Stay of execution!

Great news – at least, for now – fresh off the wires from Amnesty USA Blogs:

"The Supreme Court of the United States has blocked the scheduled execution of Troy Davis!

The Court issued an order staying the execution until Monday to give itself time to consider his certiorari appeal.  Should the Court deny the petition for the writ of certiorari, the stay will terminate automatically.  If the petition is granted, the stay will terminate in accordance with the Court's decision.  

On behalf of Amnesty International and the Death Penalty Abolition Campaign, thank you for all your hard work.  Let's keep fighting to prevent this execution!"

In terms of the technicalities of the legal processes involved, a certiorari (according to wikipedia) "is the writ that an appellate court issues to a lower court in order to review its judgment for legal error and review, where no appeal is available as a matter of right."

Importantly, given the wikipedia entry also notes that the "great majority of cases brought to the Supreme Court are denied certiorari (approximately 7,500 petitions are presented each year, but just 80 to 150 are typically granted)", there is a high chnace that the writ will be denied, so we should not let up in our efforts meanwhile to direct our appeals to the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles.

If you haven't already taken action to help save this man's life, visit Niluccio's blog entry from the other day which has more background to the case and a link to an Amnesty online action. Amnesty USA also has an online action here.