October 14, 2008 4:19 PM

Court Denies Arnold & Porter's Cert Petition in Death Penalty Case

Posted by Daphne Eviatar

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday morning denied certiorari in the death penalty appeal of Troy Anthony Davis, represented by Arnold & Porter associate Jason Ewart.

As we reported in late September, the court had issued a rare temporary stay of execution after Ewart and his colleagues argued that new evidence indicated their client was innocent of the murder charge.

In denying Arnold & Porter's petition, the court refused to take on the question of whether the death penalty is barred for an individual with a strong claim of innocence.

"We're disappointed," says Ewart, reached by phone today in his Washington, D.C., office. "What we've been trying to do for years now is to simply get a hearing, to get a court to hear the new evidence and the witnesses. That's what we'll keep trying to do." Ewart said he and his colleagues will discuss whether to ask the Supreme Court to reconsider the petition.

As The American Lawyer reported earlier, seven of nine witnesses who testified at Davis's 1989 trial for the murder of a Savannah police officer have since recanted. Davis was convicted based on the witnesses' testimony.

The court's denial of certiorari today clears the way for Georgia to set a new date for execution.

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