Troy Davis execution delayed for court decision

The execution of Troy Davis was delayed Wednesday while the US Supreme Court considered a last-minute appeal from the convicted murderer's lawyers, US media reported. Crowds outside the Jackson, Georgia prison erupted with cheers shortly after the scheduled 7:00 pm (2300 GMT) time for his lethal injection to begin upon rumors that the Supreme Court had stayed the execution. But joy turned to confusion as it emerged that there had been no reprieve and CNN and MSNBC reported that the state of Georgia was simply delaying the execution until the top US court announced its decision. The last-gasp bid to stay Davis's execution has earlier been rejected twice at state level and the five-member Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles on Tuesday turned down his bid for clemency. Attorneys for Davis had cited new ballistics evidence and alleged misleading testimony had been used to convict him over the 1989 killing of off-duty policeman Mark MacPhail. Davis has escaped three previous dates with death in a racially-charged case in America's Deep South that has dragged on for more than two decades and made him a poster child for the worldwide campaign to ban the death penalty. MacPhail's family insisted Davis was guilty and several of them were scheduled to witness him die.