UPDATED BELOW
Prayer Request
This evening, the fate of Troy Davis, convicted of killing officer Mark MacPhail in Savannah in 1989, is in the hands of the United States Supreme Court.
The bishops of the Catholic Church in Georgia sent a letter this past Monday to the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles asking that the death sentence be reconsidered.
This week saw final appeals for clemency rejected by authorities in Georgia.
Although the case has been upheld at every legal turn, there is also what can only be described as significant doubt outside the courts as to the guilt of Mr. Davis. This includes the recanting of testimony by many key witnesses. In addition to the Georgia bishops, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported, “Calls for Davis to be spared execution have been made by numerous dignitaries, including former President Jimmy Carter, Pope Benedict XVI, former FBI Director William Sessions, former Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Norman Fletcher and Larry Thompson, the former deputy U.S. attorney general.”
Please pray that this execution set aside. And in your mercy, pray for all parties involved on both sides including Officer MacPhail and his family and Troy Davis and his family.
UPDATED 10:18pm ET
It is reported that the US Supreme Court has rejected the final appeal to stay the execution.
UPDATED 11:30pm ET
Troy Davis declared dead at 11:08pm ET
It is difficult for me to understand how the judicial system did not conclude that there was sufficient evidence to look further into this case, particularly with the death sentence involved. No, I am not a lawyer and am not skilled or knowledgeable in these matters. However, I am a human being and this just does not sit right. Even if there were insufficient evidence to overturn the conviction, surely there was sufficient cause to set aside the execution. I would feel the same even if I were not opposed to capital punishment.
