Post date: Sep 22, 2011 10:46:47 AM
US state of Georgia executes convicted murder, Troy Davis in high-profile U.S. case because of claims by his advocates that he may have been innocent.
USA-DAVIS EXECUTION -The US state of Georgia has executed convicted murderer Troy Davis.
It is a case which drew international attention due to claims that he may have been innocent.
KRISTEN STANCIL, PRISON SPOKESWOMAN SAYING:"The court ordered execution of Troy Anthony Davis has been carried out. The time of death is 11:08 PM."
The case sparked protests because of doubts that were expressed.
He was convicted of killing police officer Mark MacPhail in 1989.
However since then, seven of the nine witnesses changed their testimony.
Some said they were forced by police to testify against him, some have said another man committed the crime.
There was no physical evidence linking Davis to the killing.
One journalist who witnessed the execution said Davis maintained his innocence right up to the end.
JON LEWIS, WSB RADIO JOURNALIST AND WITNESS TO TROY DAVIS EXECUTION, SAYING:
"The warden read the order, asked if Troy Davis had anything to say, and Davis lifted his head up, looked at that first row and made a statement in which he said - he wanted to talk to the MacPhail family, and said that despite the situation you are in, he was not the one who did it. He said that he was not personally responsible for what happened that night - that he did not have a gun."
His defence attorney put his death in a racial and class context.
THOMAS RUFFIN, ATTORNEY FOR TROY DAVIS, SAYING:
"What I saw tonight, what Jason saw tonight, what the MacPhail family saw tonight, and what your colleagues, the journalists who spoke with you earlier saw tonight, was indeed a legal lynching. And one thing I want to get clear is just because it was legal doesn't mean that it was right. Slavery was legal, but it wasn't right. Jim Crow segregation was legal, but it wasn't right. And the killings of innocents, such as Troy Anthony Davis, however legal it may be in Georgia, however legal it may be in the eyes of the Supreme Court of the United States - this sort of legalized lynching is not right."
Protesters chanted outside the Supreme Court building.
His lawyers had tried to stay the execution, with their efforts reaching the Supreme Court.
It took the court over four hours to issue its one-sentence order, an unusually long time in such cases.
Marie-Claire Fennessy, Reuters