Hearing Granted In Death Penalty Case

On June 30, 2009, we published a post about the case of Troy Davis, who has spent the last 18 years on Georgia's Death Row for the murder of a white policeman. There's so many problems with the evidence in Davis's case that the European Union and Pope Benedict have opposed his execution. On Monday, the United States Supreme Court issued a highly unusual ruling. Unusual because the Supreme Court is on recess until October and because it ordered something that it may have never done before. Davis will be allowed to have a hearing in Federal District Court to determine whether evidence not available at his trial could prove him innocent of the murder. The District Court will have to make findings of fact whether evidence that could have been obtained at the time of his trial could clearly establish his innocence. The court went on to reason that the substantial risk of putting an innocent man to death justified the holding of this evidentiary hearing. This is the first time anyone can remember the Supreme Court remanding a case for an evidentiary hearing to determine innocence. The bad news for Davis that it appears as if the Supreme Court is saying that the evidence of his innocence has to be so good that it clearly establishes his innocence. I guess for Davis that's better than nothing.

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