end. “What I done, I did in self-defense," she said in her final statement. "I have nothing against anyone. I am ready to meet my God.” A novel, The Lena Baker Story, authored by Lela Bond Phillips, chronicles her life. This book was the basis for a screenplay by actor/director Ralph Wilcox filmed in 2007 in Southwest Georgia. The film, also entitled "The Lena Baker Story," stars Tichina Arnold in the title role, Peter Coyote, Beverly Todd and Michael Rooker and is due for theatrical release in Spring 2009. 'The Lena Baker Story,' by Lela Bond Phillips

[video] Mother of Slain's man reaction of Troy Davis put to death in Georgia CNN

States that she can't believe it's over after 22 years. She say's it's a relief that justice has been served. She know's that Troy Davis's family is suffering now. Mother states that's the way he did it so that's the way it ended now.

[video] Mother of slain cop on execution of Troy Davis

Mother of Slain Son ask's for peace. States that she will NOT be present for Troy Davis's Execution

[video] Murder of Troy Davis - Rally for Life

The sister of Troy Davis, the Georgia man executed Wednesday night, said her brother was calm and treated his last moments with his family like any doting uncle would: he watched his 3-year-old niece's latest ballet moves. "Our last moments were joyous. My brother was giving us charge as to what he wanted us to do, telling us to hold our heads up, telling my nephew to continue to be all that he could be... My niece was showing him her ballet shoes and telling him to stand on his tippy toes like a ballerina," said Kimberly Davis from her Savannah, Ga., home. Davis' family last saw him between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Wednesday when there was still hope that his execution might be stopped. The execution was postponed briefly by the Supreme Court for a legal review, but at 11:08 p.m., Davis, 42, was dead from lethal injection. "When we left my brother yesterday, my brother told us to hold our heads up and be strong because if the state of Georgia did succeed in executing him, they would only take his physical body and not his soul," she said, crying at times. "My brother said he only wanted to be a free man and right now, he is free." Davis was convicted of the 1989 murder of police officer Mark MacPhail and sentenced to the death penalty. Members of the MacPhail family are convinced Davis was guilty, but many other observers are not Before being executed, Davis said, "I'd like to address the MacPhail family. Let you know, despite the situation you are in, I'm not the one who personally killed your son, your father, your brother. I am innocent." Witnesses said Davis' eyes fluttered as he received his first injection and lost consciousness, and that the entire process of lethal injection lasted about 15 minutes. Following Davis' death, the Twitter and Facebook world buzzed with the lyrics of Strange Fruit, the poem sung by Billie Holiday about the lynching of black men in the South. Some felt Davis' death equated to a modern day lynching. "That's what it is--a lynch mob in the state of Georgia, Chatham County," said Kimberly Davis. "We're going to carry on and continue to fight to bring down the death penalty," she said. "This fight didn't start with him and it's not going to end with him." Davis had his execution stayed four times over the course of his 22 years on death row, but multiple legal appeals during that time failed to convince a court of his innocence. Public support grew for Davis based on the recanted testimony of seven witnesses from his trial and the possible confession of another suspect, which his defense team claimed cast too much doubt on Davis' guilt to follow through with an execution. On Wednesday, busloads of Davis supporters gathered outside the White House and outside the Georgia State Prison in Jackson. Davis' 17-year-old nephew, Anthony, helped lead a group of men from Morehouse College to the prison, Kimberly Davis said. "One college student drove in from San Francisco by herself," Ms. Davis said. "So many people said that we're part of your family, we've been fighting the cause for your brother and we'll do whatever to continue the cause." The protesters, wearing t-shirts that said "I am Troy Davis" and holding signs that said "Too Much Doubt," cheered when the execution was briefly halted and cried when it was carried out. The family of MacPhail feels that justice has been served.

[video] Rev Al Sharpton on Troy Davis

As Sharpton summarized it, there is no weapon, DNA or fingerprint evidence tying Davis to the scene of the crime. In addition, seven of the nine witnesses whose evidence was used to convict Davis have since recanted their stories. People from Desmond Tutu to Pope Benededict have called for a new trial, and Amnesty International has denounced the impending execution

[video] Troy Davis Executed: Controversially Convicted Inmate Maintains Innocence Until The End

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO JACKSON, Ga. -- Troy Davis, convicted of murdering an off-duty Savannah police officer more than 20 years ago, held fast to his claims of innocence even as he was finally executed by lethal injection on Wednesday night. Strapped to a gurney and minutes from death, Davis stated that he had not carried a gun the night of the murder and did not shoot the officer, Mark MacPhail, in a fast food restaurant parking lot on an August night in 1989. Speaking directly to MacPhail's brother and son, who witnessed the execution, Davis beseeched them to continue to examine the events that night. "All I can ask is that you look deep into this case so you can really find the truth," he said. Davis then addressed prison officials preparing to inject him with a lethal mix of chemicals. "May God have mercy on your souls," he said. The first injection began at 10:54 p.m. and Davis was declared dead at 11:08 p.m. Afterward, Davis' attorneys and legal advocates quickly decried the execution as a terrible miscarriage of justice. "I had the unfortunate opportunity tonight to witness a tragedy, to witness Georgia execute an innocent man," Jason Ewart, one of Davis' attorneys, said outside the prison. "The innocent have no enemy but time, and Troy's time slipped away tonight." Meanwhile, family members of the murdered officer expressed relief that the execution was over, according to the Associated Press. News of the execution quieted hundreds of protesters who had lined the highway across from the entrance to the prison for hours, chanting and singing as they faced a small army of baton-wielding prison guards in full riot gear, sheriff's deputies and state police. The crowd of protesters was quickly dispersed by police after Davis' death was announced. Local observers called the protests the largest at the state's death row in many years. "I've never seen anything like this," said Don Earnhart, manager of a Jackson, Ga., radio station, who said he has covered executions for several decades. Protests were also seen at the state capital, Atlanta, in Washington, D.C. and at the U.S. embassy in London. The execution was delayed for more than four hours by a last-minute petition to the U.S. Supreme Court by Davis' legal team. The justices denied the petition without comment or dissent. Davis' death ends an extraordinary legal saga that included three last-minute stays of execution and dozens of hearings before state and federal appellate courts. Over two decades, his legal team argued that a lack of physical evidence linking Davis to the crime and recantations by a number of critical eyewitnesses who originally implicated him in the shooting were reason enough for the Georgia courts to grant him a new trial. But state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, repeatedly ruled against his appeals for a new trial and he was ultimately executed on the basis of the original jury verdict. On Tuesday, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, which has sole authority to commute a death sentence in the state, rejected Davis' plea for clemency, essentially sealing his fate. MacPhail's family members had repeatedly stated their certainty that Davis was guilty of the crime and consistently fought his efforts to obtain clemency. Earlier this week, the state's pardons board was bombarded by hundreds of thousands of petitions to spare Davis' life, including ones from William S. Sessions, a former FBI director, and Bob Barr, a four-term Republican congressman from Georgia and death penalty supporter. Many of those opposed to the execution noted the lack of physical evidence tying Davis to the crime and the recantation of eyewitness, many of whom told attorneys for Davis that they had been pressured by police to testify that Davis was the shooter. "Imposing an irreversible sentence of death on the skimpiest of evidence will not serve the interest of justice," Barr wrote in an editorial on the case last Wednesday. On Wednesday morning, Davis offered to submit to a lie detector test, but the request was denied by prison officials. As the hours until the execution dwindled, calls for clemency continued from around the nation and the world, including from a group of former death row wardens, who wrote to Georgia authorities calling on them to halt the death sentence due to doubts about Davis' guilt. Among the group was the former warden in charge of the Georgia death chamber. "While most of the prisoners whose executions we participated in accepted responsibility for the crimes for which they were punished, some of us have also executed prisoners who maintained their innocence until the end," the wardens wrote. "It is those cases that are most haunting to an executioner." Meanwhile, the family of the murdered policeman, Mark MacPhail, and the case's original prosecutor have argued strenuously for Davis' execution, and have asserted that there is no doubt that he is guilty of the murder. Joan MacPhail-Harris, the officer's widow, said this week that Davis "has had ample time to prove his innocence" and failed to do so, according to the Associated Press. She, along with MacPhail's children, urged the pardon's board to deny Davis' petition for clemency this week. An extraordinary hearing last year ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court gave Davis the rare opportunity to present evidence of his innocence as part of a petition for a new trial. The judge overseeing the hearing ruled that the state's case against Davis "may not be ironclad" and agreed that Davis had raised some doubts about his conviction. However, the judge concluded that Davis had not provided the court with compelling evidence of his innocence and denied his request for a retrial. Supporters of Davis said the unwillingness of the U.S. justice system to reconsider his death sentence in light of the witness recantations and other new evidence exposed fundamental problems in the justice system. "Troy Davis has become an incredible symbol of everything that is broken, everything that is wrong" with the capital punishment in the U.S., said Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International's U.S. branch, in an interview on the prison grounds. Jason Ewart, Davis attorney, said he hoped Davis death would lead to systematic reform. "This case struck a chord in the world, and as a result the legacy of Troy Davis doesn't die tonight," Ewart said, standing beside Davis' family members outside Georgia's death row. "Our sadness, the sadness of his friends and his family, is tempered by the hope that Troy's death will lead to fundamental legal reforms," he said, "so we will never again witness, with inevitable regret, the execution of an innocent man as we did here tonight." John Rudolf
John Rudolfjohn.rudolf@huffingtonpost.com

[video] Troy Davis' Sister, Martina Correia, Vows To Carry On Fight Against Death Penalty

By RUSS BYNUM, Associated Press SAVANNAH, Ga. -- The older sister of Troy Davis says she's not angry following his execution in Georgia, but she's determined to keep fighting the death penalty in her brother's memory. Martina Correia (KHOR-ray-yuh) of Savannah told The Associated Press on Friday she's proud of the way her brother used his last words to stand by his claims of innocence Wednesday before being put to death by injection. Davis had long insisted his conviction for the 1989 slaying of off-duty Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail was a case of mistaken identity. Correia says her family is grieving but holding up better than many of Davis' thousands of supporters who were outraged by his execution. She says she's glad their mother, who died in April, did not live to see Davis put to death.

[video] Race Matters??: Georgia Didn’t Spare Troy Davis’ Life, But Check Out What They Did For Samuel David Crowe A Few Yrs Back… And He Confessed!

Posted on September 23rd, 2011 - By Bossip Staff They cannot be serious… The parole board in the state of Georgia spared a convicted killer from execution hours before he was due to die by lethal injection on Thursday and commuted his sentence to life in prison. The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles made its decision less than three hours before Samuel David Crowe, 47, was to be executed, according to a spokeswoman for the state’s prisons. “After careful and exhaustive consideration of the requests, the board voted to grant clemency. The board voted to commute the sentence to life without parole,” the parole board said. What? Requests?? What about all of the requests they got to re-consider Troy Davis’ case? There’s got to be something else to it. Crowe’s death would have marked the third execution since the U.S. Supreme Court lifted an unofficial moratorium on the death penalty last month. Crowe was not present at the parole board hearing in Atlanta. He had already eaten his last meal and was preparing to enter the execution chamber at the prison in Jackson, Georgia, Mallie McCord of the Georgia Department of Corrections said. In March 1988, Crowe killed store manager Joseph Pala during a robbery at the lumber company in Douglas County, west of Atlanta. Crowe, who had previously worked at the store, shot Pala three times with a pistol, beat him with a crowbar and a pot of paint. Crowe pleaded guilty to armed robbery and murder and was sentenced to death the following year. “David (Crowe) takes full responsibility for his crime and experiences profound remorse,” according to Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, an advocacy group, who welcomed the board’s decision. At Thursday’s hearing, his lawyers presented a dossier of evidence attesting to his remorse and good behavior in jail, according to local media reports. The lawyers also said he was suffering from withdrawal symptoms from a cocaine addiction at the time of the crime. Wait, what??? So, the guy who confesses gets commuted to a life sentence. But the guy who says he’s innocent gets put to death? What part of the game is this?
SOURCE

Troy Davis executed in Georgia

(AP Photo/CBS News) (CBS/AP) JACKSON, Ga. - Defiant until the end, Troy Davis was executed Wednesday night for the murder of an off-duty police officer. He convinced hundreds of thousands of people around the world, but not a single court, that he was innocent. As he lay strapped to a gurney in the death chamber, the 42-year-old told relatives of Mark MacPhail that he was not responsible for his 1989 slaying. "I am innocent. The incident that happened that night is not my fault. I did not have a gun," he insisted. "All I can ask ... is that you look deeper into this case so that you really can finally see the truth," he said. Davis was declared dead at 11:08 p.m. The lethal injection began about 15 minutes earlier, after the Supreme Court rejected an 11th-hour request for a stay. "Justice has been served for Officer Mark MacPhail and his family," state Attorney General Sam Olens said in a statement. The high court did not comment on its order, which came about four hours after it received the request and more than three hours after the planned execution time. U.S. executions, by the numbers Polygraph for Troy Davis blocked, attorney says Troy Davis clemency bid denied on execution eve Hundreds of thousands of people signed petitions on Davis' behalf, and prominent supporters included an ex-president and an ex-FBI director, liberals and conservatives. His attorneys said seven of nine key witnesses against him disputed all or parts of their testimony, but state and federal judges repeatedly ruled against him -- three times on Wednesday alone. Davis asked his friends and family to "continue to fight this fight." Of prison officials he said, "May God have mercy on your souls. May God bless your souls." MacPhail's widow, Joan MacPhail-Harris, said there was "nothing to rejoice," but that it was "a time for healing for all families." "I will grieve for the Davis family because now they're going to understand our pain and our hurt," she said in a telephone interview from Jackson. "My prayers go out to them. I have been praying for them all these years. And I pray there will be some peace along the way for them." Davis' supporters staged vigils in the U.S. and Europe, declaring "I am Troy Davis" on signs, T-shirts and the Internet. Some tried increasingly frenzied measures, urging prison workers to stay home and even posting a judge's phone number online, hoping people will press him to put a stop to the lethal injection. President Barack Obama deflected calls for him to get involved. "They say death row; we say hell no!" protesters shouted outside the Jackson prison before Davis was executed. In Washington, a crowd outside the Supreme Court yelled the same chant.

A Georgia State Patrol trooper watches over demonstrators calling for Georgia state officials to halt the scheduled execution of convicted cop killer Troy Davis at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, Georgia, on Wednesday, September 21, 2011. (Credit: Getty Images) As many as 700 demonstrators gathered outside the prison as a few dozen riot police stood watch, but the crowd thinned as the night wore on and the outcome became clear. The scene turned eerily quiet as word of the high court's decision spread, with demonstrators hugging, crying, praying, holding candles and gathering around Davis' family. Laura Moye of Amnesty International said the execution was "the best argument for abolishing the death penalty." "The state of Georgia is about to demonstrate why government can't be trusted with the power over life and death," she said before Davis was put to death. About 10 counterdemonstrators also were outside the prison, showing support for the death penalty and MacPhail's family. Members of Davis' family who witnessed the execution left without talking to reporters. MacPhail's son and brother also attended. "I'm kind of numb. I can't believe that it's really happened," MacPhail's mother, Anneliese MacPhail, said in a telephone interview from her home in Columbus, Ga. "All the feelings of relief and peace I've been waiting for all these years, they will come later. I certainly do want some peace." Of Davis' claims of innocence, she said, "He's been telling himself that for 22 years. You know how it is, he can talk himself into anything." Davis' execution had been stopped three times since 2007, but on Wednesday he ran out of legal options. The pardons board rejected him, and Georgia's governor does not have the power to grant condemned inmates clemency. As his last hours ticked away, an upbeat and prayerful Davis turned down an offer for a special last meal as he met with friends, family and supporters. "Troy Davis has impacted the world," his sister Martina Correia said at a news conference. "They say, `I am Troy Davis,' in languages he can't speak." His attorney Stephen Marsh said Davis would have spent part of Wednesday taking a polygraph test if pardons officials had taken his offer seriously. "He doesn't want to spend three hours away from his family on what could be the last day of his life if it won't make any difference," Marsh said. Davis' supporters include former President Jimmy Carter, Pope Benedict XVI, a former FBI director, the NAACP, several conservative figures and many celebrities, including hip-hop star Sean "P. Diddy" Combs. "I'm trying to bring the word to the young people: There is too much doubt," rapper Big Boi, of the Atlanta-based group Outkast, said at a church near the prison. At a Paris rally, many of the roughly 150 demonstrators carried signs emblazoned with Davis' face. "Everyone who looks a little bit at the case knows that there is too much doubt to execute him," Nicolas Krameyer of Amnesty International said at the protest. The U.S. Supreme Court gave Davis an unusual opportunity to prove his innocence in a lower court last year, though the high court itself did not hear the merits of the case.

Troy Anthony Davis enters a courtroom for a hearing Jan. 16, 1991, during his trial for the shooting death of off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail. (Credit: AP Photo) He was convicted in 1991 of killing MacPhail, who was working as a security guard at the time. MacPhail rushed to the aid of a homeless man who prosecutors said Davis was bashing with a handgun after asking him for a beer. Prosecutors said Davis had a smirk on his face as he shot the officer to death in a Burger King parking lot in Savannah. No gun was ever found, but prosecutors say shell casings were linked to an earlier shooting for which Davis was convicted. Witnesses placed Davis at the crime scene and identified him as the shooter, but several of them have recanted their accounts and some jurors have said they've changed their minds about his guilt. Others have claimed a man who was with Davis that night has told people he actually shot the officer. "Such incredibly flawed eyewitness testimony should never be the basis for an execution," Marsh said. "To execute someone under these circumstances would be unconscionable." State and federal courts, however, have repeatedly upheld Davis' conviction. One federal judge dismissed the evidence advanced by Davis' lawyers as "largely smoke and mirrors." "He has had ample time to prove his innocence," MacPhail-Harris said. "And he is not innocent." The last motion filed by Davis' attorneys in Butts County Court challenged testimony from two witnesses and disputed testimony from the expert who linked the shell casings to the earlier shooting involving Davis. Superior Court Judge Thomas Wilson and the Georgia Supreme Court rejected the appeal, and prosecutors said the filing was just a delay tactic. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which helped lead the charge to stop the execution, said it considered asking Obama to intervene, even though he cannot grant Davis clemency for a state conviction. Press secretary Jay Carney issued a statement saying that although Obama "has worked to ensure accuracy and fairness in the criminal justice system," it was not appropriate for him "to weigh in on specific cases like this one, which is a state prosecution." Dozens of protesters outside the White House called on the president to step in, and about 12 were arrested for disobeying police orders. Davis was not the only U.S. inmate put to death Wednesday evening. In Texas, white supremacist gang member Lawrence Russell Brewer was put to death for the 1998 dragging death of a black man, James Byrd Jr., one of the most notorious hate crime murders in recent U.S. history. Davis' best chance may have come last year, in a hearing ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court. It was the first time in 50 years that justices had considered a request to grant a new trial for a death row inmate. The high court set a tough standard for Davis to exonerate himself, ruling that his attorneys must "clearly establish" Davis' innocence -- a higher bar to meet than prosecutors having to prove guilt. After the hearing judge ruled in prosecutors' favor, the justices didn't take up the case.

[video] Innocence Matters: Meet Troy Davis

Interview with Troy's sister Martina Correia explaining the Life of Troy Davis

[video] Martina Correia: Sister of Death Row Prisoner Troy Davis is "Appalled" By U.S. Supreme Court Ruling

DemocracyNow.org - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear the appeal of well-known Georgia death row prisoner Troy Anthony Davis, likely setting the stage for Georgia to schedule his execution. Davis was convicted in 1989 of killing an off-duty white police officer, Mark MacPhail. Since then, seven of the nine non-police witnesses who fingered Davis have recanted their testimony. No physical evidence ties Davis to the crime scene. With his legal appeals exhausted, Davis' fate rests largely in the hands of Georgia's Board of Pardons and Parole, which could commute his death sentence and spare his life. Democracy Now! interviews Troy Davis' sister, Martina Correia. "No one wants to look at the actual innocence, and no one wants to look at the witness recantation as a real strong and viable part of this case," Correia says. "I think there needs to be a global mobilization about Troy's case." For the video/audio podcast, transcript and to sign up for the daily news digest, visit http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/29/shocked_and_appalled_sister_of_death For additional interviews about Troy Davis' case from the last several years, see the Democracy Now! news archive: http://www.democracynow.org/tags/troy_davis FOLLOW US: Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/democracynow Twitter: @democracynow Please consider supporting independent media by making a donation to Democracy Now! today, visit http://www.democracynow.org/donate/YT

[video]Virginia Davis, Mother of Troy Davis

http://iamtroy.com/ is the home of the NAACP's campaign to save the life of Troy Davis. Davis has been on death row in Georgia since 1991, but there is overwhelming evidence of his innocence that has never been heard in court.

[video] Trailer: Examining the Troy Davis Case

http://www.amnestyusa.org/troy Troy Davis is at risk of execution as early as September 2011, even though grave doubts about his guilt remain. With all legal appeals exhausted, Davis' fate will be in the hands of Georgia's Board of Pardons and Paroles. Once his execution date is scheduled, they will be presented with the option of permanently preventing his execution.

[video] Troy Davis Case: Part One

http://www.amnestyusa.org/troy Troy Davis is at risk of execution as early as September 2011, even though grave doubts about his guilt remain. Part One "The Investigation" gives a thorough explanation of the case as well as the many problems with how the crime was investigated. With all legal appeals exhausted, Davis' fate will be in the hands of Georgia's Board of Pardons and Paroles. Once his execution date is scheduled, they will be presented with the option of permanently preventing his execution.

[video] Troy Davis Case: Part Two

http://www.amnestyusa.org/troy Troy Davis is at risk of execution as early as September 2011, even though grave doubts about his guilt remain. Part Two "A Case Unraveled" examines how the evidence in his case has completely fallen apart. With all legal appeals exhausted, Davis' fate will be in the hands of Georgia's Board of Pardons and Paroles. Once his execution date is scheduled, they will be presented with the option of permanently preventing his execution.