VADP

ATLANTA ‹ In a split decision, the Georgia Supreme Court refused Monday to

allow a new trial for a man sentenced to death for the 1989 murder of a

Savannah police officer, despite recantations from seven of nine witnesses

who originally testified against him.

The ruling is a blow to advocates for the convicted man, Troy A. Davis, 39,

who had collected affidavits from many of the witnesses who originally

testified against him. Many said that their trial testimony had been coerced

by investigators who were under pressure to convict someone in the murder of

a fellow officer.

In the 4-to-3 decision, the court¹s majority wrote that the sworn testimony

at the trial was more important than the later recantations, noting that

many of the witnesses have simply said they did not feel able to identify

the person who shot the officer.

³We simply cannot disregard the jury¹s verdict in this case,² the court

wrote.

The dissent, written by Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears, called the court

³overly rigid² in its considerations of the new evidence in support of a new

trial and said it failed to allow ³an adequate inquiry into the fundamental

question, which is whether or not an innocent person might have been

convicted or even, as in this case, might be put to death.²

The chief justice acknowledged that sworn trial testimony is generally

considered more credible than later recantations made out of court. But, she

wrote, ³it is unwise and unnecessary to make a categorical rule that

recantations may never be considered in support of an extraordinary motion

for a new trial.²

On Aug. 3, the court stayed Mr. Davis¹s impending execution to consider new

testimony by 13 witnesses that Mr. Davis was not the one who shot the

officer in the 1989 case. The shooting killed Mark A. MacPhail, an off-duty

police officer who was working as a security guard at a Greyhound bus

station in Savannah when he tried to break up a fight between two men who

were throwing punches over beer.

Mr. Davis has long maintained his innocence, and there was little physical

evidence presented against him in the case.

Amnesty International, a human rights group that has collected more than

60,000 signatures in a petition calling for a new trial for Mr. Davis,

blasted the court¹s decision.

³The claim that evidence in Davis¹s favor was not sufficient to reopen his

case is simply stunning,² said Larry Cox, executive director of the group.

³In turning a blind eye to the realities of the case, the legal system has

shrugged off the very notion of justice at every level, from Savannah to the

U.S. Supreme Court. The board of pardons must recognize that a blind

adherence to technicalities cannot trump a concerted search for the truth,

especially when a human being¹s life is at stake.²

Mr. Davis¹s supporters had petitioned the Georgia State Board of Pardons and

Paroles for clemency last summer in a last-ditch effort to save his life.

The board suspended its consideration of Davis¹s case pending the Supreme

Court¹s Decision.

It was unclear Monday when the board would resume its deliberations.