Georgia May Execute an Innocent Man

Former FBI chief William Sessions joins those pleading with Georgia to call off next week's execution of Troy Davis, a death row inmate convicted of killing a police officer in 1989. "Serious questions about Mr. Davis' guilt, highlighted by witness recantations, allegations of police coercion, and a lack of relevant physical evidence, continue to plague his conviction," writes Sessions in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He wants the state parole board to commute Davis' sentence to life in prison.

"There will always be cases, including capital cases, in which doubts about guilt cannot be erased to an acceptable level of certainty," writes Sessions, who served under presidents Reagan, Bush (HW), and Clinton. "The Davis case is one of these, and it is for cases like this that executive clemency exists." Others calling for the sentence to be commuted are Pope Benedict, Amnesty International, and Jimmy Carter, notes the Huffington Post, which has background on the case here. Davis' sister has an online petition here. (More Troy Davis stories.)