The Supreme Court unanimously rejected Troy Davis’ appeal. Davis was killed at 11:0PM EST  in Georgia. Troy Davis’ case was long and complicated. Davis has been scheduled for execution four times, appealing the decision successfully each time.

Although Davis was scheduled to die at 7 PM EST on Wednesday night, a last minute plea by Davis’ lawyers to the Supreme Court, caused a delay in his execution while the Supreme Court weighed in on the controversial case. Troy Davis reportedly was strapped to a gurney waiting to die for four hours.

Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the jail while dozens of riot police officers barricaded the jail and arrested those that crossed the line. During the lengthy delay, Davis’ family remained quiet outside the jail. The slain officer’s family waited inside to watch the execution. Laura Moye, an organizer with Amnesty International, was on prison grounds all evening long.

“We are just profoundly saddened and upset,” Moye said. A prayer circle had formed around the Davis family earlier in the evening and remained through the execution. “We knew that it was a long shot,” Moye said. “Troy Davis has always had difficult odds. He’s faced executions three times…We always held on to our hope.

We got this far by believing in the power of human rights. Now it seems there’s nothing that can intervene to stop this execution.” “People are trying to rally around this family. Everybody wants to be there standing in support of the Davis family,” Moye explained. “A lot of people standing in disbelief.”

All around the world, protesters held demonstrations. Residents around the world tweeted, “Dear Georgia,” reminding the state that the world is watching their decision. Earlier in the day, many people weighed in on the impending execution. Moye said that the support Davis’ case has received from the public has been very moving. ”What is a miracle in this case is so many people have raised their voices,” Moye said.

Troy Davis was convicted of the 1989 killing of an off-duty police officer, primarily of witness testimony. Since that time, Davis has maintained his innocence and the majority of witnesses have recanted their testimony. A group of former death row wardens wrote to Georgia authorities calling on them to halt the death sentence due to doubts about Davis’ guilt.

Among the group was the former warden in charge of the Georgia death chamber. ”While most of the prisoners whose executions we participated in accepted responsibility for the crimes for which they were punished, some of us have also executed prisoners who maintained their innocence until the end,” the wardens wrote in a press release.

“It is those cases that are most haunting to an executioner.” Meanwhile, the family of the murdered officer and the case’s original prosecutor have argued strenuously for Davis’s execution, and have asserted that there is no doubt that he is guilty of the murder.

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An execution date was set for Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis. Davis, 42, is scheduled to be executed on September 21. This is the fourth time an execution date has been set for Davis. Amnesty International has renewed the call for clemency amid news of the new execution date.

Davis “could very well be innocent,” said Laura Moye, the head of Amnesty’s Death Penalty Abolition Campaign. “It’s difficult to believe that a system of justice could be so terribly flawed.” Davis was convicted for killing an off-duty police officer in 1989. Davis has maintained his innocence throughout the twenty years he has remained on death row.

Many celebrities, including Susan Sarandan, Desmond Tutu, Jesse Jackson and the Pope, have asked Georgia to give Davis a new trial. No DNA evidence was used and the conviction was based primarily on eyewitness testimony. Since the conviction, seven out of nine eyewitnesses have since recanted their stories. However, Davis has been unable to get a new trial.

In March, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Davis’ request that his execution be delayed in order to gain more time to prove his “actual innocence.” Upon reviewing Davis’ claims of innocence, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia found last year that Davis “vastly overstates the value of his evidence of innocence.”

“Some of the evidence is not credible and would be disregarded by a reasonable juror,” Judge William T. Moore wrote in a 172-page opinion. “Other evidence that Mr. Davis brought forward is too general to provide anything more than smoke and mirrors,” the court found.

Families react to the news on Wednesday of the new execution date. “The family’s still feeling optimistic. We’ve been down this road countless times to where you know executing date, clemency hearing, and then at the execution things get changed so we’re still playing very cautious,” Mark MacPhail Jr., son of the murdered police officer, told local news on Wednesday.

Davis’ sister Martina Correia has always been his biggest advocate. ”I’m very disappointed in Georgia because there’s still doubt, but I’m holding the parole board to their standard that when there’s doubt that they won’t execute,” Correia stated. A clemency hearing has been set for September 19^th.

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