GA Clergy Mark 5th Anniversary of Troy Davis Execution by Calling for an End to the Death Penalty
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 19, 2016
CONTACT
Michelle Nealy, mnealy@faithinpubliclife.org, 202-735-7123
Graham Younger, gyounger@faithinpubliclife.org, 678-739-8584
GA Clergy Mark 5th Anniversary of Troy Davis Execution by Calling for an End to the Death Penalty
Atlanta, GA – On September 21st at 10 a.m., a prominent group of Georgia faith leaders will call for a ban on capital punishment in Georgia. Their remarks will coincide with the 5th anniversary of the execution of Troy Davis.
Davis was executed on September 21, 2011 for the murder of Marc MacPhail, an off-duty police officer, in 1989. He was granted three stays of execution prior to his final bid for clemency, which the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles denied the day before his final scheduled execution date despite claims of innocence. Seven of the nine eyewitnesses involved in Davis’s trial recanted their testimony. The case attracted national and international attention, including pleas from former President Jimmy Carter, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, and former Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Norman Fletcher.
Georgia is one of only three states using the death penalty regularly as a means of punishment. Nationwide, the number of new death sentences is approaching historic lows.
When:
Wednesday, September 21, 2016, 10 AM
Where:
Liberty Plaza, behind the State Capitol, 206 Washington St SW, Atlanta, GA 30334
Who:
Rev. William Flippin, Jr., Emmanuel Lutheran Church
Rev. Kimberly Jackson, All Saints Episcopal Church
Dr. Melissa Browning, McAfee School of Theology
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