Troy Davis Video and Update

Amnesty International teamed up with rock band State Radio to create a music video based on the case of Troy Davis. Check it out:

Please note that by playing this clip You Tube and Google will place a long-term cookie on your computer. Please see You Tube’s privacy statement on their website and Google’s privacy statement on theirs to learn more. To view the ACLU’s privacy statement, click here.

Troy Davis had a hearing before the 11th Circuit in December; we’re now awaiting a decision on whether the court will grant an evidentiary hearing under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA). That hearing would then determine whether he gets a new trial in which he could bring his innocence claims.

If he isn’t granted a new hearing under AEDPA, there is a possibility that the State of Georgia could still proceed with execution. So it’s crucial that you head over to Amnesty’s petition to Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue, and ask him to influence the state’s board of parole and pardons to grant clemency to Troy Davis. (In Georgia, the governor doesn’t have the power to pardon himself, but Perdue appointed many of the officials sitting on the board, and can suggest to the board that the sentence be commuted.)

And keep in mind, these petitions work! Sue Gunawardena-Vaughn, Director of Amnesty’s Death Penalty Abolition Campaign, says: “The volume of demonstrations/petitions has been crucial in raising the profile of this case with both the media and with public officials. If there hadn’t been public outrage over this case, Troy would probably have been executed when the very first execution date was set back in July 2007.”

So act now to save Troy Davis’s life. There is still work to be done.