MacPhail Family to Mark 20th Anniversary of Death

By Odette Yousef

Atlanta, GA – The family of Mark Allen MacPhail will mark the 20th anniversary of his death tomorrow, and they say closure is more elusive than ever. The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday effectively reopened the question of whether the man convicted of MacPhail's murder, Troy Davis, is guilty.

WABE's Odette Yousef reports.

MacPhail was killed on August 19, 1989, while working an off-duty security job at a Burger King. The Savannah police officer's family and friends will remember him by laying a wreath at the police memorial in Savannah.

Annaliese MacPhail, his mother, says the U.S. Supreme Court order is making it hard to heal:

MACPHAIL: Kind of tired of this, and kind of disappointed of the court hearing. Sounds like nobody wants to make a decision. So we've just got to hang in there and wait and see what the next thing is going to be.

Davis has been on death row since 1991. The high court ordered the federal District Court in Savannah to hear new evidence that Davis's lawyers say will prove his innocence.

But Annaliese MacPhail believes Davis is guilty, even if seven of the nine witnesses who implicated him have recanted their testimony. MacPhail says in her opinion, they were pressured to change their stories.

Odette Yousef, WABE News.