Executing InJustice: Tennessee Seeks to Kill Philip Workman for Unprecedented 5th Time

This is #1 of 7 in a series of Tuesday releases on Philip Workman that will cover core, unresolved issues in the unjust pursuit of his execution.  

Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing
P.O. Box 120552 . Nashville, Tennessee . 37212 . 615-329-0048
e-mail: tcask@earthlink.net
Promoting Alternatives to Capital Punishment in Tennessee

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT
9 August 2004
Randy Tatel
615.329.0048


Executing InJustice

Tennessee Seeks to Kill Philip Workman for Unprecedented 5th Time

Perjury tops list of Systemic Failures in unfair sentence in Tragic Death of Officer

Nashville, TN: Six weeks from today the state of Tennessee is scheduled to execute Philip Workman - for the 5th time in five years.  Serious constitutional, professional, judicial, and ethical issues remain unresolved in this case. The first of these is lying under oath - perjury.

One person and one person alone testified at the1982 trial that he saw Workman shoot police Lt. Ronald Oliver at point blank range.  This was damning testimony and according to juror affidavits was primarily responsible for a conviction of first-degree murder and a sentence of death.

Only one problem – Harold Davis lied. Harold Davis wasn’t even there.

In 2000, some 18 years after the trial, Davis admitted that he had lied under oath; that he had not been at the crime scene, that he had contacted the police hoping to claim reward money, and that he was pressured not to change his story at trial.

Evidence not presented at Workman's trial confirms that Harold Davis was not even present at the Wendy's when Lt. Oliver was tragically shot. This evidence includes eyewitnesses who did not see Davis there, the lack of a vehicle where Davis testified his was parked and that Davis was not brought to a lineup that every available witness viewed.

Davis claimed that he parked his car on the vacant Wendy's parking lot, saw events from a distance of approximately ten feet, and remained at the scene as "a bunch" of other police arrived.

But a news photograph of the crime scene taken thirty minutes after the time of the crime and showing yellow crime tape marking off the area shows Davis' car was not where he claimed to have parked it that night

In fact, Memphis Police did not have any record of Davis's presence at the scene that night at all until he called them from a local motel over sixteen hours after the shooting took place.

In order to conclude that Davis actually saw the Oliver shooting, one must believe that no police officer saw their "witness" in the middle of a vacant crime scene, Davis left the scene instead of telling police what he saw, no police officer saw him leave, and the following day he contacted police to inform them of what he saw.

Davis' admission that he lied at the trial is corroborated by two additional sources.

Vivian Porter, the director of a christian rehabilitation center, has been unshakable in her testimony in three separate proceedings that Harold Davis was with her and not at the scene of the crime at the time of its occurrence. Porter only learned of Davis' involvement in Workman's conviction in 1999.

Kenneth Vardell, a former career FBI agent, administered a lie detector test to Davis in 2003.  After the test was concluded Vardell stated that, "Harold Davis was absolutely telling the truth when he said he did not see Philip Workman shoot Lt. Oliver."

So why didn't Davis recant before investigators tracked him down in 1999?

In coram nobis testimony Davis stated that, "After I testified (1982) I received a visit from two guys at the hotel. I received a knock on the door and two guys were standing there and they made a statement to me.  And they more or less insinuated that sometime in the future if I changed my testimony that my life was at stake and that people I love and - might be harmed."

Does this suggest an effort to facilitate perjury on the part of the Shelby County Police?  

In next week's press release we'll consider the truthfulness of statements and testimony of officers Stoddard and Parker at the 1982 trial.