When the U.S. Supreme Court gave a reprieve to a Georgia inmate less than two hours before his scheduled execution Tuesday, the relief was felt around the world and at the UW Law School, where Wisconsin Innocence Project co-director Keith Findley played a key role.

An Associated Press article with contributions from the Wisconsin State Journal gives an account of Findley’s amicus brief in the case of Troy Davis, whose stay of execution was granted by the U.S. Supreme Court on September 23.

Findley said the international Innocence Network, of which he is a board member, got involved in the Davis case because of the imminence of Davis's execution and because many of the hallmarks of wrongful convictions — flawed eyewitness testimony, coercive police tactics and unreliable jailhouse informants — were present.

"This is a significant case because it's a capital case and because ... it raises so many of the red flags of wrongful convictions," Findley said. "It's just a strong case of apparent wrongful conviction and powerful new evidence of innocence."

Family members and advocates of the 39-year-old Georgia man have long urged he deserves a new trial as seven of the nine witnesses who helped put him on death row have recanted their testimony. His supporters, gathered outside the Jackson, Georgia, prison Tuesday, erupted into cheers and tears when the stay was announced.

To read the full article from the September 25 Wisconsin State Journal, see http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/index.php?ntid=306394 .

Submitted by on September 25, 2008

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