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(APN) ATLANTA – A three judge panel of the Eleventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday met to decide if they will allow Georgia death row inmate Troy Anthony Davis to file a new round of federal appeals.
The judges spent over an hour questioning Davis’s attorneys and the State to determine if Davis has sufficiently answered the two following questions:
First, given the evidence available Tuesday, is it likely a jury would not convict Davis? Second, did Davis exercise due diligence in providing new evidence?
Additionally, if the answer to the first question is yes, can Georgia carry out an execution if the answer to the second question is no?
"This is not a clear cut case," Judge Rosemary Barkett said Tuesday. "The witnesses have injected a great deal of doubt [about Davis’s guilt]."
Barkett indicated during arguments Tuesday it would be her "personal preference" to see the witnesses in a court of law.
[Sylvester] Coles, who is one of two witnesses who have not changed his original testimony, appeared with Davis in the Burger King parking lot the night of the murder. Coles went to the police the day after the murder and implicated Davis.
"It seems police were so anxious to get somebody that they didn’t pursue Coles," Barkett suggested.
Tuesday’s hearing is just the latest in a string of developments that have drawn international attention to the case.
Davis has had three scheduled execution dates and three stays of execution since July 2007. Most recently, Davis was set to die on October 27, 2008, after the Supreme Court of the US denied his certiorari petition.
But the Eleventh Circuit jumped in on October 24 and issued a stay of execution.
Davis filed his brief requesting a second federal habeas petition on November 10 and the Georgia Attorney General’s office filed its response November 14.
It is unclear when the Court will issue a decision. Attorneys for Davis said Tuesday that it could take anywhere from a matter of days to a couple of months.
If the Court rules for Davis, then he could ask the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia for an evidentiary hearing, which would allow witnesses to testify and to be questioned in court.
Should the Court rule with the State, a new execution date could be set within a matter of days after the decision.
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