Amnesty Appeals for New Davis Trial

By Odette Yousef

Atlanta, GA – Today, Amnesty International publicly appealed for a new trial for Troy Davis. Davis was convicted in 1991 of killing a Savannah police officer, but now there are doubts about his guilt.

Amnesty, which opposes the death penalty, says cases based solely on eyewitness testimony are problematic.

Take, for example, the case of Jennifer Thompson-Cannino. When she was raped in 1984, she spent that harrowing half-hour committing to memory the face of her attacker.

CANNINO: When I made the testimony in court, and put my hand on the Bible and pointed and said that's the man that raped me, I was 100% positive. I never, ever thought any differently.

But eleven years into that man's life sentence, a D-N-A test pinned someone else as her rapist.

Seven of the nine witnesses who testified at Troy Davis' trial have recanted. The victim's family, however, insists that Davis was the killer.

Last week, the Georgia Supreme Court agreed to allow Davis to argue for a new trial.