[R-G] U.S. Supreme Court stays Troy Davis execution

[Anthony Fenton]

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/09/23/davis.scheduled.execution/?iref=hpmostpop

U.S. Supreme Court stays Georgia execution

Story Highlights
NEW: Troy Anthony Davis says he learned his execution was stayed on  
the news
Officer's mother says of Davis: "There is no possibility he's innocent"
Davis' attorneys allege mistaken identity, say witnesses have recanted
Supreme Court to rule in a special hearing hours before scheduled  
execution
By Rusty Dornin and Eliott C. McLaughlin
CNN
JACKSON, Georgia (CNN) -- The U.S. Supreme Court granted a last-minute  
reprieve to a Georgia man convicted fewer than two hours before he was  
to be executed for the 1989 slaying of an off-duty police officer.

Troy Anthony Davis first learned that his execution had been stayed  
when he saw it on the news, he told CNN in an exclusive phone  
interview minutes after the stay was announced.

Davis has long said he didn't kill a Savannah, Georgia, police  
officer, and the U.S. Supreme Court was the last option for Davis to  
have his execution postponed. It was scheduled to move forward at 7  
p.m. ET.

Davis, 39, was convicted in 1991 of killing Officer Mark MacPhail as  
MacPhail responded to an altercation in a Burger King parking lot.

Seven of the nine witnesses who initially testified that Davis was the  
killer have recanted. There was no physical evidence presented at his  
trial, and no weapon was found. But Davis' petitions for a new trial  
have been denied.

On Tuesday, Davis refused his last meal, according to the Georgia  
Department of Corrections, which will still provide him with macaroni  
and cheese, pinto beans, green beans, lettuce and tomato salad, corn  
bread, fruit cobbler and tea.

Many had asked Georgia to grant Davis a new trial: celebrities like  
Susan Sarandon, Harry Belafonte and the Indigo Girls; world leaders  
such as former President Carter, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Pope  
Benedict XVI; and former and current U.S. lawmakers like Bob Barr,  
Carolyn Moseley Braun and John Lewis.

Amnesty International has issued a 39-page report questioning his  
conviction, and protesters have been gathering at the Georgia Capitol  
in Atlanta this week. Davis is scheduled to be executed at the Georgia  
Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson.

MacPhail's mother, Anneliese MacPhail of Columbus, told media outlets  
last week that she is "disgusted" by the calls to spare Davis' life  
and is not convinced by Davis' supporters' claims that there is a more  
likely suspect.

On Tuesday, Anneliese MacPhail said, "There is no possibility he's  
innocent, not according to what's been said in court."

"Troy Davis was judged by his peers. All the courts have found him  
guilty. It was proven he was guilty. Please let us have some peace.  
Let Mark rest in peace. Let justice be done," she said.

Davis' sister, Martina Correia, said she was sleepless Monday night  
and was spending Tuesday at his side. She said she planned to stay  
until prison officials told her to leave at 3 p.m.

"We are still holding on to hope," she said Tuesday morning. "We still  
hope the U.S. Supreme Court will look into my brother's case and give  
some relief. We will have a lot of family time with him and recall old  
times and pray together."

The Georgia Supreme Court turned down the plea for a stay in Davis'  
execution Monday, saying the U.S. Supreme Court "properly has  
jurisdiction over Davis' pending petition."

The Supreme Court called an emergency session to hear the petition  
Tuesday.

Davis was convicted of MacPhail's 1989 murder largely on the testimony  
of nine witnesses.

"When you only have eyewitness testimony and you have no physical  
evidence, people have fallacies and people make mistakes," Correia said.

Davis' lawyers and supporters say this is a case of mistaken identity.  
Seven of the nine trial witnesses have changed their statements,  
saying they were mistaken, they feared retribution from the man they  
say actually killed MacPhail or that police pressured them into  
fingering Davis.

During the trial, witnesses said Davis and two other men were  
harassing a homeless man and followed him across the street from a  
parking lot at the Greyhound bus station in Savannah.

MacPhail was off-duty. He saw the skirmish and ran over to break up  
the fight. MacPhail was shot, and witnesses told police Davis fired  
the two shots that killed him.

A manhunt ensued. Davis surrendered nine days later.

Monty Holmes is one of the witnesses who said Davis was the culprit.  
He has changed his story and alleges that police coerced him.

"They were trying to get to me to say that he did it, but I know he  
didn't do it," Holmes said last year at a rally for Davis.

Savannah police Maj. Everett Ragan headed the MacPhail investigation.  
He denies allegations of coercion and said he doesn't believe the  
witnesses who have changed their stories.

Shortly before Davis was scheduled to be executed last year, Ragan  
told CNN, "There is no doubt in my mind we arrested the right man."

The Georgia Supreme Court also was unimpressed with the witnesses' new  
stories. In affirming the trial court's judgment in a 4-3 decision,  
the majority said that the witnesses' new testimony failed to meet the  
necessary benchmark: that their original testimony "in every material  
part is purest fabrication."

The court also was unconvinced by allegations that one of the men  
Davis was with that night, Sylvester "Red" Coles, killed MacPhail.

In a telephone interview in 2007, Davis acknowledged that he never  
told police that Coles killed MacPhail.

"I didn't because I didn't want to be a snitch," Davis said. "Yes, I  
know that's stupid."

Coles has never been charged with the murder and, according to court  
documents, has testified at least twice that he was not the killer.

Davis' lawyers claim that there are other people who saw what happened  
that night. Those witnesses have never testified in court but have  
submitted affidavits, the attorneys say.

On Monday, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles said it typically  
does not comment on clemency appeals but defended itself because  
Davis' case has received such widespread attention. The statement  
noted that the board postponed Davis' execution last year and has  
studied the case for a year.

"After an exhaustive review of all available information regarding the  
Troy Davis case and after considering all possible reasons for  
granting clemency, the board has determined that clemency is not  
warranted," the statement said.

CNN's Tristan Smith and Gabriel Falcon contributed to this report.