U.S. Supreme Court Stays Georgia Execution in Case With Strong Evidence of Innocence

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay of execution for Georgia inmate Troy Davis on September 23 only two hours before his scheduled execution. Evidence of his innocence has garnered national and global attention, with pleas for clemency coming from former President Jimmy Carter, Desmond Tutu, and Pope Benedict XVI. Seven of the nine non-police witnesses who testified against Davis at his original trial have recanted their testimony, including two who have said they felt pressured by police to testify against Davis. The Georgia Supreme Court and the state Board of Paroles and Pardons have denied requests for a new trial and clemency, despite the lack of physical evidence implicating Davis.

The Supreme Court issued the stay without explanation and will decide on September 29 whether to hear his case. If they choose not to hear his claims, the stay will automatically terminate and Georgia can proceed with the execution. Davis' lawyers appealed to the Court to decide whether the Eighth Amendment bars the execution of a convicted person who could likely prove his innocence. In their petition to the Court, his attorneys wrote that the case, "allows this court an opportunity to determine what it has only before assumed: that the execution of an innocent man is constitutionally abhorrent." (Read Davis' Cert. Petition to the U.S. Supreme Court).

Kent Scheidegger, a death penalty supporter at the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation in California, said the intervention by the Court is "not usual but not too rare either." He added, "I'm not terribly surprised. This fellow has enough of a claim of innocence that many people say he's innocent."

(R. Brown, "With 2 hours to spare, justices stay execution," New York Times, September 24, 2008). See also Innocence and U.S. Supreme Court.