USA - Georgia. Judge denies Troy Davis appeal

U.S. District Court Judge William T. Moore Jr. denied death row inmate Troy Davis' innocence claim after a rare hearing. The ruling against Davis, 41, black, sets the stage for Georgia officials to move forward with executing him for the 1989 shooting death of Mark MacPhail, a police officer. A year ago (see Aug. 8, 2009) the U.S. Supreme Court granted Davis a federal hearing to put his innocence claim to the test - a chance afforded no other American in at least 50 years. The Supreme Court's decision to grant Davis an evidentiary hearing was extraordinary because federal death penalty appeals normally look only at questions of due process and constitutional violations, not guilt or innocence. In June, Judge Moore heard 2 days of testimony from witnesses seeking to cast doubt on Davis' conviction. Judge Moore said the evidence presented by Davis' attorneys at a June hearing wasn't nearly strong enough to prove he's innocent. "Ultimately, while Mr. Davis's new evidence casts some additional, minimal doubt on his conviction, it is largely smoke and mirrors," the judge said. Davis has been spared from execution 3 times as his attorneys pushed their argument that new evidence showed police ignored MacPhail's real killer as they rushed to pin the shooting on Davis. For more than a decade, Davis has sought to present in open court his claims of innocence, including the testimony of 7 key prosecution witnesses who have recanted or contradicted their trial testimony. (see also: 15/07/2007, 10/07/2008, 12/09/2008, 23/09/2008, 30/09/2008, 06/10/2008, 14/10/2008, 15/10/2008, 24/10/2008, 19/11/2008, 17/04/2009, 21/05/2009, 29/06/2009, 20/12/2009)