Dear Commons Community,

The Huffington Post reported that Troy Davis, convicted of murdering an off-duty Savannah police officer more than 20 years ago, was strapped to a gurney in a prison in Jackson, Georgia last night.  The first injection began at 10:54 p.m. and Davis was declared dead at 11:08 p.m. Afterward, Davis’ attorneys and legal advocates quickly decried the execution as a terrible miscarriage of justice.  Davis stated that he had not carried a gun the night of the murder and did not shoot the officer, Mark MacPhail, in a fast food restaurant parking lot on an August night in 1989.  Speaking directly to MacPhail’s brother and son, who witnessed the execution, Davis beseeched them to continue to examine the events that night. “All I can ask is that you look deep into this case so you can really find the truth,” he said.  Davis then addressed prison officials preparing to inject him with a lethal mix of chemicals. “May God have mercy on your souls,” he said.

“Troy Davis has become an incredible symbol of everything that is broken, everything that is wrong” with the capital punishment in the U.S., said Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International’s U.S. branch, in an interview on the prison grounds.”

Joan MacPhail-Harris, the officer’s widow, in speaking for the family, said earlier that Davis “has had ample time to prove his innocence” and failed to do so, according to the Associated Press. She, along with MacPhail’s children, urged the pardon’s board to deny Davis’ petition for clemency this week.

This is a most sad story with grief spread for all involved.

Tony