Troy Davis Execution: Martina Correria Gets Out Of Wheelchair To 'Stand For My Brother' (VIDEO)

Martina Correria, Troy Davis's sister, made an emotional, symbolic statement before he was scheduled to be executed Wednesday in Georgia.

The Associated Press reported that Correia, who is fighting breast cancer and uses a wheelchair, told the crowd and media gathered:

"I'm here to tell you that I'm going to stand here for my brother today."

Correia, a trained nurse who served in the 1991 Gulf War, then stood up on stage with the help of others around her.

Troy Davis was convicted of murdering an off-duty police officer in 1989. He's maintained his innocence.

Davis' execution was delayed Wednesday as Georgia officials awaited a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court. Davis filed a last-minute plea, according to the AP.

Those who have called for the execution to be halted include Pope Benedict XVI, former President Jimmy Carter, the NAACP and Amnesty International.

Savannah Morning News reports that the family of victim Mark MacPhail said they don't hold anything against protesters, whom they see as being simply against the death penalty but uninformed about the case.

The victim's mother, Annalise MacPhail, told the AP she was a "nervous wreck" before Davis' scheduled execution. She said she believes that he's had more than enough chances to clear his name.

Davis' sister implored politicians to take action against the "atrocities that are happening in our state in the prison and jail system."

She ended her speech by saying, "I'm Troy Davis; you are Troy Davis; we are Troy Davis."

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Comments

[christina444]

10:08 PM on 09/22/2011

He never had a retrial... why does everyone insist that he had 20 years to make his case??? He had 20 years of torture and was repeatedly denied the right to prove his innocence...which by law he should never have to do. Let's look at the facts... State of Georgia/police officer killed/black man charged... how else would this play out?????????

[ldavis1147]

06:20 PM on 09/22/2011

I surely don't know if this man was guilty or innocent. . . And there in lies the problem. The doubt that surrounds this conviction deserved another look. Our justice system is unbalanced where mistakes get made. . .a nation as great as America deserves a vigilant effort to protect it's reputation. Executing persons where doubt abounds around their guilt does not provide that protection nor secure our reputation and claim of justice for all to the rest of the world.

[Havana Thinks]

09:46 PM on 09/22/2011

Well said, ldavis, Our humanity and justice, itself is thwarted when the wrong man is put to death. I, also, do not know if Mr. Davis is guilty; but believe that the death penalty should be eliminated for all. The maximum penalty for those found guilty = life in prison w/out parole.

[garyk491]

03:55 PM on 09/22/2011

The jury said he was guilty 20 years ago, now he paid for his crime........

[jbattle508]

03:13 PM on 09/22/2011

If Troy Davis was innocent, why was blood of Mark McPhail, the policeman from Savannah on his shirt when he was arrested in Atlanta? Why did he run and hide? Troy Davis was a thug but his family wants to make him an angel.

[ivoteabo]

02:25 PM on 09/22/2011

I guess I am a bleeding heart ,but for this woman that served her country and now has cancer, I would have let this man lived just for her love for him! I know is much sound crazy but I dont see how his death will help anyone but his life may have helped her!

[Sallie Fajardo]

02:23 PM on 09/22/2011

If he was present when the victim was killed then he was as guilty as the killer is.

[MsMaze1]

02:08 PM on 09/22/2011

Anthony Graves story was similar, charges was dismissed after 16 years
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/innocence-cases-2004-present#140

[MsMaze1]

01:46 PM on 09/22/2011

Very interesting read.
http://www.kavitachhibber.com/main/main.jsp?id=troy_davis_story

God is the ultimate judge and jury......

[dsilverman12]

01:32 PM on 09/22/2011

I'm so tired of everyone in jail saying they "didn't do it" -- pathetic!

[koolblaque29]

01:37 PM on 09/22/2011

Better hope it never happens to you or a family member.
How insensitive and foolish for someone to sit there and think that imperfect Human Beings, in a court room, now all of a sudden, get it right, all the time, every time.
Are you really that ignorant?

[nvdesertdreamer]

01:50 PM on 09/22/2011

Are you really that ignorant to think that after 5 trials, 29 judges and they still found him guilty?

[sweetjudi1]

02:05 PM on 09/22/2011

great response

[nomadic]

01:47 PM on 09/22/2011

That's not even close to how pathetic your assertion is based upon not looking at the evidence and being another white person who though disproportionate more likely to commit a crime and yet least likely to do the time. What's even more pathetic is the blanket assumption that all convictions are unbiased events that are the result of fair system even though every day "slam dunk" convictions are overturned due to new evidence or evidence that was denied to jurors. I don't envy police, prosecutors or those they prosecute. They're all victims of the same flawed system and the politics that drive them.

[garyk491]

03:59 PM on 09/22/2011

If he had been a white man non of you cry babies would have said a single word! He was guilty, he's paid for taking the life of a police officer.

[oneofthoseconservatives3]

01:31 PM on 09/22/2011

All of you bleeding heart Liberals commenting on how unfare life is to a murderer, but you will turn around in a heartbeat and end the life of an innocent child!!!!

[koolblaque29]

01:40 PM on 09/22/2011

If you have evidence of this man's guilt, let's hear it.
Otherwise shutup up!
For as you judge, so shall The Lord judge you!
Now Conserve that!

[oneofthoseconservatives3]

02:05 PM on 09/22/2011

I noticed you didn't reply to the second part of my post! Are babies guilty of something, that you all support killing? Oh and yes there was a tremendous amount of evendence of this being his second murder... Not first! Sharpton left that out didn't he?

[rbrossrocks]

07:48 AM on 09/24/2011

Heres your evidence: cops blood on his shirt and shorts. Shell casings at the scene matched his gun. casings were also found at a shooting scene early that day which your angle was also convicted of because balistics say they both came from his gun. 34 witnesses some his own friends saw him shoot the cop. seven of the 34 recanted by saying the could not be certain that it was him. Never did they say it was not him. Now if you cannot prove he did not do it YOU shut up!

[GirlFriday123]

01:45 PM on 09/22/2011

Bob Barr is a liberal? Pope Benedict is a Liberal? William Sessions is a liberal?

All of these people spoke out against this execution because they were too concerned about the evidence.

[lislexowen]

01:15 PM on 09/22/2011

I hope he didn't go to God with a lie on his lips.

[intelsec]

01:11 PM on 09/22/2011

Bad decision to execute, you cant take that back. I feel for the officers family, but dont think this will give them closure. So many facts and witness's were off the mark and took back their testimony, it makes you wonder if the real killer is still out there. I would not have voted to execute, this case warrented more investigation.

[lsfs88]

03:20 PM on 09/22/2011

Well said intelsec, at this point no one knows who the real killer is or whether it truly was Davis. The doubt has been presented in this case and the family of the officer should truly wonder if the right man was convicted for the murder of their loved one. I feel for them because they lost a loved one but they too had a say in his clemency yet they fought it with no regard for wanting to find out if he was guilty without a doubt. Several of the jurors on that trial said if they had been presented additional information they would not have voted the way they did. Makes you wonder about our judicial system.

[Kathy Liverman]

01:09 PM on 09/22/2011

Whether this man was innocent or guilty doesn't erase the fact that when you decide to kill someone, it kills the whole family. There is never any closure for either side and the pain last a lifetime.

[Janice James]

01:00 PM on 09/22/2011

My EX IS ON DEATH ROW, INNOCENT of COP KILLING, on the row for over 30 years, he had his case over turned penalty TWICE, and crooked judge was molesting his OWN DAUGHTER as he manipulated the jury in and out the court room so they would never hear the innocence evidence. My ex lost his family, father died while he could not go comfort him, mother ran off could not face all the HATRED FOR PRISONER'S FAMILIES. Folks, this "murder by state" must end, we can keep killers in prison for life time, CHEAPER THAN EXCUTIONS AND DP LAWYERS COST TAX PAYERS, AND LAW ENFORCEMENT KNOW NOW, IT DOES NOTHING TO STOP CRIME IN AMERICA. WE ARE LIKE IRAN IN HAVING EXECUTIONS, THINK PLEASE, THERE ARE INNOCENT PEOPLE ON OUR DEATH ROWS, NO ONE IS PERFACT AND THE LAW FAILS IN THIS. PLEASE RETHINK IT, LIFE IN PRISON IS NO LIFE AT ALL, said by a death row inmate, my ex husband. Thank you. please vote it out.

[Joapalookatoo]

12:59 PM on 09/22/2011

with the incredible outcry over his execution I wonder if the familiy's position isn't the salient point:
"the family of victim Mark MacPhail said they don't hold anything against protesters, whom they see as being simply against the death penalty but uninformed about the case." I'll have to review what calls this into question. It wouldn't seem logical to have such an outcry because witnesses changed their minds DECADES later. I'll offset 'being uninformed' by reading further but if years of appeals didn't offset the original judgment, the outcry seems to be about hardliner amnesty and family arguments alone (sorry for both family's loss).

[nomadic]

02:12 PM on 09/22/2011

You're making the assumption that the system works and one DNA case after another PROVES it doesn't. DNA testing is still not mandatory in all states for the simple reason that it exposes how broken the system is. I'm a white guy, well at least i look like one, and all my white friends are big death penalty advocates without ever noting the disproportionate number of black men ending up on death row even when statistics and facts prove that vastly more white people murder and yet have less chance of ending up on death row based entirely upon skin color and financial access. This is not a criminal justice system and the proof is we're now passing the duties of penal management more and more to private firms to separate the abuses in prisons from staining the hands of state and federal officialdom. We've seen considerable dips in violent crime over the last few years- as well as property crime. So why are more people being convicted, and you can't say they worked on Wall Street or were crooked investment bankers. When someone bothers to pursue and actually convict them they DO go to those day camp prisons, the ones all non violent offenders should go too. Petty crooks are even more deserving than the financial crooks.