Troy Davis Executed After Stays Rejected By Courts [Updated]

[Update | Sept. 21, 8:15 p.m. PDT: Troy Davis was executed by lethal injection at 8:08 p.m. PDT after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a last-minute appeal from Davis' lawyers.

Davis was 42 years old.]

[Update | Sept. 21, 5:15 p.m. PDT: In a last-minute delay, the U.S. Supreme Court is considering an 11th-hour appeal for Troy Davis.

Davis was scheduled to be executed at 4 p.m. PDT today in Jackson, Georgia by lethal injection.

Protests and vigils are being held in cities around the globe and outside the jail where Davis was executed.]

Georgia's Board of Pardons and Paroles denied clemency to Troy Davis, one day before his scheduled execution. He was convicted of killing an off-duty police officer in 1989, but received widespread support against his execution from high-profile figures, including ex-president Jimmy Carter and former FBI director William Sessions who believe he was wrongly convicted.

[Update | Sept. 21, 4:00 p.m. PDT: The White House released a statement prior to Davis's execution stating that President Barack Obama would not weigh in on the case, because it is a state prosecution.]

His lawyers say he was the victim of mistaken identity, but prosecutors are certain they charged the right man.

[Update | Sept. 21, 9:22 a.m. PDT: Davis' lawyers appeal for a polygraph test to prove his innocence was denied by the court Wednesday morning.]

Davis' execution is scheduled for Wednesday night for killing Savannah, Georgia officer Mark MacPhail, who was shot dead while helping a homeless man who was being attacked. Georgia officials have rescheduled the execution four times in four years.

"This is a civil rights violation and a human rights violation in the worst way," said Reverend Raphael Warnock, who spoke to the board on Davis' behalf on Monday. "There's too much doubt for this execution to continue."

Kim Davis, the inmate's sister, declined to comment but he has a strong band of supporters who will fight the pardons board's decision on his behalf. They will also push Savannah prosecutors to block the execution.

"The Board members have not taken their responsibility lightly and certainly understand the emotions attached to a death penalty case," the five-person panel said in a statement.

MacPhail was shot to death in August 1989 after coming to the aid of Larry Young, a homeless man who was being attacked in a parking lot. Prosecutors say Davis was with another man who was demanding that Young give him a beer, when Davis pulled out a handgun and beat Young with it. When MacPhail arrived to help, they say Davis showed no remorse when he shot the officer.

The National Advancement for the Association of Colored People has urged President Barack Obama to intervene. Although President Obama cannot grant Davis clemency as he was convicted in a state court, he does have the authority to halt the execution by asking for a federal investigation of the crime.

Civil rights leader Reverend Al Sharpton held a vigil at the state prison in Jackson on Wednesday and has urged supporters to protest the execution.

"This is probably the most egregious injustice I have seen in a long time, to set a precedent that a man can be executed when the evidence against him has mostly been recanted," said Sharpton.

Davis' case has received widespread national attention. Some of the witnesses who helped convict Davis at his 1991 trial have even backed off their testimony or recanted.

There are others who did not testify, saying another man at the scene admitted to committing the crime.

The U.S. Supreme Court even granted Davis a hearing last year - a chance for him to prove his innocence. But in that June 2010 hearing, Davis could not convince the federal judge to grant him a new trial and the Supreme Court did not review his case.

MacPhail's relatives say they have finally found some peace.

"We wanted to get it over with, and for him to get his punishment," said Anneliese MacPhail, the victim's mother.

Davis' legal team fired back saying, "The death penalty should not be exercised where doubt exists about the guilt of the accused. The Board did not follow that standard here."

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