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City/Region
Ga. judge rejects new evidence claims, refuses
to block execution of man in officer’s death
By RUSS BYNUM
Associated Press Wi
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) - A
judge has denied a bid to halt the
execution scheduled this coming
week of convicted cop killer Troy
Anthony Davis, refusing to hear
evidence the defense says would
show he is innocent and identify
another man as the killer.
Defense attorneys said they
would appeal to the Georgia
Charlotte mayor stands by comments on black youth
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Charlotte Mayor
Pat McCrory said he stands by his comments about
black youth despite a call from the local NAACP w
apologize.
McCrory said he commented accurately when he
wrote that “too many of our youth, primarily African
American, are imitating and/or participating in a
Wtypcofdms,atdmck,bd\aviormdnion.'
His remarks came in a July 5 letter to the city man
presence the night before, when 169 people —mostly
black — were arrested in uptown.
Ken White, president of the Charlotte Branch of
the NAACR said Wednesday that the mayor's com
ments painted “African American youth with a broad
swath that cuts deep in many of our communities.”
“Everyone is aware that black people have been
saddled with many negative stereotypes,” White said.
Marchers rally to support Genarlow Wilson
DOUGLASVILLE, Ga. (AP) -
Under the threat of a thunderstorm,
about 2,000 marchers took to the
streets in Douflas County on Saturday
in support of a man being held in
prison for having consensual oral sex
when he was a teenager, despite a
jufll%‘e’s ruling that he should be freed.
e egmnp. led by the NAACP,
marched from Douglasville High
School to the county courthouse,
chanting “Free Genarlow Wilson” and
.|
Troy Anthony Davis-
“Mr. McCrory's comments reinforce that stereotype
especially to those indlined to hold on to racist think
ing and behavior.”
White said the mayor’s letter would have been fine
had he not singled out black youth.
McCrory said he understands his remarks offend
than 60 percent of Chardotte's gang members are
black, McCrory said he wouldnt write the letter any
differendy roday.
“My role as mayor is to communicate what I con
sider to be concems and in doing so you have to step
on some toes,” he said.
300 extra officers o the uptown area during this
year's Fourth of July celebrations, trying to curb dis
turbances that marred events the previous two years.
singing civil rights songs. ‘
Wilson was convicted of aggravated
child molestation for having oral sex
with a 15-year-old girl when he was
17. He has served more than two years
of a mandatory 10-year sentence.
Attorney General Thurbert Baker is
appealing a Monroe County Superior
Court judge's decision to reduce
Wilson'’s felony conviction to a misde
meanor and free him from prison.
Baker said the judge overstepped his
AUGUSTA FOCUS
Supreme Court.
Davis, 38, is to die by injection
at 7 p.m. Tuesday for the 1989
killing of Savannah police officer
Mark MacPhail, who was shot
while moonlighting as a security
guard.
Davis insists he’s innocent. His
lawyers filed a motion last
Monday seeking a new trial based
on affidavits by witnesses from
Davis' 1991 trial who now say
they lied or exaggerated when
authority when he granted Wilson's
motion last month.
Wilson’s attorney is arguing his 10-
year prison sentence is cruel and
unusual punishment.
Speakers denounced Baker and
Douglas County District Attorney
David McDade, whose office convict
ed Wilson. The U.S. attorney’s office
said McDade violated federal law when
he distributed a videotape from a rape
and child molestation case to legisla-
they testified Davis shot the offi
cer.
Davis lawyers also say other
witnesses have signed affidavits
naming another man, Sylvester
“Red” Coles, as MacPhail's killer.
“The new evidence does not
merely impeach state witnesses,
but destroys the prosecution’s case
and establishes Red Coles’ guilt,”
defense lawyer Thomas Dunn
wrote, saying “a grave injustice
may result from the execution of
N.C. black universities face more changes
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -
Despite an influx of money
and students, North
Carolina’s historically black
public universities still face
weak graduation rates and
several financial problems.
State lawmakers and vot
ers have allocated nearly
half a billion dollars since
2000 to build new buildings
at the five schools and to
beef up recruiting and mar
keting operations. The
efforts helped boost the
number of students at the
universities by about
12,000, or 52 percent, since
July 19, 2007
Troy Davis.” :
The Associated Press has been
unable to locate Coles for com
ment, and another Davis attorney,
Jason Ewart, dedined to say if he
knows Coles' whereabouts.
Superior Court Judge Penny
Haas Freesemann said in her rul
ing Friday that Georgia courts
generally do not favor granting
retrials in such cases, and that the
See Execution, page 16
the beginning of the decade.
Yet the universities -
Elizabeth City State,
Fayetteville State, North
Carolina A&T State, North
Carolina Central and
Winston-Salem State -
have graduation rates lag
ging behind the overall
University of North
Carolina system. Fewer than
half of the students at the
historically black schools
make it to graduation with
in six years, compared to a
UNC system rate of 59 per-
Sec Changes, page 16
tors and journalists.
The law Wilson was convicted of
breaking made consensual oral sex
between teens a felony. It has since
been changed by the Georgia
Legislature, but the state’s courts have
held that the new law cannot be
applied retroactively.
Wilson’s case will be heard by the
Georgia Supreme Court on July 20.
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