News and Updates

On June 23, outside a federal courthouse in Savannah, Georgia, anti–death penalty activists began arriving at 5 AMfor a critical two-day hearing in the case of Troy Anthony Davis, a prisoner on Georgia's death row. In a highly unusual move, the US Supreme Court had ordered the evidentiary hearing, giving Davis a rare opportunity to clearly establish his innocence. The bar for establishing innocence was high—the burden of proof was on Davis.

Condemned inmate's lawyers say they will appeal; case could move directly to the U.S. Supreme Court

A federal judge in Savannah, Ga., on Tuesday ruled against Troy Davis' claims that he is innocent of the 1989 murder for which he's been sentenced to death.

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) - A federal judge says he won't reconsider testimony he refused to hear in court in the case of Georgia death row inmate Troy Anthony Davis. The judge ruled Thursday against a motion by Davis' attorneys, who argued the judge wrongly rejected a witness who was to testify she heard another man confess to killing a Savannah police officer in 1989.

A federal judge says he won't reconsider testimony he refused to hear in court in the case of Georgia death row inmate Troy Anthony Davis.

U.S. District Judge William T. Moore Jr. ruled Thursday against a motion by Davis' attorneys, who argued the judge wrongly rejected a witness who was to testify she heard another man confess to killing a Savannah police officer in 1989.

Credit: Jose M. Osorio, Chicago Tribune

After already paying hefty legal fees connected to the torture claims against former Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge, city officials are bracing to spend more on his defense rather than face even worse potential court damages from a host of related civil lawsuits.

Over the past two decades, the city has shelled out roughly $10.1 million to defend Burge, itself and other defendants in the torture scandal that led to Burge's federal conviction in June for lying about acts of torture from the 1970s and '80s.