US death row man claims innocence, wants new trial

ATLANTA (Reuters) - A Georgia death row inmate who came within 24 hours of execution in July is a victim of mistaken identity and should be granted a fresh trial, his lawyers told the state's top court Tuesday in a case that has grabbed international attention.

Troy Davis was convicted of the 1989 killing of police officer Mark McPhail near a Burger King in Savannah, Georgia, on the evidence of nine witnesses. Seven have since recanted their evidence, said Davis' attorney, Jason Ewart.

Four witnesses also now say another man, Sylvester Coles, shot McPhail, Ewart told the court. Three of those witnesses say Coles has confessed to the murder.

Coles was one of the original nine witnesses who implicated Davis.

A court in Georgia's Chatham County ruled against granting Davis a fresh trial on the grounds that the new evidence could not be introduced but his lawyers appealed to the state's supreme court to reverse that decision.

"This is a case of mistaken identity. This is a case of reasonable doubt and innocence," Ewart told the court, arguing that the witnesses changed testimony amounted to "credible recantations".

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu and Helen Prejean, who wrote the book "Dead Man Walking," have taken an interest in the case and say Davis could be innocent.

Government lawyers argued against a new trial on the grounds that the defense had not met the legal standards to introduce new evidence, in part because it was presented to a court only nine days before the scheduled execution date.

They also argued that the defense had mounted a media campaign on Davis' behalf that disregarded the facts.

"Left to them (outside commentators), a man fairly convicted by a jury of murdering a policeman would go free ... the honest work of ... a jury would be trivialized ... and an innocent man (Coles) would be condemned on far less evidence," district attorney Spencer Lawton told the court.

No immediate ruling was expected in the case.

(Editing by Michael Christie and Eric Walsh)