07 May 2010

Change of date for Troy Davis evidentiary hearing (now 6/23)

I recently wrote that an evidentiary hearing had been scheduled for June 30 in the Georgia death row case of Troy Davis.

FYI, that date has changed.

Due to schedule conflicts of counsel on both sides, the hearing has been moved up a week to June 23 at 10:00 am.

I have marked my calendar accordingly. Please stay tuned for updates as the case progresses.

This is literally a matter of life and death.

Background:

Troy Davis has been sitting on Georgia's death row since 1991 for the murder of a police officer which he maintains he did not commit.

Davis's original trial was flawed, and most of the witnesses have since recanted or contradicted their stories. There is no physical evidence linking him to the crime, and his conviction was based solely on that questionable testimony by witnesses.

In other words, there is reasonable doubt as to Davis's guilt. And there is no excuse to execute someone when there's reasonable doubt as to his guilt.

Unfortunately, the Georgia officials didn't want to be bothered with having to review the new evidence that could prove Davis's innocence. They just wanted to kill him and get the whole case out of the way.

Fortunately, the Supreme Court had a different opinion, and ordered that the evidence be reviewed in federal court. Hopefully that will be done right, starting on June 23.

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