On September 21, 2011, at age forty-two, Troy Davis was executed. He was
convicted for the murder of police officer Mark MacPhail in August of 1989 in the
town of Savannah, Georgia. However, until his death in September, Davis
maintained that he was innocent of murder. First brought to trial in 1991, seven of the nine witnesses to the crime who initially testified against him had since changed their story, to little effect. Although Davis’ execution was delayed four hours later than planned, it was still carried out, despite increasing evidence that he was in fact innocent and protests from thousands of United States and world citizens who deemed the act of killing Davis unethical.

Though some people were strongly against Davis and his plea, in the twenty
years that he spent in prison, Davis and his family gained support from numerous
groups such as Amnesty International and the NAACP.

Davis was scheduled to be executed in both 2007 and 2008, but both
executions were postponed because of discrepancies in evidence. Several of the
original witnesses originally testified against him because of alleged threats from police, and stated so in order to try to save Davis’ life. More recent evidence points to another witness, Sylvester Coles, as the one responsible for MacPhail’s demise. Although Davis repeatedly asked Supreme Court to hear his appeal, Supreme Court denied his request. Davis was also denied the chance to take a polygraph test, which he volunteered to do.

The family of the murdered police officer never had any doubts as to Davis’s
guilt. MacPhail’s family was reported to have said they just wanted “closure”.
Anneliese MacPhail, the officer’s mother, was devastated when the execution was
put on hold yet again, saying that the state was denying her and her family peace of mind.

Davis continued to fight for his case until his last hour, refusing to accept the
last meals that the state provided him and stating again and again that he was
innocent. CNN reports Davis’s last words as, “The incident that night was not my
fault. I did not have gun.”

Though the execution did take place, Davis did not make it as far as he did
without a large group of people supporting him. Located at
www.troyanthonydavis.org, supporters could be educated about his case, order t-
shirts to help his cause, and send words of support. Whether it’s for a good or bad reason, Davis will be remembered for years to come. Over one thousand people
attended his funeral on October 1, 2011, and even many send their condolences to
his family.