2011年9月21日 星期三

ABC News: U.S.: Troy Davis Executed After Stay Denied

ABC News: U.S.
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Troy Davis Executed After Stay Denied
Sep 22nd 2011, 03:29

Troy Davis was executed this evening after the U.S. Supreme Court denied a last-minute stay of execution.

Davis died at 11:08 p.m. ET, according to a Georgia Department of Corrections official.

Eyewitnesses described the mood in the execution chamber as "somber" as Davis was wheeled in strapped to a gurney. He declared his innocence a final time as the witnesses and relatives of his alleged murder victim looked on.

"For those about to take my life," he said, according to witnesses, "may God have mercy on your souls. May God bless your souls."

The execution was delayed more than four hours as the U.S. Supreme Court weighed last-minute arguments from Davis' legal team and the state of Georgia over whether his execution should be blocked.

The court's decision to deny the stay came without comment after 10 p.m. ET.

At 7:05 p.m. ET, five minutes after his scheduled death, Davis' supporters erupted in cheers, hugs and tears outside the jail in Jackson, Ga., as supporters believed Davis had been saved from the death penalty. But Davis was granted only a temporary reprieve as the Supreme Court considered the decision.

Davis was convicted of the 1989 murder of off-duty Savannah, Ga., policeman Mark MacPhail, and 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 prove his innocence.

PHOTO: Michael Henry and other protesters for Troy Davis gather on the steps of the Georgia Capitol building. Sept. 20, 2011 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Jessica McGowan/Getty Images

Michael Henry and other protesters for Troy... View Full Size
PHOTO: Michael Henry and other protesters for Troy Davis gather on the steps of the Georgia Capitol building. Sept. 20, 2011 in Atlanta, Georgia.
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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.

Several witnesses recanted their testimony that Davis fired the shot that killed MacPhail. His impending execution has brought those efforts to a head.

Troy Davis Backers in Frantic Last Minute Efforts to Stop Execution

A growing tide of celebrities, politicians and social media users called for the execution to be delayed because of "too much doubt" present in his case.

At a protest in front of the White House today, at least 12 Howard University students were arrested for failing to move off the White House sidewalk, according to ABC News affiliate WJLA. The protest there was expected to last until 7 p.m.

A flurry of messages on Twitter using the hashtags #TroyDavis and #TooMuchDoubt showed thousands of supporters of Davis were intent on flooding the Jackson Distirct Attorney's Office, Georgia Judge Penny Freezeman's office, and the U.S. Attorney General's Office with phone calls and emails to beg for a stay on the execution.

Some users accused Twitter of blocking the topic from trending on Tuesday, though a representative from Twitter told ABC News there was no such action taken. The hashtags were trending today in cities around the U.S. as well as Germany, the U.K., Sweden, and France. Many tweets called the case a symbol of a return to Jim Crow laws and racial inequalities in the justice system.

Big Boi, a member of the group Outkast, tweeted to his followers to go to the Georgia state prison in Jackson to protest the decision. The Roots' Questlove tweeted a similar message.

The NAACP and the Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson held a news conference today calling for the execution to be halted.

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