SAVANNAH, Ga., Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Troy Davis' supporters promised to prove his innocence at his funeral Saturday, 10 days after he was executed for murdering a Georgia police officer.
Benjamin Jealous, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, was one of the speakers during the 4-hour service at Jonesville Baptist Church in Savannah, CNN reported. About 1,000 people packed into the church.
"We're going to keep on fighting until his name is finally cleared and Georgia admits what it has done," Jealous said. "We're going to keep on fighting until the death penalty is abolished and this can never be done to anyone else."
Davis, 42, spent most of his adult life on death row. He always denied shooting Mark MacPhail, a Savannah police officer killed in 1989 outside the Burger King where he was moonlighting as a security guard.
Jason Ewart, a recent law school graduate when he began representing Davis seven years ago, said his client became an older brother to him. De'Jaun Davis-Correia, who knew his uncle as a man imprisoned 300 miles away, remembered how Davis would help him by phone with his homework.
The last speaker was Davis himself in a message recorded shortly before his execution.
"Everything we do today will clear the way for a better tomorrow," he said. "We can correct all the wrongs if we band together. Don't give up the fight."
Only family and close friends attended Davis' burial.
