Thursday, June 21, 2007

Today.

Today the U.S. Supreme Court was scheduled to meet behind closed doors to "conference" the case of Troy Anthony Davis. It is my understanding that there are four things that could happen:

1. The Court could agree to formally review the case, thus accepting "cert."

2. The Court could deny cert, thus rejecting Troy's appeal, a move that likely would result in Troy's receiving an execution date soon.

3. The Court could kick the case back to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals for further review (this seems unlikely.)

4. The Court could set the case for conference the following week. (This happens upon occasion if the Court is deeply divided or if one or more justices need more time to review the case.)

We MIGHT learn the Court's decision Friday afternoon, or it could be Monday morning at the latest.

If the Court denies cert, which unfortunately (and unfairly) seems the most likely outcome, then we go full steam ahead with our clemency campaign. Here's a copy of an action alert NCADP sent to our 21,000 supporters:

Dear Friends,

In recent weeks, we've been working to get the word out about Troy Davis, a Georgia man on death row, using the traditional media, blogs, radio stations, and of course, Facebook. Now, we're taking the first big step to reach out to the people who will ultimately decide Troy's fate.

Right now, we're starting up a letter writing campaign to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles. If Troy's last appeal is denied in the Supreme Court (unfortunately, a likely outcome), the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles will be making the last call on whether Troy Davis lives or dies. They have the power to pardon him, or to commute his sentence from death to life.

So, here's how it works:

1) Go to this site:

2) Copy and paste the letter into a Word document. Print it out on your personal/school/company letterhead if possible.

3) Sign at the bottom of the page, and print your name and mailing address under the signature to give your letter more weight.

4) Send your letter to:
Amnesty International
730 Peachtree St.
Suite 1060
Atlanta, GA 30308
Attn: L. Moye

Or, fax it to 404-876-2276

Amnesty International will be collecting all the letters and delivering them to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles.

So that's all you need to do!

If you have time, feel free to handwrite the letter or to write one in your own words.

And the most critical thing to increase the impact: tell ten friends about this campaign, and ask them to write too!

Thank you for all you do.

1 comment:

Simon Hatcher said...

Just to let you know the campaign for clemency has reached the South Pacific. Emails from New Zealand have been sent to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles today. Really hope it has some effect. Cheers, Simon