in the state of georgia, officials spent the day today planning to kill one of georgia's prisoners. troy davis wasolice officer named mark macphail in 1989. he was trying to stop a beating in a parking lot in savannah, georgia, when he was shot twice, once in the heart and once in the face. troy davis insists he was innocent of the crime. on three prior occasions the state of georgia set troy davis' execution date and on each execution granted stays of execution. this time, the fourth time, as the hours ticked away, thousands of protesters gathered to protest the execution outside the prison in which troy davis is held and in cities around the world. they've been demonstrating for weeks against this execution. they were joined in opposing it by rather famous people. some of those famous people names like you might expect, pope benedict because the catholic church opposes the death penalty on principle. others were something of a surprise. big sessions, appointed fbi director by president ronald reagan. this week the georgia board of pardons and parole denied troy davis clemency and

of the georgia diagnostic and classification prison where he oversaw executions for the state of georgia. mr. ault, thanks for your time tonight. please describe what happened today from your understanding of how this unusually plays out. >> well, as the commissioner of corrections i was involved in several executions. and it's one thing to theory rise about it or talk about it abstractly. but when you're in the death chamber ordering an execution, and even if you in your mind if you're a man of conscience actually believe somebody is guilty, it's still a very premeditated murder. i mean, it's scripted and rehearsed. it's about as premeditated as any killing that you can do. and then when there is doubt, either way it exact a heavy toll on those who are charged by the state to execute somebody. this hit close to home, since in the 70s i was a warden there. and in the 90s i was asked as commissioner of corrections to execute several people. several of my colleagues who have been involved in execution other states feel as i do. now i'm a dean of a college of justice, so that's ironic. but

it was delayed while the state of georgia awaited the ruling from the court. davis was convicted in 1991 of killing off-duty police officer mark macphail. his execution had been stayed three separate time over the past 20 years. since that time, seven of the nine witnesses against davis have reportedly recanted their testimony. some jurors have publicly changed their minds about his guilt. others claim a man who was with davis that night told people he is the actual gunman. joining us, coming up, will be rachel maddow, ben jealous, jeremy 68 hiskahil, barry schec. what is it like out there now? >> the atmosphere is very thick with tension. a lot of anticipation. i just spoke with a spokeswoman from the department of corrections here in georgia. she says they're more than midway through the execution at this point. she believes within ten minutes she'll get some word of the official details of this execution. this execution has already begun. before she mentioned it would take 20 to 30 minutes, in the previous hour to get everybody in place for this execution t

they lost earlier tonight, the court, the lower court here in georgia, and the supreme court of georgia, both denied it, and then the attorneys said, now we're going to the u.s. supreme court, as most people predicted. and we're just waiting now, candy, to see what the high court is going to do. in fact win keep looking at my blackberry here, to the see what is going on, just in case there's something that comes through, but we're watching this very closely. not only at the supreme court, but here as well, to see if, perhaps, there is something about these emotions that people may not be able to control in these final moments. candy? >> cnn's david mattingly in jackson, georgia, for us tonight. david, i know we will be back to you later. cnn, of course, following this execution tonight in georgia and another in texas. we will be back for any big developments in either place. >>> there are also major developments tonight in the push for palestinian membership in the united nations. the palestinians may have blinked. just hours before palestinian president mahmoud abbas met with president

from the latest on georgia. nbc news correspondent than joins me from outside the prison in jackson, georgia. >> ed, i can tell you just now that first van of witnesses pulled up, i believe right now, these are the immediate witnesses. they're coming up to the podium to talk about what they witnessed. >> let's listen to them at the podium right now. >> he wanted to talk to the macphail family and said that despite the situation you're in, he was not the one who did it. he said that he was not person pli li responsible for what happened that night, that he did not have a gun. he said to the family that was sorry for their loss but also said that he did not take their son, father, brother. he said to them, to dig deeper into this case, to find out the truth. he asked his family, his family and friends, to keep praying, to keep working and keep the faith. then he said to the prison staff, the ones he said who are going to take my life, he said to them, may god have plersy on your souls and his last words were to th

he threatened her and she moved her entire family out of savannah, georgia. she had approached the media before but never talked about the daily terror she lives in and finally done that hoping that will give her a greater sense of protection if the world knows her life is threatened everyday. you don't see that in- >> ben, that seems like a terrible injustice there would be no one in our criminal justice system that would follow up and take action concerning the woman you're talking about. this is -- sounds to me like a horrible failure. where is the curiosity of the prosecutor in this case? >> yeah. where is the commitment to justice? that's a very disturbing thing. the reality is, there's a lot of people that push for years to make sure we diversify law enforcement. here we have a black chair of board of pardons, a black d.a. in savannah. it's proof simply changing the color of the law -- you know, of law enforcement doesn't necessarily change the color of justice, if you will in this country. reality is we need people of all colors, black or white, who ha

that is after a georgia supreme court denied a stay. just after 7:00 the crowd outside the prison where the execution was to take place cheered loudly when they heard the lethal injection was on hold. david mattingly was there. davis was arrested in 1989 for the shooting death of an offduty police officer. mark mcfail. he was providing security for a burger king when a fight broke out in a parking lot. officer mcfail rushed to the scene to investigate and was shot and killed. 1991 troy davis was convicted for the murder based on eyewitness testimony. seven of the nine witnesses against him have recanted or changed their testimony raising doubts that have gone global. joining us is david mattingly. also senior legal analyst jeffrey toobin. jeff, what is happening right now? explain this. the state won't go forward with this until they get word from the supreme court? >> right. what happened this morning was troy davis' lawyers filed suit in the trial court in georgia saying we want a stay of execution based on false testimony given in a

on the other side of highway 36, the georgia diagnostic prison is located on highway 36 in jackson, georgia. across the street, it's just an average truck stop but lining the highway right now are hundreds of supporters and protesters. it's on the opposite side you have hundreds and hundreds of proteste protesters. on the other side, you have the large show of force, georgia riot police in full gear. we're assuming obviously this is going to be a preventative and preemptive measure in case anything breaks out. depending on where they go with this execution at this point. there is a pit area, if we can call it that, where more protesters are inside the fences of the diagnostic prison. they've been waiting here, chanting, holding vigil trying to get any word of whether this execution is going to move ahead. there was a scene about 20 minutes ago that as i stood from where i'm standing right now, my vantage point, i saw the sun going down and there was this orange glow. you could see below that that pit of protesters inside, people praying and hoping there's going to be some type of stay of ex

you are looking at a live picture just outside the prison in jackson, georgia. the united states supreme court is deciding whether or not to issue a stay of execution. davis has been on death row for 22 years following his conviction for the murder of a police officer. but advocates say his guilt has been seriously challenged. ben jealous of the naacp is standing by and will join us later in this broadcast. joining me now is nbc news justice correspondent, pete williams. pete, what is the latest? where are we at this hour? >> we have five hours since the lawyers for troy davis asked the supreme court to grant a stay of execution and put the whole thing on hold while they ask the supreme court to take up an appeal of his case. about a half an hour after that request was made, lawyers for the state said there was no need to grant a stay of execution, there was no need for the supreme court to take up the case, the issues had all been thoroughly litigated and his lawyers were basically coming in too late. now, that's all we've heard from -- we've got no indication

as we await word from georgia on this execution. planned tonight for 7:00 eastern, the time already passed. you're watching "hardball," only on msnbc. ecutor of efficiency. you can spot an amateur from a mile away... while going shoeless and metal-free in seconds. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle...and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. now this...will work. [ male announcer ] just like you, business pro. just like you. go national. go like a pro. today i own 165 wendy's restaurants. and i get my financing from ge capital. but i also get stuff that goes way beyond banking. we not only lend people money, we help them save it. [ junior ] ge engineers found ways to cut my energy use. [ cheryl ] more efficient lighting helps junior stay open later... [ junior ] and serve more customers. so you're not just getting financial capital... [ cheryl ] you're also getting human capital. not just money. knowledge. [ junior ] ge capital. they're not

after several failed attempts to kill him by the state of georgia the supreme court finally ordered an evidentiary hearing but it wasn't a new trial in fact he had to prove in that evidentiary hearing that he was innocent very very high standard had to prove without a doubt that he was innocent and while the judge who overheard that evidentiary hearing admitted that the case against davis was not ironclad and that there were some doubts he said he had not proven his innocence of course we live in a country where the idea is that the state has to prove your guilt not that you have to prove your innocence and they have to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt and there are jurors who having heard these recantations and learning about them have said that if they had known then what they know now they would never have recommended that troy davis be either convicted or put to death so yes it does raise serious questions about why he's not getting a new trial this is something that as you know i'm sure as many people know it's very difficult to do in our judicial system once a conviction comes

georgia power reported more than 5000 customers without electricity. what is left is moving in to the northeast, the part of the country coming out from under hurricane irene. >> we had a really serious be 3- day window to watch with the rainfall. >> reporter: people simply can't handle another drop. >> we need more water. we really, i don't know, what we are going to do. >> reporter: ght have a silver lining, pruprom the remnants of lee could push katia out to sea, sparing the east coast. >>> pictures are incredible that we are seeing. >> this is across mississippi, alabama incomes to georgia. we are getting rain right now. any chance we could get that? >> a piece of lee, as we have been talking about, deflecting katia off of the coast. that made a lot of headline and added anxiety, this storm had initially projected by our storm center to stay out to sea. winds 105 miles per hour. up through an eye wall replacement cycle. watch it race as it gets caught up by our system. we got our problems to deal with, remnants of lee chugging along a frontal bound

how does georgia keep killing its prisoners? georgia decided to switch drugs. the state decided they would start using a drug that has the trade name nembutal instead to kill prisoners. it's a sedative used to euthanize animals. a danish company who makes nembutal shouldn't be used in executions. when they used it, reporters who witnessed the execution said the man being killed jerked his head several times throughout the procedure and muttered after the drug was injected and he was supposed to be asleep. controversy over the means in which we kill the prisoners led to an unprecedented decision this summer in july when georgia used nembutal to execute a man named andrew grant. the state videotaped killing him. it was the first recorded execution in two decades. the first ever video taped lethal injection. it happened because lawyers for another prisoner on death row in georgia wanted evidence. they wanted evidence for a lawsuit georgia wanted evidence on the grounds the states knew we use the drugs they use on animals, lethal injection is brutal and therefore u

a jury took just a few hours to decide his guilt in savannah, georgia. a few more hours to decide on the death penalty. brenda forest was one of the jurors. >> he was definitely guilty. all of the witnesses, they were able to id him as the person who actually did it. >> reporter: there was no dna or physical evidence against davis. the primary reason he was convicted, witness testimony. the slain police officer's wife trusted the witnesses. >> they were just so adamant about what they saw, when they saw it. >> reporter: but this is how the juror feels today. >> if i knew then what i know now, troy davis would not be on death row. the verdict would be not guilty. >> reporter: what she knows now is this. almost all of the prosecution's star witnesses have changed their stories, some saying police pressured them to say troy davis did it. one of those people is darryl collins, a prosecution witness who signed a police statement implicating davis. >> i told them over and over i didn't see this happen. they put what they wanted to put in that statement. >> rep

georgia had the biggest year- over-year job loss of any state, and one georgia town fed up with unemployment has found a way to put people back to work. we asked chip reid to show us. >> reporter: joyce spears says that from day one she knew exactly how to do her job on this kia assembly line in west point, georgia. >> with this you come in, you know what you're going to do, you know what's going to be expected. >> reporter: that's because all 3,000 workers here first went through georgia's quick start, the nation's oldest and most successful state job training program. >> five minutes remaining. >> reporter: georgia spent $14.5 million of taxpayer money to build this training facility modeled on the assembly line right on kia's property. quick start's roger brown says it was all part of convincing kia to come to georgia. >> i think the key to success is listening to the business. and it's delivering the exact skills the company needs at the right time. >> reporter: randy jackson is kia's vice president for human resources. in a bad economy, can a program like quick start make the difference

after an intense wait in georgia, inmate troy davis was put to death last night despite protests from around the world. until the end, davis maintained his innocence, telling the family of the police officer he was convicted of killing what happened was not his fault. kurt gregory report. >> reporter: after an emotional 11th hour appeal to the highest court in the land, troy davis was executed in georgia. >> the court ordered the execution of troy anthony davis has been carried out. >> reporter: according to witnesses, davis' last words were a denial of responsibility for the crime he was convicted of. >> said that he was not personally responsible for what happened that night, that he did not have a gun. he said to the family that he was sorry for their loss but also said that he did not take their son, father, brother. >> reporter: a case that has galvanized communities far beyond the prison gates in georgia. from coast to coast, groups rallied. their message -- spare davis' life. troy davis was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1989 murder of savannah police officer mark mcp

georgia. after the repeal became effective, two active duty service members spoke about being gay in the military during a process conference with the service members' legal defense network in washington. last night in san diego service members and their supporters celebrated the repeal as it happened, as it took effect. in washington tonight, parties planned to celebrate repeal day all over the city. "washington post" is actually keeping a running list on their website at this point. there's also a repeal day ceremony planned for tonight at joint base louis mccourt in washington state. the guest of honor, major margaret whit a flight nurse who successfully sued after she was kicked out because of don't ask, don't tell. senators who worked to repeal the policy held a press conference on capitol hill today alongside openly gay service members who this time yesterday would not have been allowed to be openly gay service members. the white house issuing a statement today saying in part "today the

and he lay on the tracks of the georgia road cradled by the rails. heart stopped. >> all railroad abandoned. between across ties. trees grow. a fairel pig roots below branches. [applause]. >> poem is about a ham. >> uncle john. that was the year grand daddy thomas died. left the family worse than broke. uncle john stole a ham from the meat market. he was 17. lost his taste for it locked up 14 years. ham, cured and earth bred sliced with the fat hanging on. yellow sunshine on a white plate. the ham bone cuts crosswise. a dark eye all in the skillet making aggressive for grits. lost his taste for all things salt much the ocean he has not seen. woman and man. he don't ever want to see no more ham on his plate. hates pigs. hard for him. time off for good behavior. they didn't hold him to the last 6. he is a hog farmer. only eats beef and chicken and turkey. fish, turtle and rabbit. squirrel, possum and coon and seasons greens with smoked ox tails. can't raise white folks for slaughter. [applause] >> for those of you who have not heard this in person a bi

can intervene because you actually has no power in georgia although. this clemency board which incidentally the five members the clemency board all have one exception for the five of law enforcement backgrounds the first was a former top on crime republican legislator so you know davis really didn't have a chance in order to really kind of stuck in a clumsy foreign films. solely with people that kind of background really having won the first place let's not forget a supreme court actually did state two executions in the state of texas recently and right we had a case of going back and just today there was one more for cleaver foster so i guess things are always possible but we're not sure here but you know another thing happened today which is two lawmakers from the state of georgia one senator and one representative they're now asking those who work in the prison to strike or to hold the sick out so basically they have nothing but just the bare bones minimum amount of employees there to morrow have we ever seen anything like that down the fore. not th

going to talk about the case of troy davis whose last ditch try for clemency was denied today by the georgia board of paroles and pardons so tomorrow a man whose guilt is still in question will more than likely be executed then the unemployment crisis in america has caused the underground economy to grow and what is the underground economy anyway sarah jaffe is going to explain it for us and it looks like the u.s. to shopping around for someone to build a massive new prison for the not ganna stand and all this time i thought we're broke we're going to have all of that morphy tonight including a dose of happy hour but first take a look at the mainstream media has decided to miss. well today the made stream media continue to turn into entertainment tonight and yeah i know i called him out for doing the exact same thing last friday when they were reporting on countdown to the emmys and silver commenters actually tried to defend them because they said it's friday apparently people want to know which movies that award shows they should watch over the weekend you know i still think that if they wa

the state of georgia. let's go there. time is running out for a convicted death row inmate who's being embraced by some people around the world. we're talking about troy davis. he's scheduled to die by lethal injection less than two hours from now for a crime a lot of people say he did not commit. let's go to david in jackson, georgia outside the prison. what's the latest? >> wolf, his last minute legal appeals continue to work their way through the court. his attorneys filed an appeal in a superior court here in georgia. the judge just a short time ago, denied that. his attorneys are now going to the supreme court of georgia. they say if they're not successful there, they will rush this up again to the u.s. supreme court. but at this hour, troy davis has never been closer to execution. he's been scheduled three times before. his execution had been delayed, called off at one time was two and a half hours before it was supposed to happen. so now, he is closer than ever to his date with lethal injection here on georgia's de

people all over the world are watching georgia. it it's not only troy davis' life that hangs in the balance but our name. because if the state executes him, they execute him in our name. we're saying, save had his life and spare our good name. >> reverend warnock, always good to had have you. thank you. we'll be following this story throughout the weekend here. >>> up next -- a side of the story maybe you don't hear a lot of or maybe enough of. like reverend warnock was mentioning, there is another young man here still to be talked about, a young man, a young plano who wolice officer killed, mark macphail. his mother is here with me next. stay here. . >>> 22 past the hour. we have been talking this morning about troy davis. he is the georgia man, the convicted cop killerer troy davis, set to be executed in four days. there has been an outpouring of opposition, people saying there's too many questions that so many witnesses have recanted their testimony, that you just can't execute this it man. but now we want to talk about the man

how it's going on in georgia is. justice as i was also ashamed it's not justice to it's a travesty in choice favor of the senate where bill leader of the democratic party in the senate called for actual resistance among the corrections to the execution along with the southern center for human rights a prestigious law firm in georgia you know the voices of choice supporters keep growing there are a whole range of decision makers in this case whether it's the numerous courts that have the power to intervene whether it's the da in the case or whether it's georgia board of pardons who actually has the power to reconsider or a horrible decision so the chain always breaks up the weakest link i can't predict where it is but as activists we're going to keep pressing and pushing to make sure that justice is served. all right and i twenty minutes past the hour here in moscow russia federation council the upper house of parliament preselected a new speaker the former governor of some pages of olympian young has now taken up the

have signed petitions saying they do not want to see the state of georgia kill troy davis that they are convinced that he may be innocent and that there is too much doubt much too much doubt to proceed with an execution we will be submitting those petitions tomorrow along with the end of the long with other organizations. to the parole board we hope it will give them pause that they've been asked as they are in cases like this when the death penalty is involved could play a role that they are not suited for those to say to play the role of god to know for sure that troy davis committed this crime when there is so much doubt they can't do that they should be put in that position and we're hoping that they will refuse to do that and that they will give him clemency if they give him clemency he of course will still be locked up which means that if they're wrong and he is guilty he certainly cannot do any harm to anybody anymore but if he is innocent as he claims he is then we of course will have one more case of somebody who has been killed who was an innocent person and we know from d

moments ago, georgia's supreme court refused to stop the execution. davis now scheduled to die less than an hour. this is not justice. welcome to "politics nation." i'm al sharpton, live from atlanta, georgia, reporting tonight on a question of justice, justice denied. troy davis is set to be executed less than one hour from now, despite appeals from around the world, and despite grave doubt about his guilt. just moments ago, a group of former death row wardens released a letter calling for the davis execution to be stopped saying, quote, an innocent person could be executed in georgia tonight. doubt about his guilt remains this group includes a warden who was in charge of the georgia death chamber. right now supporters of troy davis are holding a vigil that i started this morning. outside the state prison. i and action network was there all day speaking out against this travesty. security was tight, tv satellite trucks were pulling up, protesters were gathering and emotions were running high. [ chanting ] >> today davis' lawyers frantically fought to

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south georgia has forests of poplar and sweetgum trees, ideal for chopsticks. around america, closed factories left plenty of people looking for work. >> what kind of response did you get? >> we had to stop them from coming. there were like 400 coming in two days. >> for how many jobs? >> 50 then. >> this county's unemployment rate is greater than 13%, more than four points higher than the national average. this building was an abandon bumper factory and most of these employees had been out of work for two or three years. ricky hart is making minimum wage now after two years without a paycheck. his family of six lost their apartment and moved in with relatives. when your friends ask them what you're doing and you tell them, what's their reaction? i tell them we're making chopsticks. they look at me and laugh. chopsticks? yeah. >> it pays the bill. >> yep, it pays the bills. >> there's a lesson in this, that small town america could be a manufacturing center for lots of small to mid sized companies. there's people to work, regulations are less, just a better env

well troy davis the prisoner was scheduled to be executed tonight at seven pm in georgia by the u.s. for many believe what for what many believe is a murder that he did not commit a wrongful conviction is what many people think this is reports are coming in that his execution has in fact been delayed as georgia waits for the supreme court to act this after davis filed a last ditch plea at the eleventh hour asking the u.s. supreme court to stop his execution and it's not just davis that's still hopeful his supporters to have been fighting for his life. that they could we were. going to. protests and vigils have been taking place all day all over the world right there you're seeing washington d.c. outside of the white house but protests have been taking place abroad too in places like hong kong and france protesters are calling for the state of georgia to spare troy davis is life davis if you don't know is a black man guilty of killing a white police officer in georgia he's scheduled to be killed by lethal injection as i told you earlier tonight this despite a number of appeals calls f

in georgia and was already 27%. the black population in georgia between 2000 and 2010, that was two years. some of the know that is a blink of an eye. the black voting age population increased by 401,000 pimm in the hispanic population -- increasing by 240,000 karen there were 720,000 more blacks and hispanics and georgia georgian now has a smaller population than florida. in non-hispanic increase by 36 team. figure twice as fast as the non- hispanic population. george's 56% non-hispanic whites. texas became a minority states. the hispanic population increased by 1 million. it increased by 2,300,000 between 2000 and 2010. almost four times the growth of the minority population and taxes. this represented that. what these people dread is they can look at the production lines of the composition of texas, of florida, of a number of other states. first of all, in terms of redistricting, for the first time in history majority served in the minority. even after the of the year 1995, most legislators serve in the majority

. >>> plus, in two hours troy davis is scheduled to be executed in georgia. despite years of effort and national attention, all of his options for clemency have now been exhausted. but is it possible an innocent man is being put to death. >>> and we hear almost every day from republicans, if you raise taxes on people making $250,000 a year, you're hurting the job creators. that's their phrase, job creators. really? is everyone making that kind of money a job creator, or is this just another way to keep taxes down for the better off. you decide. >>> and let me finish tonight with rick perry's dangerous and ignorant use of the word appeasement. we start with the president, palestinians and politics. howard fineman joins us and joan wall everyone is editor at large for salon.com. both of you treasures guests on this program, as you both must know. let's talk about this vote today. today president obama told the united nations general assembly that the united states, our country, would not support the palestinian bid to create a state through the u.n. opposing so

>> well, we are going to be talking to the man who put that georgia plan in place. live with the former georgia labor commissioner michael thurman, joins me in 90 seconds right here. er from the drinking fountain at the mall. [ male announcer ] great tasting tap water can now come from any faucet anywhere. introducing the brita bottle with the filter inside. her morning begins with arthritis pain. that's a coffee and two pills. the afternoon tour begins with more pain and more pills. the evening guests arrive. back to sore knees. back to more pills. the day is done but hang on... her doctor recommended aleve. just 2 pills can keep arthritis pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is lara who chose 2 aleve and fewer pills for a day free of pain. and get the all day pain relief of aleve in liquid gels. there's so many choices. the guests come in and they're like yeah i want to try this shrimp and i want to try this kind and this kind. they wait for this all year long. [ male announcer ] it's endless shrimp today at red lobster. your favorite shrimp entre

. >> reporter: lunchtime apt toledo pizza on georgia -- at toledo pizza on georgia avenue still busy but lighter. kelly shy is one of about two dozen business owners just outside the gates of the former walter reed army medical center. when she opened in 2005, more than 5,000 people worked at the campus and the facility served about 150,000 patients. >> we saw georgia avenue as an opportunity. >> reporter: since the closure decision local stores have made adjustments. >> we knew it was going to slope down. we knew on september 15th -- slow down. we knew on september 15th that was definitely going to impact business. >> reporter: the last of the inpatients moved out in august, but the campus is not complete lip desolate. >> security guards, maintenance workers and as we -- completely desolate. >> security guards, maintenance workers and as we transition to something new we were planning on city planners, construction workers, a host of people. >> reporter: those will come when a massive redevelopment plan gets underway. this may be what's keeping any remaining customers from the shops

georgia used a relatively new set of tools to kill troy davis last night. the state had its supply of sodium pentothal seized by the federal government earlier this year under suspicion that the state had imported it illegally from a fly by night drug distributor based out of the back of a driving school in west london. so instead of sodium pentothal, which the state used for decades to kill its prisoners, georgia with the trade name nembutol to kill its prisoners instead, including troy davis last night. nembutol is a drug veterinarians use to put down household pets. the danish company that makes nembutol argues that it should not be used in execution of humans. the u.s. company that makes sodium pentothal contacted us at msnbc wanting us to know that even though they don't make their drug that is used to kill prisoners anymore they also did not want their drug used in executions and year after year the company says it wrote to state departments of correction telling them to stop using sodium pentothal to kill people. it is understandable that a big compa

alan alt, the former warden from the georgia prison where troy davis was executed last night. he also served as commissioner of corrections for three states. he's currently the dean of the college of justice and safety at eastern kentucky university.of waens who wrote to correction fishlz officials and the governor of georgia yesterday urging them to reconsider their decision to deny troy davis clemency and to consider the effect on corrections staff who would be carrying this execution out. dr. alt, thank you for joininging us in our coverage late last night, and thank you for coming back tonight. i really appreciate it, sir. >> yes, ma'am. >> as a warden and later as a commissioner of corrections in georgia you participated in several executions early in your career. you told us last night that you view executions as a form of premeditated -- premeditated killing, premeditated murder. what made you think about it that way? >> well, it's -- the policy book for execution's probably about an inch and a half thick. it is well scripted. there's a lot of rehearsals. i don't know o

and it should not execute troy and there is a body that the georgia board of pardons and parole and they can do the right thing and that was human rights activist jen marlowe well the president is still speaking but we will see you right back here in about a half an hour but have some live analysis on live reaction to obama's jobs push of course the big question on everyone's mind will it be enough to save his job now as always you can get more info on anything you've seen here on our website and follow me on twitter you can get more info there as well i will see you right back thanks for watching. the term used to tak that became synonymous with pure evil. the senseless slaughter of almost three thousand people all stunned the world. and it all seemed like a nightmare. john years on. r.g.p. remembers the attacks and suffer from. a look back at nine eleven. download the official antti how to change the phone the i pod touch from the i.q. chops to. lunch all sheesh life on the go. video on demand cheese money gold coast's an r.s.s. feeds now in the palm of your. question on the call

davis and it should not execute troy and there is a body as the georgia board of pardons and parole and they can do the right thing and they are actually going fortunately we're out of time but we will we will keep on this issue thank you so much for career to justice justice for troy or they can get lots more information and actions to take those human rights activists general are low and we will have more details on the story on our web site just go to our dot com and of course our you tube channel r.t. dot com slash for you to vote homes that are to america and as always if you want to get in touch with me weigh in on anything you saw this evening on the death penalty or the economy just follow me on twitter at lucy kaplan of we'll be right back. the term used to tak that became synonymous with pure evil. the senseless slaughter of almost three thousand people all stunned the world. and it all seemed like a nightmare. ten years on. r.g.p. remembers the attacks amazon from. a look back at nine eleven when archie. download the official and see how to make a show i phone oh i pod to

right now you're looking at live pictures outside of the prison in georgia where troy davis is scheduled to be executed reportedly there are about one hundred fifty people right outside the prison and then across the street reports on the ground thousands more are out there so far from what we're hearing there is no word on from the supreme court yet on the final. the final plea for davis to not be executed now we will go back to these pictures and we will have more on this we're going to be speaking with the league is evolution of oz of the new black panther party to look at whether this is a race issue or a human rights issue or or what really this is about we'll have that for you shortly later in the show. now as troy davis is awaits president obama was preaching earlier today on the international stage about human rights at the sixty six united nations general assembly this morning we heard from president obama who in the midst of u.s. wars in afghanistan and iraq but more specific to obama the nato combat mission in libya because he greenlighted that one so despite all of those wars

this idea that somehow we can get the death penalty right whether it's in texas or florida or in georgia where george troy davis is is a complete complete sham and the idea that somehow that this is justice that somehow is going on in georgia is that it amounts to some justice is also a sham it's not justice it's a travesty and a choice favor the senate with beleaguer of the democratic party in the senate called for actual resistance among the staff to the execution along with the southern center for human rights a prestigious law firm in georgia you know the voices of choice of porter's keep growing there are a whole range of decision makers in this case whether it's the numerous courts that have the power to intervene whether it's the d.a. in the case or whether it's georgia board of pardons who actually has the power to reconsider their horrible decision so the chain always breaks at the weakest link i can't predict where it is but as activists we're going to keep pressing and pushing to make sure that justice is served. russia's federation council the approach of parliament has elect

>> thanh truong in jackson, georgia, starting us out. thanks. >>> overseas tonight after two years and two months in captivity in iran, those two american hikers have been freed. their families received the first glimmer of real hope days ago. it came up during an interview of the iranian leader mahmoud ahmadinejad by our own ann curry who pressed him on the subject. ann is here in the studio for the end of this chapter. ann? >> that's right, brian. good evening. it was a very emotional day for two young americans and their families, a day for everyone to breathe a sigh of relief. finally, long awaited joy as the jet landed in oman. shane bauer and josh fattal ran down the steps to a crush of waiting families and news cameras. free men after 781 days in an iranian prison. >> we are so happy we are free and so relieved we are free. >> two years in prison is too long. >> reporter: convicted last month of crossing the border illegally and spying and sentenced to eight more years. earlier today they were rushed from iran's capital with the h

and the fact that it's southern states like georgia and texas that are leading in executions while the rest of the country is actually adults just as the statistics show is actually turning against the definitely so even in the united states there's there's the real question of which way we're going to follow the texas model or whether we're going to follow states like maryland who is a moratorium or new jersey and new york who have abolished the death penalty which way forward and clearly you know we have a strong feeling that we should abolish the death penalty it doesn't deter crime it kills innocent people it's cruel and unusual punishment it's a biased and racist in its application there are no rich people in the death penalty in fact the single most inter-meeting factor of who's on death row is not that sort the facts of the case but the quality of your defense and that's why most people in death row are poor like troy davis if he was rich or you know as a different color i think the outcome would have been sad to say it's horrible to say its outcome would have been very differen

i want to go straight to david mattingly outside the prison in jackson, georgia. there seems to be increased activity in the last hour. apparently family members arriving, a lot of state police arriving. what is your feeling about what may be going on? >> well, there's a tremendous show of force here. it continues to grow as the minutes go by. i want to let you take a look at this. this is a rare sight in georgia to see this many officers in this much riot gear standing guard. they are standing at the gates of the facility where the execution is supposed to take place. they have been staring intently across a four-lane highway. i'm going to show you this now. across the highway to give you a lay of the land. there are hundreds of supporters for troy davis standing over there. they've been over there for hours. they've been holding signs. they've been chanting. but i have to emphasize, they've been orderly and peaceful. and yet hour after hour there are more and more officers gathering here just a few moments ago there were about 20 patrol cars with the georgia sta

. >> outside the state prison in jackson, georgia. many thanks for that update. >>> for a look at the case from a legal perspective, let's turn to cnn senior legal analyst, jeffrey tuoobin this washington. i guess a lot of people can't get anywhere head around the element of doubt. the seven of the nine eyewitnesss changed or recanted their testimony. tell us about that. tell us about that element of doubt, and how an execution can still take place when that exists? >> this is why this case drew so much attention in the united states and around the world. it's because the question of doubt, of whether in fact troy davis committed this murder in 1989, that was at the heart of the outrage over this case. it's important to emphasize that many, many judges have reviewed this case. including at least one judge who looked at the so-called rec recantations of the seven and nine witnesses. the recantations are either irrelevant or not believable. many judges over 20 years have looked at this case, and all of them have decided ultimately, incl

state of georgia has denied a final appeal for clemency for a person on death row this coming on the eve of his execution for the one hundred eighty nine of an off duty policeman no murder weapon was found and no d.n.a. evidence so fingerprints conclusively linked troy davis to the shooting most witnesses have already since then changed the testimony and now more than one million people worldwide have signed a petition in support of the state of clemency to international georgia's discredit to the justice system execute an innocent michael stock and become pain to end the death penalty offers his insight into the case with less than twenty four hours before davis will to die. this idea that somehow we can get the death penalty right whether it's in texas or florida or in georgia where george troy davis is is a complete complete sham and the idea that somehow that this is justice that somehow is going on in georgia is amounts to justice is also a sham it's not justice it's a travesty choice favor the senate whip beleaguer of the democratic party in the senate called for actual resista

by lethal injection yesterday a last try for clemency was denied by the georgia board of pearls and pardons and after davis asked to take a polygraph test that request was also tonight it's a case that's only recently received a massive amount of media attention this despite the fact that over the last two decades davis' guilt is increasingly come under doubt seven of the nine key witnesses have recanted their statements some saying that they were pressured by police there's no things to go evidence to prove it was davis who shot and killed an off duty police officer and just two years ago another witness may have confessed to the crime but at this point it looks like all of his davis' legal options have been exhausted even questionable how much the supreme court could do so with the prospect of a man who may be innocent being executed and the case it's now garnered the attention of the country spurred protests could turn into eyes change opinions on capital punishment here in america joining me from our studio in los angeles to discuss it is an experience co-host of the young kurtz