The Supreme Court failed to rule upon Troy Davis’ most recent petition prior to adjourning today for the summer. The Court was supposed to have discussed Davis’ petition last Friday at their final conference of the spring term, with an order expected today. However, the last two sets of orders came and went without Davis’ case among them, so now the Court will presumably wait until it reconvenes in September before deciding whether to give Davis’ actual innocence claims a chance or to let the state of Georgia execute him.
I still think the odds on SCOTUS intervening on Davis’ behalf are slim to none, but at least this delay gives him a few more months on this earth and gives his legal team a few more months to strategize to try to keep him alive. Now that the Court put everything on pause for the summer, the next few months will likely see considerable pressure on new Chatham County District Attorney Larry Chisholm to find a way to either re-open the case for new evidence, or take some other action to give Davis the new trial he has so far been denied by Georgia courts.
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