http://www.thenation.com/article/154...e-claim-denied
Davis sits on death row for the murder of Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail, who was gunned down with a .38 caliber weapon in the early morning hours of August 19, 1989, as MacPhail ran to assist a homeless man named Larry Young, who was being pistol-whipped in a parking lot. Davis was convicted based solely on eyewitness testimony, a fact that has given rise to many of the "crucial, unanswered questions" in his case: seven of the nine eyewitnesses later recanted. One who did not was Sylvester "Redd" Coles, who had been seen arguing with Young that night and who implicated Davis the day after the murder. After Davis was arrested, it emerged that Coles had a .38 caliber pistol the night of the murder.
.....
Davis's image was already splashed all over the media and on "Wanted" posters before eyewitnesses were asked to identify MacPhail's killer in a photo spread that included him but did not include anyone else who had been at the scene of the crime, including Coles. In fact, after he implicated Davis, Coles was included in a re-enactment of the crime as a witness rather than a suspect. If this was not "smoke and mirrors," it was, at the very least, inexcusably suggestive, tainting the identification of Davis.