Troy Davis is Executed in Georgia For Shooting Policeman

There was a demonstration outside the prison Death row inmate Troy Davis has been executed in the US state of Georgia for the fatal shooting of policeman Mark MacPhail in 1989. Davis' death was delayed for hours while the US Supreme Court considered an 11th-hour appeal for clemency.

The 42-year-old's case was heavily disputed after most of the witnesses recanted or changed their testimony. Outside the jail in Jackson, Georgia, there was a heavy police presence earlier as his supporters demonstrated. Davis was convicted in 1991 of killing MacPhail, an off-duty police officer, but maintained he was innocent.

The US Supreme Court judges took more than four hours to issue their rejection of the final appeal, an unusually long time for such a ruling. "The application for stay of execution of sentence of death presented to Justice [Clarence] Thomas and by him referred to the Court is denied," it read. Davis continued to protest his innocence in the death chamber. "I did not have a gun," he said, "For those about to take my life, may God have mercy on your souls. May God bless your souls." Davis was pronounced dead at 23:08  Thursday, 15 minutes after the lethal injection began.

Mark MacPhail was shot dead in 1989 as he tried to defend a homeless man Prosecutors said Davis was beating the man with a gun after demanding a beer from him. No gun was found and no DNA evidence conclusively linked Davis to the murder. On Wednesday morning, Davis' lawyers appealed to the county court responsible for Georgia's death row, but that was also rejected.

The legal team had argued that ballistic testing from the case was flawed. The pardons board also dismissed an appeal to reconsider their decision on Monday to deny Davis clemency. Prosecutors said they had no doubts as to his guilt. "He had all the chances in the world," Anneliese MacPhail, the mother of the murdered policeman, said earlier in a phone interview with the Associated Press news agency.

Davis counted among his supporters Pope Benedict XVI and former US President Jimmy Carter, as well as US conservative figures like representative Bob Barr and former FBI director William Sessions. Outside the prison, hundreds of people gathered chanting: "They say, death row; we say, hell no". Around 10 counter-demonstrators were also present, voicing support for the death penalty and for the family of MacPhail.

There was a heavy police presence, including large numbers of riot police, but no disturbances were reported. Davis' execution date had already been halted three times. Protests had taken on an international dimension since Monday's decision to deny clemency by the Georgia pardons board.

Amnesty International and other groups organized protests at the US embassy in Paris. "We strongly deplore that the numerous appeals for clemency were not heeded," the French foreign ministry said after the execution.
 In Washington DC dozens gathered outside the White House, in the hope that President Obama might intervene at the last-minute. But White House press secretary Jay Carney said it would not be appropriate for the president to interfere in specific cases of state prosecution, such as this one. Why? Why did they not respond to pleas for clemency. Will someone elucidate for me?