Troy Davis running out of options in life-and-death innocence claim

Troy Davis, an inmate on Georgia's death row, can't seem to get justice. And a new federal appeals court decision makes it clear that he is running out of options.

On November 5, citing federal habeas law, a federal appeals court ruled on a jurisdictional basis that Davis's only recourse at this point is a new appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court "because he had exhausted his other avenues of relief."

Davis is facing the death penalty despite an impressive number of factors that suggest he may be innocent of the murder for which he was convicted: Davis's original trial was flawed. Most of the witnesses have since recanted or contradicted their stories, with many claiming that they had been pressured or coerced by police. And there is no physical evidence linking Davis to the crime. His conviction was based solely on that questionable testimony by witnesses.

Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered that the new evidence be reviewed in federal court. That happened in June of this year, but U.S. District Court Judge William T. Moore Jr. ruled in August that Davis failed to prove his innocence. Unlike his original trial, in which the prosecution (theoretically) had to prove guilt, in this evidentiary hearing the onus was on Davis's attorneys to clearly prove his innocence. That amounts to trying to prove a negative.

So what now?

According to Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog, "Davis filed a notice that he would file a new appeal to the Supreme Court but also filed a separate appeal to the Eleventh Circuit, to cover all possible routes. So far, a new appeal has not yet been docketed in the Supreme Court."

So stay tuned.

The Troy Davis case makes a good argument for repeal of the death penalty in the U.S. It illustrates how procedural issues and judicial discretion can block the fair and thorough review of innocence claims, thereby risking the execution of an innocent person. That, I contend, cannot be called justice.