US court agrees to examine death row case (Troy Davis)

[babylonsister]

US court agrees to examine death row case

Sat Aug 4, 4:25 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Georgia's state Supreme Court has reversed course and agreed to consider an appeal from a black death row inmate who has maintained his innocence in the murder of a white police officer.

The Georgia Supreme Court, which had rejected past appeals, agreed in a 4-3 decision Friday to examine whether Troy Davis, 38, deserves a new trial after his attorneys presented fresh evidence in the case, according to its website.

A day before Davis was to be executed on July 17, Georgia's state parole board granted him a 90-day stay of execution to analyze the new information.

Defense attorneys say seven of nine witnesses who had testified against Davis have changed their stories, saying earlier statements implicating him had been coerced by strongarm police tactics. Some of the witnesses have also now accused someone else as the killer in the 1989 murder.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070804/ts_alt_afp/uscourtexecution