Stay Of Execution Granted For Troy Davis

Davis, 39, had been scheduled to be put to death at 7 p.m. at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in downstate Jackson, for the Aug. 19, 1989, killing of Savannah Police Officer Mark MacPhail.

Davis has maintained his innocence. Since his trial in 1991, a number of prosecution witnesses have recanted their testimony.

Davis was convicted of MacPhail's 1989 murder largely on the testimony of nine witnesses.

Davis' lawyers and supporters say this is a case of mistaken identity. Seven of the nine trial witnesses have changed their statements, saying they were mistaken. Some say they feared retribution from the man they say actually killed MacPhail or that police pressured them into fingering Davis.

During the trial, witnesses said Davis and two other men were harassing a homeless man and followed him across the street from a parking lot at the Greyhound bus station in Savannah.

MacPhail was off-duty. He saw the skirmish and ran over to break up the fight. MacPhail was shot, and witnesses told police Davis fired the two shots that killed him.

A manhunt ensued. Davis surrendered nine days later.

On Monday, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles decided not to reconsider its earlier decision. The Georgia Supreme Court decided by a 6-1 vote not to grant a stay of execution to Davis.

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."

The Rev. Al Sharpton had accompanied members of Davis' family to the protest, including Davis' mother, Virginia.

Prosecutors have labeled the witness statements "suspect," and courts had previously refused requests for a new trial.

Many have asked the state of Georgia to grant Davis a new trial: celebrities like Susan Sarandon, Harry Belafonte and the Indigo Girls; world leaders such as former President Carter, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Pope Benedict XVI; and former and current U.S. lawmakers like Bob Barr, Carolyn Moseley Braun and John Lewis.

Amnesty International has issued a 39-page report questioning his conviction, and protesters have been gathering at the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta this week.

In a statement Tuesday afternoon, U.S. Rep. John Lewis said that "extraordinary efforts" were being made by Davis's legal team to appeal to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Thomas is designated to hear emergency stays of execution in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Lewis also said that he had put a call in to President Bush in hopes of a response.

Amnesty International released a statement shortly after the stay of execution was announced, praising the move.

"We are grateful that the U.S. Supreme Court has shown the foresight to stay the execution," said AI's U.S. executive director, Larry Cox. "We hope that it takes up the case and looks at it with fresh eyes, marking the first time that evidence pointing to Davis' innocence will have been heard in a court of law."

(CNN contributed to this report.)

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