From the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals opinion:
On October 22, 2008, Troy Anthony Davis (“Davis”), a Georgia death row inmate, has filed an application with this Court seeking authorization to file a second or successive 28 U.S.C. § 2254 federal habeas petition, raising for the first time a freestanding actual innocence claim. Davis had previously filed a federal habeas petition in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia in 2001, alleging, among other things, violations of Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150, 92 S. Ct. 763 (1972), Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S. Ct. 1194 (1963), and Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S. Ct. 2052 (1984). Davis now claims that his execution would violate the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments because he is actually innocent of the offense of murder. We took the unusual step of staying Davis’s execution, which had been scheduled for October 27, 2008, and ordered the parties to submit further briefs. Thereafter, we scheduled the case for oral argument. Having the benefit of the parties’ briefs and after hearing extensive oral argument, we deny Davis’s application.
Via Sentencing Law and Policy, “This ruling will surely get lots and lots of attention from all the usual death penalty suspects, which of course includes many Justices of the Supreme Court. It will be interesting to see if SCOTUS will eventually take up this case.”
From the comments there:
no concurrence from Judge Martin of the 6th Circuit… interesting
…
I don’t see SCOTUS taking this one up. Davis is not obviously innocent, and both the state and federal courts have given his claims a thorough review.
The other thing people should remember is that Georgia schedules executions quickly. When and if cert. is denied, the date will be set very quickly.
And once Davis is executed, his name will disappear from public consciousness.
…
Just like to point out, there’s a ocean of difference between “Davis is not obviously innocent,” and “Davis is obviously not innocent.”
Yes, absolutely!
For more: CNN, AJC. Background: Wikipedia entry; TroyAnthonyDavis.org; Amnesty International, Troy Davis – Finality Over Fairness.