Worldwide Campaign Launched to Save Troy Anthony Davis from Execution

Black Georgia Man Faces Execution despite Evidence Pointing to Innocence

Organizations ranging from the NAACP to Amnesty International are mobilizing worldwide campaign to save Troy Anthony Davis from execution.

Davis is the black Georgia man who was convicted 20 years ago of killing a white Savannah, Ga., police officer, but seven of the nine witnesses who testified against Davis have recanted their testimony, with some them alleging the police forced them to identify Davis as the killer.

Evidence also has emerged, pointing to the man who may have actually committed the murder. Nevertheless, Davis has run out of legal options. In late March, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to take up the case, again. (The case has been winding its way back and forth through the courts since 2007.) This latest Supreme Court decision cleared the way for Georgia to schedule Davis for execution as soon as next month.

Three previous execution dates have been postponed as a result of legal appeals. In 2007, Davis was less than 24 hours from execution before a postponement was granted. Davis’ life is now in the hands of the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles. The NAACP has launched a campaign urging people to contact the board asking that it commute Davis’ sentence: http://action.naacp.org/Save-Troy-Davis.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International, an organization that was founded to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, has issued an “urgent action” asking its three million members worldwide to also contact the board. Additional details on that campaign are available online at www.amnestyusa.org/troydavis.

Amnesty International points out that the American death penalty system is flawed and racially biased citing that since Davis was sent to death row, more than 90 U.S. prisoners have been released from prison after DNA or other evidence proved they could not have committed the crimes for which they were convicted. A majority of those freed are African- American men.