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<h1><b>Ga. cop killer gets last-minute execution
reprieve</b></h1><font size=3>
<a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jhQApEoEL-uLsrCXRQzPN5FmpNXgD93CMF5G0" eudora="autourl">
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jhQApEoEL-uLsrCXRQzPN5FmpNXgD93CMF5G0<br>
<br>
</a>By GREG BLUESTEIN – 36 minutes ago <br><br>
ATLANTA (AP) The U.S. Supreme Court gave a reprieve to a Georgia inmate
less than two hours before he was to be executed Tuesday for the 1989
slaying of an off-duty police officer.<br><br>
Supporters of 39-year-old Troy Davis have called for a new trial as seven
of the nine witnesses who helped put him on death row recanted their
testimony. Protesters had arrived by the busload to protest the
execution, carrying signs with slogans like "Justice for Troy
Davis" and wearing blue T-shirts emblazoned with "I am Troy
Davis." A crowd of about 50 erupted in cheers when the stay, granted
around 5:20 p.m., was announced.<br><br>
The Rev. Al Sharpton had accompanied members of Davis' family to the
protest, including Davis' mother, Virginia.<br><br>
Prosecutors have labeled the witness statements "suspect," and
courts had previously refused requests for a new trial.<br><br>
The execution had been scheduled for 7 p.m. EDT.<br><br>
The stay will remain in effect while the court considers Davis' appeal.
Davis wants the high court to order a judge to hear from the witnesses
who recanted their testimony and others who say another man confessed to
the crime.<br><br>
Influential advocates, including former President Jimmy Carter and South
Africa Archbishop Desmond Tutu, insist that there's enough doubt about
his guilt to merit a new trial.<br><br>
A divided Georgia Supreme Court has twice rejected his request for a new
trial, and had rejected his appeal to delay the execution Monday
afternoon. The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles also turned down his
bid for clemency.<br><br>
Davis was convicted of the murder of 27-year-old officer Mark MacPhail,
who was working off-duty as a security guard at a bus station.<br><br>
MacPhail had rushed to help a homeless man who had been pistol-whipped at
a nearby parking lot, and was shot twice when he approached Davis and two
other men.<br><br>
Witnesses identified Davis as the shooter, and at the 1991 trial,
prosecutors said he wore a "smirk on his face" as he fired the
gun.<br><br>
But Davis' lawyers say new evidence proves their client was a victim of
mistaken identity. Besides those who have recanted their testimony, three
others who did not testify have said Sylvester "Red" Coles
who testified against Davis at his trial confessed to the
killing.<br><br>
Coles refused to talk about the case when contacted by The Associated
Press during a 2007 Chatham County court appearance and has no listed
phone number.<br><br>
Prosecutors have contended in court hearings the case is closed. They
also say some of the witness affidavits simply repeat what a trial jury
has already heard, while others are irrelevant because they come from
witnesses who never testified.<br><br>
Meanwhile, a man was set to be executed Tuesday in Florida barring a
last-minute intervention by the U.S. Supreme Court. Richard "Ric
Ric" Henyard, 34, was convicted of the 1993 shooting deaths of two
sisters 7-year-old Jamilya Lewis and Jasmine Lewis, 3.<br><br>
Their mother, Dorothy Lewis, survived after she was raped and shot
several times during a carjacking. Both girls, with their mother when
they were seized by Henyard and an accomplice, were shot in the head when
they cried out for her. <br><br>
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