Tentatively good news in the case of Troy Davis, the man on death row for the murder of a police officer despite his maintained innocence, no physical evidence tying him to the crime, and seven out of nine witnesses having recanted. The US Supreme Court has put off their decision regarding whether or not to take up his case until they reconvene in September. What that means is firstly that there can be no execution date set in the mean time, and secondly that they may be giving his case more careful consideration than they had previously. It seems like both Amnesty International and the NAACP, two of Troy’s biggest champions, are hoping that the latter is true.
NAACP President Benjamin Jealous, however, realistically notes in an NPR opinion piece that you really ought to check out, that the last time the Supreme Court granted a motion similar to Troy Davis’ was in 1925. That means that while it’s an outside possibility, and while it’s undoubtedly good news that an execution date will definitely not be set for at least a couple of months, other avenues have to continue being pursued.
Amnesty International is still urging you to contact Chatham County’s new DA Larry Chisolm, asking him to reopen Troy Davis’ case. I put out this same alert a while back, but if you didn’t at the time, it’s imperative that you do it now.