Rally to oppose Troy Anthony Davis execution

Opponents of the death penalty rallied in downtown Atlanta on Tuesday to protest the pending execution of Troy Anthony Davis. Barring intervention by the U-S Supreme Court, Davis will be put to death on July 17th, making him the second death row inmate executed by the State of Georgia this year.

Davis was convicted in the late 1991 shooting death of a Savannah policeman. Davis, however, maintains he did not shoot Officer Mark Macphail sixteen years ago. And, since his 1991 conviction, several witnesses have withdrawn their testimony, saying the police pressured them to lie. Members of Davis's defense team presented over 4-thousand letters of support, including one from a former Texas district attorney, to Georgia's Board of Pardons and Paroles. Defense attorney Jason Ewart says the lack of evidence should be enough to convince the board to release Davis. "It's not a DNA case. What the DNA cases have told us is that people are convicted erroneously. Here you have to do the work. If you really examine the evidence now, there is beyond a reasonable doubt that Troy did not commit this crime."