ATLANTA, July 16 (UPI) -- Barring judicial intervention, Troy Davis will be executed Tuesday for killing a Georgia police officer despite several witnesses recanting their testimony.
The case illustrates the dangers that have made courts less likely to overturn a death sentence, The Washington Post reported Monday.
The case against Davis, 38, withered in recent years as most of the key witnesses at his trial recanted but prosecutors say they still believe he is guilty, the Post said.
The center of Davis' difficulties is a federal law passed after the Oklahoma City bombing, the Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. The law, aimed at bomber Timothy J. McVeigh, limits the reasons for which federal courts can overturn death penalty convictions. In Davis's case, it has blocked exploration of witnesses who allegedly lied at trial, the Post reported.
Support for Davis' case extends beyond the usual groups that oppose the death penalty.
"Serious questions have been raised about Davis' guilt," former FBI director William S. Sessions wrote in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "It would be intolerable to execute an innocent man."
Davis was convicted of the 1989 killing an off-duty police officer, who was working security at a fast-food restaurant.
