Death Row Inmate's Guilty Verdict Questioned
COLLINS: Convicted nearly 20 years ago, Troy Davis has come within hours of being executed. Now many people argue the state of Georgia has the wrong guy on death row. Here's CNN's Gary Tuchman.</s>GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's anything but a routine question. (on camera): How scared of you are possibly being executed? (voice-over): But it's relevant. The man I'm talking to, Troy Davis, may soon be a dead man. A jury only took a few hours to decide he was guilty of murdering a police officer in Savannah, Georgia. A few more hours to decide to send him to death row. Brenda Forrest was one of the jurors.</s>BRENDA FORREST, MEMBER OF DAVIS' JURY: He was definitely guilty. All of the witnesses, they were able to, you know, to I.D. him as the person who actually did it.</s>TUCHMAN: The primary reason he was convicted, the witness testimony. The slain police officer's wife agrees. JOAN MCFAELS (ph),</s>WIFE OF SHOT OFFICER: They were just so adamant about what they saw, when they saw it.</s>TUCHMAN: But this is how the juror feels now.</s>FORREST: If I knew then what I know now, Troy Davis would not be on death row. The verdict would be</s>TUCHMAN: What she knows now is this. Almost all the prosecution star witnesses have changed their stories. Some saying police pressured them to say Troy Davis did it. Darryl Collins, one of the prosecution's witnesses, who signed a police statement implicating Troy Davis.</s>DARRYL COLLINS, PROSECUTION WITNESS AT DAVIS' TRIAL: I told him over and over I didn't see this happen. They put what they wanted to put in that statement.</s>TUCHMAN (on camera): Twenty years ago this summer, Savannah police officer Mark Macphail was working an off-duty job here. He was providing security at night for this bus station and for this Burger King restaurant that is currently out of business. There was a homeless man in this parking lot that was being harassed and intimidated. He yelled for help. The officer ran over and seconds later, Officer Mark Macphail was shot and killed. It was tragic, horrifying and chaotic. And two decades later, it all still is. The man who admitted to harassing the homeless person went to police the next day and told them he saw Troy Davis shoot the officer. Wanted posters went up all over Savannah. A reward offered to catch the so-called dangerous cop killer. Racial tensions inflamed. After the shooting, Troy Davis was in Atlanta, four hours away. His sister said scared for his life.</s>MARTINA DAVIS-CORREIA, DAVIS' SISTER: So, when my brother decided to turn himself in, they already had a "shoot to kill" order on him</s>TUCHMAN: This man, Derek Johnson, a pastor, got in touch with Davis. He volunteered to drive him back to Savannah to surrender. He says Troy Davis insisted he was innocent. The pastor, who has never told the story to a reporter before, was stunned. The D.A.'s office never interviewed him. (on camera): You're with this man for four hours, you're bringing him back to Savannah in police custody. They never interviewed you?</s>DEREK JOHNSON, PASTOR: Never talked to me.</s>TUCHMAN: Never asked you a question about your journey?</s>JOHNSON: Never.</s>TUCHMAN: What he said? If he had a weapon? If he admitted to the crime, if he did admit to the crime?</s>JOHNSON: This was the one case where nobody wanted to know, and I don't think now, looking back, that anybody cared.</s>TUCHMAN: The pastor is one now of many who believe facts be damned. Troy Davis was going to be arrested for murder. As for the Savannah police, they have always said their witness interviews were taken properly, no coercion. And prosecutors have stood by the conviction. But a number of witnesses have signed affidavits changing their original testimony. Dorothy Ferrule is one of them. A former prison inmate. She writes, "I was scared that if I didn't cooperate with the detective, he might find a way to have me locked up again. So, I told the policeman that Troy Davis was the shooter, even though the truth was that I didn't see who shot the officer." And a witness named Jeffrey Sap now writes, "The police came to talk to me and put a lot of pressure on me to say Troy did this. They made it clear the only way they would leave me alone is if I told them what they wanted to hear." And then there's this woman, who says she purposely left out testimony. (on camera): Sylvester Coals came up to you after the shooting and said, "Would you hold my gun?".</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.</s>TUCHMAN: Sylvester Coals. He is the man who admitted harassing the homeless person, the man who fingered Troy Davis, who talked to Tonya Johnson near her old home, across the street from the crime scene.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He opened the screen door, which this was not here. It was a wooden screen door. This was tore out. He opened the door and set the gun here and shut the door.</s>TUCHMAN: And you -- did you think he did the shooting?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, sir.</s>TUCHMAN: Did you ask him?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. But the way he was acting...</s>TUCHMAN: You were scared to ask him.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was scared of him. Still scared of him.</s>TUCHMAN: Today, you're still scared of him. He's still here in town?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, sir.</s>TUCHMAN: Free man?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, sir.</s>TUCHMAN: And you see him occasionally?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I see him.</s>TUCHMAN: How come you're talking to me? I admire the fact that you are.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because I don't want to see this innocent man get killed for something he didn't even do.</s>TUCHMAN: During the trial, Davis' attorneys tried to convince jurors Coals was the killer. We tried to find Sylvester "Red" Coals to give him a chance to have his say. We talked to family members, but we couldn't track him down.</s>J. MACPHAILS: I don't believe Red Coals that killed Mark at all.</s>TUCHMAN: Officer Macphail's wife, Joan, who had a 2-year-old daughter and newborn son when her husband was killed, looks at Sylvester "Red" Coals in a very different light.</s>J. MACPHAILS: Sylvester came forward, and he didn't have to. I also know that Troy ran, and he didn't have to. If he were innocent, he should have come forward.</s>TUCHMAN: What does she think about people like Tonya Johnson with their new information?</s>J. MACPHAILS: Five minutes of fame.</s>TUCHMAN: Pope Benedict has asked for his sentence to be commuted. Jimmy Carter and even death penalty supporter and former Georgia congressman Bob Bark have asked for the case to be reopened. Troy Davis has been hours away from execution three times only to have the case reviewed. It has now reached the U.S. Supreme Court. If the justices decide not to review the case, Troy Davis could go to the death chamber within days. Remember when I asked him if he thought he would be executed? Troy Davis told me, no. He has faith in the justice system. A view, ironically, shared by the widow of the murdered police officer.</s>J. MACPHAILS: We believe in this justice system. We have to believe in this justice system.</s>TUCHMAN: But she is still waiting for an execution. Gary Tuchman, CNN, Savannah, Georgia.</s>COLLINS: President Obama taking his case for health care reform to the American people. I'm Heidi Collins. CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Tony Harris.