BOULDER, Colo.—Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens said Thursday the high court made the correct decision in not intervening in Wednesday night’s execution of a man convicted in the 1989 killing of an off-duty police officer in Georgia.
Speaking to a group of law students, faculty and judges at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Stevens said, “I think the court had no option but to uphold the decision.”
The Supreme Court decided not to intervene in the execution of 42-year-old Troy Davis, who was convicted in 1991 of killing officer Mark MacPhail in Savannah, Ga.
Davis was pronounced dead late Wednesday after the Supreme Court rejected an 11th-hour request for a stay. The high court did not comment on its order.
Witnesses placed Davis at the scene of the crime and identified him as the shooter. But several have since recanted their accounts, and some jurors said they have changed their minds about his guilt.
The case brought international attention and protests, including one outside the Supreme Court on Wednesday night.
Stevens, a 91-year-old World War II veteran, stepped down from the high court in June 2010 after serving more than 34 years. Although appointed by a Republican, President Gerald Ford, he was widely regarded as the court’s most liberal member by the time he retired.
Perhaps most notably, Stevens had a late-career change of heart in determining there should be limits on the death penalty.
Stevens noted Thursday that since there was some degree of uncertainty in Davis’ case, one must be conscious that the penalty is so final and the risk of making a mistake exists. But he said the Supreme Court acted properly in not intervening because the case had been heard several times in lower courts.
Davis even had a rare opportunity last year when the Supreme Court gave him a chance to prove his innocence. The hearing was the first time in 50 years that justices had considered a request to grant a new trial for a death-row inmate.
The court stipulated that Davis’ attorneys must “clearly establish” his innocence—a higher bar to meet than prosecutors having to prove guilt. After the hearing judge ruled against Davis, the justices decided not to take up the case.
