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R.I.P Troy Davis


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Troy Davis executed in Georgia amid innocence protests

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Witnesses at his death said he was defiant in proclaiming his innocence to the end

Death row inmate Troy Davis has been executed in the US state of Georgia for the fatal shooting of policeman Mark MacPhail in 1989.

Davis' death was delayed for hours while the US Supreme Court considered an eleventh-hour appeal for clemency.

The 42-year-old's case was heavily disputed after most of the witnesses recanted or changed their testimony.

Inside the jail in Jackson, Georgia, Davis protested his innocence until the end as supporters protested outside.

There was a heavy police presence as hundreds held a vigil awaiting news from the US Supreme Court.

"I am innocent," Davis said moments before he was executed. "I did not have a gun."

Davis was convicted in 1991 of killing MacPhail, an off-duty police officer, but always maintained he was innocent.

The US Supreme Court judges took more than four hours to issue their rejection of the final appeal, an unusually long time for such a ruling.

"The application for stay of execution of sentence of death presented to Justice [Clarence] Thomas and by him referred to the Court is denied," it read.

Davis continued to protest his innocence in the death chamber.

Troy Davis Davis's execution date had already been moved several times

"For those about to take my life, may God have mercy on your souls. May God bless your souls.

"All I can ask... is that you look deeper into this case so that you really can finally see the truth. I ask my family and friends to continue to fight this fight."

Davis was pronounced dead at 23:08 (03:08 GMT Thursday), 15 minutes after the lethal injection began.

Ballistic 'flawed'

MacPhail was shot dead in July 1989 as he tried to help a homeless man who was being attacked in a Burger King car park.

Prosecutors said Davis was beating the man with a gun after demanding a beer from him.

No gun was found and no DNA evidence conclusively linked Davis to the murder.

On Wednesday morning, Davis' lawyers appealed to the county court responsible for Georgia's death row, but that was also rejected.

The legal team had argued that ballistic testing from the case was flawed.

The pardons board also dismissed an appeal to reconsider their decision on Monday to deny Davis clemency.

Prosecutors said they had no doubts as to his guilt.

Savannah Police Officer Mark Allen MacPhail Mark MacPhail was shot dead in 1989 as he tried to defend a homeless man

"I'm kind of numb. I can't believe that it's really happened," Anneliese MacPhail, the mother of the murdered policeman, told the Associated Press news agency after Davis was killed.

"All the feelings of relief and peace I've been waiting for all these years, they will come later. I certainly do want some peace."

Davis counted Pope Benedict XVI and former US President Jimmy Carter among his supporters, as well as US conservative figures like former member of the House of Representatives Bob Barr and former FBI director William Sessions.

Outside the prison, hundreds of people gathered chanting: "They say, death row; we say, hell no".

Around 10 counter-demonstrators were also present, voicing support for the death penalty and for the family of MacPhail.

There was a heavy police presence, including large numbers of riot police, but no disturbances were reported.

International protests

Davis' execution date had already been changed three times.

Protests had taken on an international dimension since Monday's decision to deny clemency by the Georgia pardons board.

The Council of Europe had also called for Davis' sentence to be commuted.

Amnesty International and other groups organised protests at the US embassy in Paris, where 150 people gathered in Place de la Concorde, holding signs bearing Davis' image.

"We strongly deplore that the numerous appeals for clemency were not heeded," the French foreign ministry said after the execution.

In Washington DC dozens gathered outside the White House, in the hope that President Barack Obama might intervene at the last-minute.

But White House press secretary Jay Carney said it would not be appropriate for the president to interfere in specific cases of state prosecution, such as this one.

Reports suggested around a dozen people were arrested for refusing to co-operate with police.

Meanwhile in the US state of Texas another death row inmate, Lawrence Russell Brewer, was executed on Wednesday evening - in a very different case.

In 1998, white supremacist gang member Brewer, 44, dragged a black man chained to the back of a pick-up truck along a road until he died.

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R.I.P Capital Punishment is from a bygone era and should be totally abolished. Dissapointed Barry O B had stayed silent on this issue. Apparently he has no power in state affairs. Guy needs to really step and start rolling some heads and act like the president or his at risk of losing next years elections.

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Meanwhile in the US state of Texas another death row inmate, Lawrence Russell Brewer, was executed on Wednesday evening - in a very different case.

In 1998, white supremacist gang member Brewer, 44, dragged a black man chained to the back of a pick-up truck along a road until he died.

I remember this 1, was fucked.

Fingerprints taken from the headless torso identified the victim as Mr Byrd.
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been saying that race is an issue from day the people ignoring the racial component have a hand in this even happening because the people dismissive of that fact have swept it under the carpet and NOW it has reared its ugly head in the form of ANOTHER black man killed.

if you wanna get away with murder KILL A BLACK MAN.

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Meanwhile in the US state of Texas another death row inmate, Lawrence Russell Brewer, was executed on Wednesday evening - in a very different case.

In 1998, white supremacist gang member Brewer, 44, dragged a black man chained to the back of a pick-up truck along a road until he died.

I remember this 1, was fucked.

Fingerprints taken from the headless torso identified the victim as Mr Byrd.

I read up on this. Shit's fucked, I'm generally against capital punishment but when you hear stories about heinous crimes it really put's a seed a doubt in your mind to whether the state has the legitimate right take a person's life.

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Meanwhile in the US state of Texas another death row inmate, Lawrence Russell Brewer, was executed on Wednesday evening - in a very different case.

In 1998, white supremacist gang member Brewer, 44, dragged a black man chained to the back of a pick-up truck along a road until he died.

I remember this 1, was fucked.

Fingerprints taken from the headless torso identified the victim as Mr Byrd.

I read up on this. Shit's fucked, I'm generally against capital punishment but when you hear stories about heinous crimes it really put's a seed a doubt in your mind to whether the state has the legitimate right take a person's life.

Yeah this was crazy...sickens me.

There saying he had one of the biggest last meal's..something like 3'500 calories....smh

For his last meal before he was executed, he ate chicken fried steaks, a triple bacon cheeseburger, a bowl of fried okra, a cheese omelette, barbeque, fajitas, pizza and peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts.

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A lot of people are on the Internet gassing about this without examining the facts

This is not a race issue

The issue is wether or not sentancing people to death can ever be just regardless of particular circumstances

Fact is the guy had a bag of jakes saying he did it, don't matter if hes black white orange yellow purple green or blue HE'S GONNA GET BIRDED and even if he DID get an appeal unless there is substancial EVIDENCE PROVING beyond reasonable doubt that the police are lying no jury are gonna go against such compelling evidence.

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A lot of people are on the Internet gassing about this without examining the facts

This is not a race issue

The issue is wether or not sentancing people to death can ever be just regardless of particular circumstances

Fact is the guy had a bag of jakes saying he did it, don't matter if hes black white orange yellow purple green or blue HE'S GONNA GET BIRDED and even if he DID get an appeal unless there is substancial EVIDENCE PROVING beyond reasonable doubt that the police are lying no jury are gonna go against such compelling evidence.

this IS a race issue. black men get killed by police or white men and they get let off

a huge amount of black deathrow convicts have been saved by DNA evidence, despite white witnesses placing the convicts at the crime scene and them being convicted.

all it takes in the US is for some middle class white witness to place a black man who may already have a criminal conviction at a crime scene for any crime and boom..thats all the jury need to hear.

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Unreliable eye witness testimony and this case being a race issue are two different arguments

As far as legal matters go you have to compare like with like before you jump out the window brandishing your race card

Show me a case where multiple civillian witnesses along with police witnesses say a white guy did a crime and he beat the case SHOW ME

7 of the 9 civilian witnesses changing their story after a guy has been convicted does not equate to COMPELLING EVIDENCE to his innocence when there are still civilian witnesses saying it's him along with POLICE WITNESSES

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A lot of people are on the Internet gassing about this without examining the facts

This is not a race issue

The issue is wether or not sentancing people to death can ever be just regardless of particular circumstances

Fact is the guy had a bag of jakes saying he did it, don't matter if hes black white orange yellow purple green or blue HE'S GONNA GET BIRDED and even if he DID get an appeal unless there is substancial EVIDENCE PROVING beyond reasonable doubt that the police are lying no jury are gonna go against such compelling evidence.

This happened in 1989 - Savannah, Georgia.

Do you truly believe it wasn't blamed on him because he was Black?

These people have come back and said its not true, there was no gun found, there was no evidence, another man's DNA was found on the body and other witnesses named the man who done it saying he had told them he was using Davis as his cover up.

The whole situation is disgusting and of course it was due to him being a black man, with all the reasons in the world to reinvestigate this case they kept refusing. It IS unjustified and should never of been allowed to happen.

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