United States Supreme Court Declines Davis Appeal

The United States Supreme Court today dismissed an appeal by Georgia death row inmate Troy A. Davis without comment.

Three weeks ago the nation's highest court ordered a stay of execution only hours before Davis was to be killed by lethal injection for the alleged 1991 murder of a Savannah, Georgia police officer, Mark A. MacPhail.

Since his conviction in Georgia seven out of nine witnesses who testified against Davis have recanted their testimony, some claiming police coercion. Davis was convicted without a murder weapon and no physical evidence linking him to the killing.

World human rights leaders including former US President Jimmy Carter, South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Pope Benedict XVI have decried the conviction and penalty in the Davis case.

MacPhail's family has praised today's Supreme Court decision saying justice will be served.

Others, many legal experts, scorned the decision as wrong-minded claiming that vengeance, not justice, would be served by executing a person whose conviction rests on doubtful accusations, faulty testimony, and a lack of material evidence.

Davis will likely be executed in the State of Georgia within days by lethal injection.