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Officer Mark Allen MacPhail. (press photo release)
With the twentieth anniversary of the murder of Officer Mark Allen MacPhail less than two weeks away—August 19, 2009––and as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares once it reconvenes to rule on whether or not death row inmate Troy Anthony Davis will go on trial a second time for MacPhail’s murder, a number of activities have been scheduled to commemorate both events.
Among those activities is a series of rallies planned by the MacPhail family and sponsored by a group describing itself as “Georgians for Justice.” The rallies are scheduled to take place at 10:30 a.m. on each of the following dates: August 19 at the Savannah Court House on the Montgomery Street Side; August 29 in MacPhail’s hometown of Columbus, Georgia, at the Columbus Government Center; and September 24 in Atlanta at the State Capital. Given members of the MacPhail family’s public insistence that Davis is guilty and that his curtailed execution has robbed them of closure and justice, the rallies are likely to be very emotional.
Death of an Officer
Born July 7, 1962, police officer MacPhail was 27 years old when he was working off duty as a security guard at Burger King and responded in 1989 to a call for help from a homeless man under attack. Accounts of precisely what happened after MacPhail responded to that call are facts that remain in dispute between the Georgia legal system and witnesses who reported one version of the events shortly after they occurred, and then different versions years later in affidavits renouncing their original statements.
What is indisputable is MacPhail’s death itself along with the fact that he left behind a family as dedicated to preserving his memory as the Davis family has proven to be dedicated to preserving the inmate’s life. At the time of MacPhail’s death: he had a mother, Annelliese MacPhail; a wife named Joan, who has since shared her story with viewers of CNN; a year-and-a-half-old daughter named Madison; and a son, Mark Allen MacPhail, Jr., only seven weeks old. MacPhail Jr., now twenty, over the past year has grown into only one of his family’s principle spokespersons. In a statement issued by the officer’s sister, Kathy MacPhail McQuary, the issues of the case went beyond her family’s pain to touch on the controversial subject of the public and gun control:
“Police officers offer a sense of relief and control and comfort for the general public,” stated McQuary. “Without this control, we will all be carrying guns in an effort to defend ourselves from predators that have NO respect for us or our property.”
For his part, Mark MacPhail, Jr., has repeatedly echoed his family’s call for “justice.” Speaking in an interview with WSAV’s Tina Tyus-Shaw, he went so far as to encourage Chatham County District Attorney Larry Chisolm to act more aggressively in the case and questioned, “Who does he stand up for? Does he stand up for Police? The guys who put their lives on the line every time they wear that badge, uphold our laws, or the criminals who try to break those laws?”
It might surprise many to learn that Troy Anthony Davis while maintaining his own innocence has expressed a profound sense of empathy and compassion for the MacPhails:
“It’s been a struggle for me and my family, as well as the victim’s family, whom I sympathize with sincerely because they have been cheated out of justice just as I have. They deserve justice more than anyone deserves justice,” said Davis speaking from death row. He further added, “I have faith that God will eventually intervene and set things right… You should never be able to convict a man or even indict a person, man or woman, without any physical evidence none whatsoever. I would never take another human being’s life and his killer’s still out there. My family is in mourning, the victim’s family is in mourning. And the truth is still locked in because I didn’t get justice.”
The closer the time approaches for the United States Supreme Court to rule on whether or not Davis will receive a second trial to re-determine his guilt or finally confirm his innocence, the more the word “justice” takes on amplified meaning for all watching to see what happens next in this extraordinary case.
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Troy Anthony Davis (press release photo)
Thank you for reading this third installment of Savannah Talks Troy Davis, an ongoing series examining the developments and implications of the Troy Anthony Davis/Mark Allen MacPhail case. For Part 4 Please Click Here
Aberjhani is the African American Art Examiner and the author (or co-author) of eight books including The Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance and Christmas When Music Almost Killed the World.
Savannah Talks Troy Anthony Davis Number 1
Savannah Talks Troy Anthony Davis Number 2
Mrs. Joan MacPhail on CNN
Mark Allen MacPhail Jr. on WSAV
Troy Anthony Davis Speaks from Death Row
Comments
One of my primary objectives with this series is to cover as much ground and exercise as balanced a perspective as possible. Hence, the above article and others to come that will explore the many different aspects of the Troy Anthony Davis/Mark Allen MacPhail case.
Aberjhani
I believe, if the U.S. Supreme Court grants a Writ of Certiorari in Troy's case, it will be remanded to a Federal District Court for an evidentiary hearing. Pending that, a new trial could result. So many people don't understand how th AEDPA (Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act) has short-circuited justice by eviscerating Habeas Corpus in Death Penalty cases, where it is most crucial. I sympathize with the slain police officer's family, but I refuse to have Troy Davis's innocent blood on my hands!
I truly hope Joel that no one wants to see anybody's innocent blood on their hands, which is one reason I have started this series. Thanks tremendously for the commentary on the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act.
I find it distressing you assume there is absolutely NO CHANCE of Davis being guilty. I agree as much as anyone he deserves the right to prove his innocence. However, with your comment that follows seems to be pro-innocence despite the trial that has ALREADY TAKEN PLACE.
"to re-determine his guilt or finally confirm his innocence"
Are you so close minded as to think because of all the publicity that he MUST be innocent? I believe that everyone deserves their right to a fair trial. However, I do not think ANYONE has the right to stall while on death row so that companies like Amnesty International can serve their hidden agendas.
Perhaps instead of being coerced by the police to give the original testimonies, the witnesses are now being coerced, or worse, by companies with hidden agendas to prove a point to our legal system. A point that Justice is not served through law anymore, but instead on the ignorance of the citizens who hear nothing other than what the media preaches.
Thank you Outside for your comments. The phrase "to re-determine his guilt or finally confirm his innocence" actually leaves open the possibility for one or the other. This article is one of the few presented prior to the anniversary of Officer MacPhail's murder to focus on his family's perspective regarding the case. The Savannah Talks Troy Anthony Davis series from the beginning has encouraged dialog and exploration to further reveal and confirm the truth of the matter--whatever that truth may turn out to be.
Aberjhani
The murder of this officer was terrible but it is not the good person who is going to pay of her life this murder. Mr. Mac Fail's family will have all its life 2 deaths on the heart, Marc's death and Troy’s death, while the murderer will live quiet thanks to them. If you kill a man innocent God will forgive you ? Two innocent men will have died and the sorrow of both families will not calm down with the weight of these deaths.
They Kill Him...Troy is now in a great place... Glad I'm not a Americain cause I believe in a certain way all Americans have blood on their hands
If Officer MacPhail was wounded instead of being killed, you would know the real truth. That is what is wrong in this case. Assumption of something that cannot be made the truth. Lies from people and the sure efforts of the prosecution actually lead Mr. Davis travel to his death. The many years he was on death row, no one sought to find the real truth about this case. One person was finger and that was it. No gun power on Mr. Davis, nohting to say he was there....and yet, he went on to his death for something he did not do; and noone in position listen to him. This will not solve officer MacPhail case nor bring justice to his death. The story is just begun! At the Magnolia Memorial Gardens, high above the hills, overlooking the grave where Mr. Davis will be buried, there will be this long shallow or mist lingering from whence body of Mr. Davis will be lower into his final resting place. He will seek for all to see that he died for the sake of being unjustice accused of a crime he was not responsible for!
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