Results matching “troy davis”

Troy Anthony Davis is scheduled for execution in Georgia a week from now for the murder of police officer Mark Allen MacPhail. Prior posts here, here, and here. He has applied to the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay of execution, according to this post on SCOTUSblog by Lyle Denniston. According to Lyle, "The key issue his appeal raised is whether the Court will rule — in a way it has only assumed previously — that it is unconstitutional to execute a person who is innocent of the crime, and has substantial evidence to support that claim." What the Court actually said in Herrera v. Collins, 506 U.S. 390, 417 (1993) (emphasis added), was:

We may assume, for the sake of argument in deciding this case, that in a capital case a truly persuasive demonstration of "actual innocence" made after trial would render the execution of a defendant unconstitutional, and warrant federal habeas relief if there were no state avenue open to process such a claim. But because of the very disruptive effect that entertaining claims of actual innocence would have on the need for finality in capital cases, and the enormous burden that having to retry cases based on often stale evidence would place on the States, the threshold showing for such an assumed right would necessarily be extraordinarily high. The showing made by petitioner in this case falls far short of any such threshold.

The Court also made pretty clear that the right place to consider last-minute, free-standing claims of innocence is executive clemency. Georgia has done exactly that. In this order, the Board stayed the execution to hear the innocence claim, stating, "The members of the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles will not allow an execution to proceed in this State unless and until its members are convinced that there is no doubt of the guilt of the accused...." The subsequent denial implies they are now convinced.

So what are the chances that the Supreme Court will grant review to reconsider a fact-intense claim that has already been carefully considered by the body that the Court has said is the right one to consider it? Vanishingly small.

Death Penalty Is Upheld in Publicized Georgia Case: New York Times writer Robbie Brown, reports that the Georgia parole board has denied clemency to Troy Davis, sentenced to death for the killing a Savannah police officer in 1989. Davis, 39, is scheduled to die by lethal injection in Jackson, Ga., on Sept. 23, unless the United States Supreme Court agrees to hear an appeal. Previous posts on this case are here and here. A jury in 1991 convicted Davis in the 1989 murder of Mark Allen MacPhail, an off-duty police officer moonlighting as a security guard who was shot to death while responding to a late-night fight at a Burger King in Savannah. Davis testified he was at a nearby pool hall and left before Officer MacPhail arrived. The defense claims that since the trial, seven key witnesses have recanted, saying they were bullied by investigators into lying under oath. A per curiam Eleventh Circuit decision in 2006 rejects these claims and notes that Davis was also convicted of shooting another victim in the jaw and striking a third man in the head with a pistol on the night that Officer MacPhail was killed.

Violent Crimes Costing U.S. $45.1B A Year: This story, from the Orlando Sentinel News Services, reports the United States leads the world in economic loss from deaths caused by armed crime, according to a global survey released September 12th. The U.S. registered an estimated loss of up to $45.1 billion in terms of economic productivity because of violent crimes, said the report by the U.N. Development Program and the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey. At least 490,000 people are killed in armed crimes each year worldwide, placing a huge economic cost and social burden on nations, the report said. It did not give a country-by-country breakdown of the numbers of people killed in armed crimes but did say Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica and South Africa are among the countries with the most recorded violent crimes in the world. More people are killed worldwide in violent crimes every year than in wars, it said, asserting that armed killings and their economic impact on nations are largely underreported.

Mexico In The Midst Of A Legal Revolution: AP writer, Julie Watson, reports that Mexico has amended its constitution to throw out its inept and corrupt legal system. Under the constitutional amendment passed by the legislature, approved by all 32 states and signed by President Felipe Calderon, Mexico has eight years to replace its closed proceedings with public trials in which defendants are presumed innocent, legal authorities can be held more accountable and justice is equal. Since the Spanish conquest in the 1500s, Mexico has had an inquisitorial system adopted from Europe in which the accused is not presumed to be innocent and proceedings are largely carried out in writing and in secret. Without the threat of exposure in public trials mistaken arrests, bungled investigations and confessions extracted under threats and torture have become common in Mexico. Mexico's new penal code is similar to the one adopted by Chile in 2005, where cases are examined by three judges who consider the legality of the evidence and whether the defendant's rights were respected. Then, the judges send cases to trial or recommend other means of adjudication, such as a plea bargain or probation.

Maryland Death Penalty Repeal Fails: "Efforts to repeal the death penalty in Maryland were dealt an apparently fatal blow yesterday when a key state Senate committee defeated the measure, leaving a court-ordered moratorium on state executions in place and some legislators weighing a study of the issue," Jennifer Skalka reports in the Baltimore Sun.

The ‘Ol Wait and Bait. In Saturday’s Washington Post, Allison Klein reports that D.C. police have been using items such as laptops and cell phones in hopes of catching a thief who had been breaking into cars on Capitol Hill and surrounding areas. Police have been using bait cars to respond to the numerous amounts of break-ins this year, which has increased 26% from last year. Michael Timberlake happened to be one of the fish caught using this technique. Police are trying to determine whether Timberlake is responsible for other break-ins targeting cars with ipods, cameras and computers.

San Diego Cracking down on Gang Crime. Union Tribune’s staff writer, Kristina Davis, reports law enforcement agencies across North County are teaming up to stop gang crimes, primarily, robberies, assaults and homicides that cross city lines. In the most recent operation Friday night, police searched the streets of San Marcos for gang members. They made ten felony arrests and six misdemeanors arrests. Two of the men arrested, one with a semiautomatic handgun, were near the campus of Cal State San Marcos.

Private Prisons in Cal.
Yesterday in the Sacramento Bee, an article written by Andy Furillo reported that Gov. Schwarzenegger's administration wants the Legislature to approve a new deal with GEO Group Inc. for a five-year contract. The private-prison firm will receive $67 million dollars. If passed, the proposal will give the company a 50 percent increase for officers’ minimum wage from $10 to $14.70. Private-prisons only cost $60 a day per inmate compared to the cost of state prisons, which is $118 per inmate. GEO Western Region Vice President Ed Brown says the contract will also increase funds for food, health care, and more inmate rehabilitation programs.

New Law: Texas expands inmates access to phones
A story by Diane Jennings in the Dallas Morning News reports that inmates are only allowed five minutes on the phone with their loved ones every three months. Emmett Solomon, executive director of Restorative Justice Ministries Network, says, “The critical factor about whether an inmate succeeds after prison is their connection with their family.” The new technology will have a biometric identifier (voice recognition) to only landline phones that are on an approved list. This technology eases the concerns for victim advocates. The new law will allow 120 minutes a month per inmate. Michelle Lyons of TDCJ, says, “Phone privileges offers an incentive to offenders to behave.”

Colorado law does not require evidence to be saved
Los Angeles Times reporter DeeDee Correll writes about a bill that will make law enforcement save DNA evidence in major crimes for the length of the inmate’s sentence. The bill came about because the Colorado state senator heard of the Clarence Moses-El case. He was serving a 48-year sentence for a 1987 rape, when a detective destroyed the rape kit and the victim’s clothes, even after a judge ordered it to be preserved, before DNA testing could be conducted. If this law passes, it will allow a new trial for prisoners whose evidence was destroyed prior to their sentence ending, despite judge orders.

Governor Strickland has issued a "residual doubt" commutation in the case of John Spirko. Doug Berman has this post at Sentencing Law & Policy. Bob Paynter reports here for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and the PD site has the Governor's statement here. (The Governor's own web site does not have the statement as of this writing, oddly enough.) The order reduces the sentence to life without parole. Doug is critical of this decision:

For a host of political reasons, I understand Gov. Strickland's interest in splitting the difference here. If Spirko is in fact innocent, this commutation is a grave injustice to him; if Spirko is in fact guilty, this commutation is a grave injustice to the victims of his crime and the legal system.

I do not agree that a decision like this is necessarily political and not a sound decision as a matter of policy. Without getting into the detailed facts of the particular case, I think a commutation from death to LWOP can be the correct action for the clemency authority in certain "residual doubt" cases.

Update: The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles has granted a 90 day stay. Announcement here; order here.

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In the case of Troy Davis, scheduled to be executed in Georgia tomorrow (see today's News Scan) the claim is being made that the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 prevented the federal courts from hearing his evidence of innocence. The story in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, for example, says, "Courts have declined to hear Davis['s] new evidence, in part because of a federal law aimed at expediting seemingly endless death penalty appeals." This article in the Washington Post goes even farther, claiming AEDPA is "[a]t the heart of Davis's difficulties...." There is just one small problem with this claim. It is false.

South Dakota's first execution in the modern era went smoothly, according to this article in the Argus Leader. "From the time the lethal injection began until [Elijah] Page stopped breathing took around 30 seconds, [the Attorney General] said."

Inmate states his case is “mistaken identity”
Troy Davis is scheduled to die by lethal injection tomorrow in Georgia for the death of a police officer. The state Board of Pardons and Paroles is meeting today to decide whether Davis’ execution should be carried out tomorrow as planned or if he should be granted a reprieve. Davis has maintained his innocence the whole time, contending that he did not shoot Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail in August 1989, but was at the scene of the shooting. Davis’ lawyers have specifically complained about the AEDPA and argued that new evidence has not been considered by the courts. Prosecutors, on the other hand, have argued that witness-signed affidavits from 1996 and 2003 were included in prior appeals and should not count as new evidence. Three signed affidavits by those who did not testify stated that a man by the name of Sylvester Coles confessed to shooting the officer. Coles later identified Davis as the shooter, as reported in today’s Washington Post AP story. The Georgia Attorney General's summary of the case is here.

Texas Governor Rick Perry is expected to sign Jessica’s Law today. Mark Lunsford, Jesssica’s father, will be present today for the signing of the law that will go into effect September 1, 2007. After September 1, prosecutors will now be able to ask for capital punishment for second-time offenders in child rape cases, reducing the re-offending chances. Bettie Cross of CBS42 News in Austin, Texas reports more on the story here. 30 states have established some type of Jessica’s Law, reports The Jessica Marie Lunsford Foundation website.

D.C. Gun Ban: The District of Columbia will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Court of Appeals decision striking down the District's handgun ban, David Nakamura reports for the WashPost.