State Board releases Davis' case

Today, the state Board of Pardons and Paroles voted to suspend consideration of Troy Davis’ petition for clemency while the Georgia Supreme Court considers his appeal.

Because the Board is no longer considering Davis’ case, the Board has also rescinded its 90-day stay of execution, which was granted last month, hours before Davis was to be executed.

In 1991, Davis was convicted of killing a Savannah Police Officer, but Davis’ says he’s innocent.

Several witnesses have since recanted their testimonies, which helped convict him.

The Court is scheduled to hear Davis’ case in November.

Troy Davis gets stay of execution

Troy Davis has been granted a 90-day stay of execution. He had been scheduled to die by lethal injection at 7pm tonight. Davis was convicted in 1991 for the murder of Savannah police officer Mark McPhail.

The order from the state's Board of Pardons and Paroles late Monday suspends Davis' execution until October 14th. Between now and then, his lawyers will try to convince the Board to remove Davis from death row altogether.

Davis' older sister, Martina Correia, talked to her brother as soon as she heard the news.

"He was sitting alone in a room, and they actually had already moved him to the death chamber, and when he said 90 days, he said all the guards started coming down there, thanking him, and telling him they were getting ready to move him out of there and put him back in his cell".

Correia is elated, but she's ready to hit the pavement to galvanize support for full clemency. Since reinstating the death penalty in 1973, 47 cases have come before Georgia's Parole Board--clemency was granted in eight.

Board of Pardons debates Troy Davis' case

Today, the State Board of Pardons is deliberating whether or not Troy Davis should live or die. Davis is convicted of killing a Savannah Police Officer in 1989, and is scheduled for execution tomorrow evening.

The Parole Board may grant Davis clemency, deny him clemency, or give him a 90-day stay of execution while they renew his case. The board was clearly weighing those options carefully.
They listened to over six hours of testimony on Davis' behalf. Board spokesperson Scheree Lipscomb says hearings rarely take more than two hours:

"This has been a very long hearing, I'm sure that the board is concerned because some people have recanted their statements, and the Board just wants to make sure that they're doing the right thing and they have all the information available."

The Board is also hearing from the family of the victim, Officer Mark MacPhail. They are pleading for the execution to go on as scheduled.

Georgia execution set for tonight

John Hightower is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection at 8 o'clock tonight. There have been a flurry of last minute appeals by his lawyers, including one before the state Board of Pardons and Paroles. The Board was expected to announce their decision this morning.

Hightower was convicted in 1988 of the killing of his wife and two stepdaughters in Milledgeville in July of 1987. This would be the first execution in Georgia in nearly two years.