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Judge won't stop Georgia execution

The new evidence fails to meet state standards for a new trial, the judge says.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published July 15, 2007

SAVANNAH, Ga. - A judge has denied a bid to halt the execution scheduled this week of convicted police killer Troy Anthony Davis, refusing to hear evidence the defense says would show he is innocent and identify another man as the killer.

Defense attorneys said they would appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court.

Davis, 38, is to die by injection at 7 p.m. Tuesday for the 1989 killing of Savannah police Officer Mark MacPhail, who was shot while moonlighting as a security guard.

Davis insists he's innocent. His lawyers filed a motion Monday seeking a new trial based on affidavits by seven of nine witnesses from Davis' 1991 trial who now say they lied or exaggerated when they testified Davis shot the officer.

Davis' lawyers also say three other witnesses have signed affidavits naming another man, Sylvester "Red" Coles, as MacPhail's killer.

"The new evidence does not merely impeach state witnesses, but destroys the prosecution's case and establishes Red Coles' guilt," defense lawyer Thomas Dunn wrote, saying "a grave injustice may result from the execution of Troy Davis."

The Associated Press has been unable to locate Coles for comment, and another Davis attorney, Jason Ewart, declined to say if he knows Coles' whereabouts.

Superior Court Judge Penny Haas Freesemann said in her ruling Friday that Georgia courts generally do not favor granting retrials in such cases, and that the evidence presented by Davis' lawyers failed to meet strict standards required by state law.

"Clearly, the defendant has brought these motions for the purpose of delay," wrote David Lock, Chatham County's chief assistant district attorney, in a response filed Tuesday.

Davis is scheduled to have a clemency hearing Monday, and will have one powerful supporter. Rep. John Lewis, an Atlanta Democrat and civil rights icon, plans to testify on Davis' behalf out of concern that the state is executing an innocent man, said Lewis' spokeswoman, Brenda Jones.

It is not often that the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles commutes a death sentence. Since 1973, the board has granted 50 clemency hearings and commuted eight sentences.

Donald E. Wilkes Jr., a University of Georgia law professor who specializes in the death penalty, said Georgia is the only state he's aware of that allows death row inmates to seek a new trial after their appeals have been exhausted. However, state law also requires defense lawyers to show evidence that meets very strict standards.

Information from the New York Times was used in this report.

[Last modified July 15, 2007, 00:57:11]