Help Save Troy Davis – Georgia Death Row Inmate Wrongfully Convicted

On May 17, 2008, from 10 a.m. Until 2 p.m. M., There will be a rally in the state capital in Georgia to urgently demand that the Georgia Board of Pardons and Patrols prevent the execution of Troy Davis, a man on death row who may very well be innocent.

Are we sure that Troy Davis is innocent? That’s not the point. The question is,

Are we sure that Troy Davis is guilty?

The answer to that question is obvious: No, we are not.

And once a person dies, if the real killer is found, what do we say?

“Oh, we made a mistake,” and then we bring Troy Davis back?

No, once he’s dead, Troy Davis is dead and we can’t go back and say we were wrong.

Why do we think Troy Davis is innocent?

Because the conviction was not based on any physical evidence. The murder weapon, for example, was never found.

In 1991, Troy Davis, a black man, was convicted and sent to death row for the murder of a white police officer in Savannah. The conviction was based on the testimony of nine witnesses.

Seven of those witnesses have retracted or changed their stories since then, and one of the witnesses may be the real killer, according to the testimony of these same witnesses.

Witnesses say they were pressured by police to testify against Troy Davis. Each of these statements is from a different witness:

“[The police] They told me that I was an accessory to a murder and that … I would go to jail for a long time … I was only sixteen years old and I was so afraid of going to jail. “

“After the officers spoke to me, they gave me a statement and told me to sign it. I signed it. I didn’t read it because I can’t read… I have no idea what the person who shot the officer is like. “

“The point is, Troy never told me anything about it. I got tired of being bullied … I told him Troy did, but it wasn’t true.”

“I did not have and have no doubt that the person who shot the officer had the gun and was shooting with his left hand.” Davis is right-handed.

“People on the streets were talking about Sylvester Coles being involved in killing the police officer, so one day I asked him … Sylvester Coles told me that he shot the officer.”

“I’m sure it was red [Coles] who shot the police officer …[He] I was wearing a white shirt … I would have testified about this, but neither the state nor Troy’s attorney asked me. “

Sylvester (Red) Coles, one of the original witnesses against Troy Davis, has since been implicated in affidavits of 9 witnesses.

So why is Troy Davis still on death row?

Recent severe cuts in Georgia’s resources for legal defense and changes to the death penalty law have made it very difficult to mount an effective defense. Recently, Davis’s two attorneys have represented 160 people on death row alone. The Law on Combating Terrorism and the Effective Death Penalty, passed in 1996, increased restrictions on reviews. Until now, no court will hear the case, so the new evidence has never been heard.

The death penalty should only be used in the case of irrefutable and hermetic evidence, in any case. Troy Davis, if executed, will be the victim of lack of funds and unfair laws.

If you want to help, visit the Amnesty International Action Center to learn more and sign the petition, and feel free to spread this article or write your own article to inform as many people as possible about this case.