OntheWilderSide

Please be sure to send your messages based on the letter template given
to the GA Pardons and Parole Board FIRST!!! They will decide clemency
for Troy Davis.

E-mail: Clemency_Information@pap.state.ga.us
Phone: 404-656-5651, Fax: 404-651-6723

 NEW YORKERS AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY
                             www.nyadp.org
******************************************************************************
“I die a little each day, behind these walls, mentally, emotionally and
physically…I feel like “The Walking Dead.” I refuse to be bitter or
angry because I have faith in God, that he will soften the hearts of my
oppressors, to do what is right.” (T. Davis)

Dear Abolitionists:

This Monday, July 17th, a young man named Troy Davis, who has a clear
claim to innocence,  is going to be executed. He was sentenced to death
for the murder of Police Officer Mark Allen McPhail in Savannah,
Georgia; a murder he maintains he did not commit. There was no physical
evidence against him and the weapon used in the crime was never found. The
case against him consisted entirely of witness testimony which contained
inconsistencies even at the time of the trial. Since then, all but two
of the state’s non-police witnesses from the trial have recanted their
testimony. Many of these witnesses have stated in sworn affidavits
that they were pressured or coerced by police into testifying or signing
statements against Troy Davis.

Although every execution is deplorable, I have been particularly
touched by Troy, as I  had the honor to meet his family through my work to
abolish the death penalty. His sister, Martina, is not only a tireless,
eloquent death penalty advocate, but also a courageous breast cancer
survivor and mother. Through her, I have been given a glimpse into the
hell the family members of death row inmates undergo. For a picture of
Troy, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/Death_Penalty/Troy_Davis_Finality_Over_Fairness/page.do?id=1011343&n1=3&n2=28&n3=1412

I am giving, then, a personal appeal to please please make calls and
send emails or faxes appealing that Troy Davis be spared to the Governor
of Georgia (information below!) There is not much time…four days!

You are welcome to cut & paste from our email to Governor Sonny Perdue,
found below. This letter also can be used for talking points for phone
calls.

In hope,

Colleen Eren

Organizer, NYADP
ATALANTA26pt2@YAHOO.COM
516 849 2363

 Sample note:

To the GA Board of Pardons and Paroles
I appeal to you to commute the death sentence of Troy Anthony Davis,
whose judicial appeals have been exhausted. Mr. Davis has been on death
row in Georgia for more than 15 years for the murder of a police officer
he maintains that he did not commit. He was convicted in 1991 of
fatally shooting Officer Mark McPhail and was also convicted for the
non-lethal shooting of Michael Cooper and the assault of Larry Young at the
same crime scene. Both Cooper and Young now deny knowing who the
perpetrator in their attacks was. Davis’ conviction was not based on any
physical evidence, and the murder weapon was never found.

Despite mounting evidence that Davis may in fact be innocent of the
crime, appeals to courts to consider this evidence have been repeatedly
denied for procedural reasons. Instead, the prosecution based its case on
the testimony of purported “witnesses,” many of whom allege police
coercion, and most of whom have since recanted their testimony. One
witness signed a police statement declaring that Davis was the assailant then
later said “I did not read it because I cannot read.” In another case
a witness stated that the police “were telling me that I was an
accessory to murder and that I would…go to jail for a long time and I would
be lucky if I ever got out, especially because a police officer got
killed…I was only sixteen and was so scared of going to jail.” There are
also several witnesses who have implicated another man in the crime
but the police focused their efforts on convicting Troy. 

Despite these compelling facts, Mr. Davis’ habeas corpus petition was
denied by the state court on a technicality — evidence of police
coercion was “procedurally defaulted” so the court refused to hear it. The
Georgia Supreme Court and 11th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals deferred
to the state court and rejected Davis’ claims. It is shocking that in
over 12 years of appeals, no court has agreed to hear evidence of police
coercion, or consider the recanted testimony. On Monday, June 25, The
United States Supreme Court refused to grant certiorari in Mr. Davis’
case. All of his avenues of judicial relief have now been exhausted and
an execution date will be set.

It is deeply troubling to me that Georgia might proceed with this
execution given the strong claims of innocence in this case. It has been
repeatedly demonstrated that our criminal justice system is not devoid of
error and we now know that 124 individuals have been released from
death rows across the United States due to wrongful conviction. We must
confront the unalterable fact that the system of capital punishment is
fallible, given that it is administered by fallible human beings. I
respectfully urge the Board of Pardons and Paroles to demonstrate your strong
commitment to fairness and justice and commute the death sentence of
Troy Anthony Davis.

Thank you for your kind consideration.

Governor Sonny Purdue:

phone: 404-656-1776, fax: 404-657-7332

other Georgia contacts:
Pardons and Parole Board
E-mail: Clemency_Informatio n@pap.state. ga.us
Phone: 404-656-5651, Fax: 404-651-6723

Atlanta Journal-Constitutio n
E-mail: letters@ajc. com,
Phone: 404-526-5151,
fax: 404-526-5746

The Augusta Chronicle
E-mail: letters@augustachro nicle.com
phone: 706-823-3366, fax: 706-722-7403

I ask you, Governor Purdue, to use your public influence to help stop
your state’s execution of Troy Davis. Mr. Davis is scheduled to die
next Tuesday, 7/17/07, for the August 1989 murder of off-duty police
officer Mark Allen MacPhail.

Sylvester ‘Red” Coles has confessed three times to doing this crime.
Three eye witnesses corroborate his self-incrimination. The star
prosecution witnesses have all recanted or contradicted the testimony
that convicted Mr. Davis, many alleging police coercion in the
obtaining of the testimony. Two trial jurors have publicly stated
they would not have voted for conviction if they had known all the
evidence. This judicial travesty has people across the whole world
talking, including Amnesty International and Nobel Peace Prize winner
Bishop Desmond Tutu. Governor Purdue, Troy Davis is clearly innocent;
you cannot let this execution go forward!

Former Attorney General of the United States of America Janet Reno, as
well as myriads of scholars, can find no evidence that the death
penalty deters capital crimes. In fact, the warden of the famous Sing
Sing prison believes that the death penalty exacerbates the violence
in his facility by setting an example of cold-blooded killing. Recent
studies show that the largest increase in capital crimes is in Texas,
the state which executes the most people. As for vengeance, that is
the Lord’s, not the government’s.

Please, Governor Purdue, help stop this killing of Troy Davis. If this
execution goes forward, look around this country for the black bands
worn and the church bells tolled in protest of this injustice.

Thank you.

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