Supporters of Troy Davis battled down to the 7 ap.m. execution deadline to save the convicted murderer from the death penalty, saying that they would file petitions all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Davis, 42, is scheduled to be executed this evening for the 1989 murder of Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail.
A Georgia judge this afternoon denied Davis's early-morning petition in Butts County -- where the execution is scheduled to take place -- to have the execution called off due to faulty testimony by witnesses and ballistics experts in Davis's original trial.
The Georgia Resource Center, which is helping to represent Davis, said that lawyers would likely rush to file the same petition in Georgia Supreme Court. If it is again denied by the state Supreme Court, the legal team is expected to petiton the US Supreme Court before the 7 p.m. execution time.
The Supreme Court heard arguments in the case last year and declined to stop the execution.
Troy Davis Backers in Frantic Last Minute Efforts to Stop Execution
Davis has spent 22 years on death row and in recent years support for his plea of innocence has grown as several witnesses recanted their testimony that he fired the shot that killed MacPhail. His impending execution has brought those efforts to a head.
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.
Jessica McGowan/Getty Images
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 is 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 US as well as Germany, the UK, 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 callling for the execution to be halted.
Amnesty International, which has been fighting on behalf of Davis, encouraged supporters to attend a vigil at the church across the street from the prison at 5:30 p.m. and a protest at 6 p.m., and asked participants to wear a black armband and write on it, "Not in my name!"
Wendy Gozen Brown, a spokeswoman for Amnesty International, said that Troy Davis would want the protests to remain peaceful.
"In this type of situation, there's always the potential for it to go awry, with certain groups, angry rhetoric. But Troy Davis would want people to keep fighting peacefully, for him and for, as he would put it, all of the other Troy Davis's out there."
Others who have voiced support for Davis include former president Jimmy Carter, the pope and a former FBI director.
Davis's execution has been stayed four times for appeals since his conviction in 1989, and the Supreme Court gave him a rare chance to prove his innocence last year, but rejected his plea.
A Georgia board of pardons and paroles rejected Davis's plea for clemency on Tuesday.
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