Moments before state-administered lethal drugs ended his life, the man convicted of killing a Savannah police officer proclaimed his innocence from a gurney and asked for mercy for those about to kill him.
Troy Davis, who was pronounced dead at 11:08 p.m., also asked friends and supporters to continue working to learn the truth of officer Mark Allen MacPhail's death.
Corrections officials inserted the needle into Davis at 10:57 p.m., according to a timeline published by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Davis' application for a stay, allowing the execution to proceed.
Earlier in the day, Georgia authorities denied Davis' request to take a polygraph test. On Tuesday, Georgia's Board of Pardons and Paroles denied clemency for Davis.
Davis was convicted in 1991 of the 1989 murder of officer MacPhail. "I'd like to have some peace, now that it's over," MacPhail's mother Anneliese told CNN after the execution.
Georgia was scheduled to use the sedative pentobarbital in the cocktail of lethal drugs given to Davis. In April, the state shifted to the drug, after federal regulators seized its stockpile of sodium thiopental.
Georgia purchased the sedative from Danish pharmaceutical company Lundbeck, which manufactures the drug in the U.S. under the tradename Nembutal. Lundbeck now demands that its U.S. distributors sign an agreement stating that they will not make pentobarbital available for prisons using it for lethal injections, reports The Guardian.
Sources: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Guardian.
Related:
Ga. Authorities Reject Troy Davis' Polygraph Request
Parole Board Denies Clemency for Ga. Cop Killer