USA - Georgia. The Board of Pardons and Paroles delayed a decision whether to grant or deny clemency to Troy Davis

The state Board of Pardons and Paroles yesterday delayed a decision whether to grant or deny clemency to Troy Davis after hearing pleas for mercy from Davis’ family and calls for his execution by surviving relatives of a murdered Savannah police officer. Davis’ case has already taken more unexpected turns than just about any death-penalty case in Georgia history and his innocence claims have attracted international attention. Its resolution was postponed once again when the parole board late Monday announced it would not be making an immediate decision as to whether Davis should live or die. Davis, 42, is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection on Wednesday the 21^st, at 7 p.m. at the state prison in Jackson. He was sentenced to death for the 1989 murder of Police Officer Mark Allen MacPhail. Yesterday, Davis’ lawyers said they believed they’d made their case that there is too much doubt in the case. But members of MacPhail’s family expressed confidence the board would deny clemency. After Davis’ lawyers made their three-hour presentation, attorney Stephen Marsh emerged from the hearing and said, “We believe we have established substantial doubt in this case.” The surviving relatives of the slain officer presented a decidedly different front. They resolutely told the news media they believe Davis is a cop killer who deserves to die for what he did. Over the past decade, the board has commuted three death sentences — Alexander Williams in 2002, James Willie Hall in 2004 and Samuel Crowe in 2008. If the five-member board grants Davis clemency, it would commute his death sentence to life in prison with the possibility of parole or life without parole. Among witnesses to testify on Davis’ behalf was Brenda Forrest, a juror who voted to sentence Davis to death at the 1991 trial. She now says she has too much doubt about her verdict and is asking the board to grant clemency. Two other jurors who voted to sentence Davis to death have signed affidavits asking the board to spare Davis from execution. Also testifying before the board was Quiana Glover, a Savannah woman who says that she heard Sylvester “Redd” Coles, who was with Davis shortly before MacPhail was killed, say he was the actual killer. Coles made the statement during a party in June 2009 when he had been drinking heavily, Glover said in a sworn affidavit. Calls for Davis to be spared execution have been made by numerous dignitaries, including former President Jimmy Carter, Pope Benedict XVI, former FBI Director William Sessions, former Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Norman Fletcher and Larry Thompson, the former deputy U.S. attorney general, and Martin Luther King Jr.'s daughter, Bernice King. Davis’ advocates, including Amnesty International and the NAACP, have used social media to rally worldwide support. Last week, Davis’ supporters presented the parole board with the names of more than 663,000 people asking that Davis be granted clemency.