An African American, he was convicted for killing a white police officer, Mark Allen McPhail, in 1991. The case was largely built on witness testimony. But since the trial, seven of the nine non-police witnesses said they were coerced by police and have recanted their testimony. There is no direct physical evidence tying Davis to the crime scene. The murder weapon was never found, and there's no DNA or fingerprint evidence.
Rep. John Lewis says:
Rep. John Lewis: This is a very sad and grave day in the state of Georgia, in our nation and in the world. A man that could really be innocent--and all of the evidence tends to dramatize and quantify that this man may go to his death later today as an innocent human being. And when you commit that final decision and later discover that he is truly, truly innocent of the crime that he's been accused of committing, there is not any way to bring him back. I just think it's wrong and it's unfair, and it will be the greatest miscarriage of justice.
The majority of the people that testified in this case have now recanted their testimony and their position. And I don't quite understand how the system of justice in America and in the state of Georgia can come any way close to being fair to this one human being. For the state of Georgia and for our judicial system in America to stand by and see this man executed would be a barbaric act, as far as I'm concerned.
Our past coverage of Davis's case is here.
