[Shaun]

Death row inmate Troy Davis has been executed in the US state of Georgia for the fatal shooting of policeman Mark MacPhail in 1989.

Davis' death was delayed for hours while the US Supreme Court considered an 11th-hour appeal for clemency.

The 42-year-old's case was heavily disputed after most of the witnesses recanted or changed their testimony.

Outside the jail in Jackson, Georgia, there was a heavy police presence earlier as his supporters demonstrated.

Davis was convicted in 1991 of killing MacPhail, an off-duty police officer, but maintained he was innocent.

The US Supreme Court judges took more than four hours to issue their rejection of the final appeal, an unusually long time for such a ruling.

"The application for stay of execution of sentence of death presented to Justice [Clarence] Thomas and by him referred to the Court is denied," it read.

Davis continued to protest his innocence in the death chamber.
Troy Davis Davis's execution date had already been moved several times

"I did not have a gun," he said, "For those about to take my life, may God have mercy on your souls. May God bless your souls."

Davis was pronounced dead at 23:08 (03:08 GMT Thursday), 15 minutes after the lethal injection began.

MacPhail was shot dead in July 1989 as he tried to help a homeless man who was being attacked in a Burger King car park.

Prosecutors said Davis was beating the man with a gun after demanding a beer from him.

No gun was found and no DNA evidence conclusively linked Davis to the murder.

On Wednesday morning, Davis' lawyers appealed to the county court responsible for Georgia's death row, but that was also rejected.

The legal team had argued that ballistic testing from the case was flawed.

The pardons board also dismissed an appeal to reconsider their decision on Monday to deny Davis clemency.

Prosecutors said they had no doubts as to his guilt.

Savannah Police Officer Mark Allen MacPhail Mark MacPhail was shot dead in 1989 as he tried to defend a homeless man

"He had all the chances in the world," Anneliese MacPhail, the mother of the murdered policeman, said earlier in a phone interview with the Associated Press news agency.

Davis counted among his supporters Pope Benedict XVI and former US President Jimmy Carter, as well as US conservative figures like representative Bob Barr and former FBI director William Sessions.

Outside the prison, hundreds of people gathered chanting: "They say, death row; we say, hell no".

Around 10 counter-demonstrators were also present, voicing support for the death penalty and for the family of MacPhail.

There was a heavy police presence, including large numbers of riot police, but no disturbances were reported.

Davis' execution date had already been halted three times.

Protests had taken on an international dimension since Monday's decision to deny clemency by the Georgia pardons board.

The Council of Europe had also called for Davis' sentence to be commuted.

Amnesty International and other groups organised protests at the US embassy in Paris, where 150 people gathered in Place de la Concorde, holding signs bearing Davis' image.

"We strongly deplore that the numerous appeals for clemency were not heeded," the French foreign ministry said after the execution.

In Washington DC dozens gathered outside the White House, in the hope that President Barack Obama might intervene at the last-minute.

But White House press secretary Jay Carney said it would not be appropriate for the president to interfere in specific cases of state prosecution, such as this one.

Reports suggested around a dozen people were arrested for refusing to co-operate with police.

Meanwhile in the US state of Texas another death row inmate, Lawrence Russell Brewer, was executed on Wednesday evening - in a very different case.

In 1998, white supremacist gang member Brewer, 44, dragged a black man chained to the back of a pick-up truck along a road until he died.

probably the most high-profile anti-death penalty case in years. It seems extraordinary that he had sympathisers as high up as the Pope and Jimmy Carter.

[MTVN]

The evidence does seem unconvincing, I certainly wouldn't be confident enough to sentence a man to death based on that, another reason why capital punishment is a terrible form of justice I suppose

[Livia]

There's a lot of information there that's obviously been produced by the defence, not so much from the prosecution, except to say they had no doubts about his guilt. I'd like to have heard more from the prosecution.

All over the world, prisons are full of "innocent" people.

[joeysteele]

Also Georgia is a state that is in the main very severe and uncompromising on these matters. Seems a lot of question marks on this case though.

[InOne]

If it wasn't a cop he killed then there would not be all this drama. But they seem pretty bloodthirsty when someone kills a boy in blue over there so he probably didn't have much of a chance

[Omah]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...l-2358927.html

There was no physical evidence, blood samples, or DNA linking Davis to the crime. The murder weapon was never found. His conviction instead relied on witness statements from nine people, seven of whom have since recanted their evidence, saying they were coerced into delivering it by police officers.

Several members of the jury have since come forward to say that they reached the wrong verdict. Meanwhile, a further witness has claimed that another man, Sylvester Coles, privately confessed to the murder.

Coles is known to have owned a gun similar to the one used to shoot MacPhail, but claims to have lost it shortly after the killing. He was at the scene, and is one of the two remaining prosecution witnesses who is yet to recant his evidence.

Despite the apparent flaws in the conviction, lawyers for Davis failed to overturn it because they were unable to conclusively prove that he was innocent. The mere (sic) appearance of doubt regarding evidence presented to a jury at an original trial is not sufficient to have a death sentence commuted.

If he was white, he'd have been released years ago .....

[Tom4784]

If there's even a shred of doubt then the Death Penalty shouldn't be an option, I hope this forces changes in the US' law system because this can't go on.

[MTVN]

September 11th 2011: "10 years on from the 9/11 attacks, we must never again allow innocent Americans to be killed on home soil."

September 22nd 2011: "Except for Troy Davis."

[swinearefine]

This is so horrible. We've been talking about it all week in my sociology class. A civilized country should be better than this.

[AJ.]

No DNA or physical evidence, the only evidence was 9 witness statements of which 7 have been revoked saying they was forced by police & someone else confessed! How blindly racist & patriotic do you have to be to allow this to go through?

[lostalex]

Originally Posted by DeejayAJ

No DNA or physical evidence, the only evidence was 9 witness statements of which 7 have been revoked saying they was forced by police & someone else confessed! How blindly racist & patriotic do you have to be to allow this to go through?

Well those 7 people should be put in jail then for lying in court and causing this. IF he really was innocent, then those 7 people that lied to the court should be put in jail for manslaughter. If he was innocent, it is their fault that he was convicted and executed.

Why arn't the protesters demanding that those 7 people should be held responsible?? Maybe we should execute those 7 people too.

[Grimnir]

doesn't surprise me, he wont be the first and wont be the last

USA is a country full of racists, religious nutjobs, rednecks, gangstas, warmongers, forrest gumps and fat people

its far from a civilized country, its a disgusting country

[lostalex]

Originally Posted by Grimnir

doesn't surprise me, he wont be the first and wont be the last

USA is a country full of racists, religious nutjobs, rednecks, gangstas, warmongers, forrest gumps and fat people

its far from a civilized country, its a disgusting country

Umm, can you name any country in the world that doesn't have all of those things you just listed?

That list describes every country in the world. You are describing HUMAN BEINGS as a whole, not Americans.

[letmein]

Originally Posted by lostalex

Well those 7 people should be put in jail then for lying in court and causing this. IF he really was innocent, then those 7 people that lied to the court should be put in jail for manslaughter. If he was innocent, it is their fault that he was convicted and executed.

Why arn't the protesters demanding that those 7 people should be held responsible?? Maybe we should execute those 7 people too.

I think saving someone's life was their prime mission, and the one that was the most important, hon.

[letmein]

Originally Posted by Grimnir

doesn't surprise me, he wont be the first and wont be the last

USA is a country full of racists, religious nutjobs, rednecks, gangstas, warmongers, forrest gumps and fat people

its far from a civilized country, its a disgusting country

And yet it still controls the world, and is the #1 innovator. Butthurt much?

What country are you from? If you're from Europe, you started this stuff, bud. No one killed more people in history than Blood-Thirsty Britain. Britons today know nothing about their history. It's astounding.