Troy Davis execution goes ahead despite serious doubts about his guilt

Level 2 Intermediate
1 Key words
Fill the gaps in the sentences using these key words from the text. The paragraph numbers are given to
help you.

execution well-wisher recant lethal convict confess

lynching bigoted vigil mourn reinstate appeal

1. An ____________________ is the act of killing a person as a punishment for a crime. (title)

2. If you ____________________ someone, you prove in a court of law that they are guilty of a crime. (para 1)
3. ____________________ injection is a method of executing someone by using a needle to put a drug into their
body. (para 1)
4. If you ____________________ a law or rule that had been stopped, you bring it back. (para 3)
5. A ____________________ is a person who expresses their support or sympathy, often to someone they do
not know. (para 3)
6. A ____________________ is the killing of a person by hanging them even though they have not been found
guilty of any crime. (para 4)
7. A ____________________ person has opinions that most people think are unreasonable, especially about
race, politics or religion. (para 4)
8. If you ____________________, you say that something you said was not true. (para 5)
9. If you ____________________, you say that you have committed a crime (para 5)
10. An ____________________ is a formal request for a court of law to change its decision. (para 6)
11. A ____________________ is a period of time, especially at night, when you stay in a place to give your
support to someone. (para 7)
12. When people ____________________, they feel extremely sad because someone has died and they express
this in public. (para 7)

2 Find the information

Find the following information in the text as quickly as possible.

1. When was the death penalty reinstated in Georgia?

2. What percentage of people on death row in Georgia are black males?
3. What percentage of the population of Georgia are black males?
4. How many witnesses were there at his trial?
5. When was Troy Davis convicted of murder?
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NEWS LESSONS / Troy Davis execution goes ahead despite serious doubts about his guilt / Intermediate
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 Troy Davis execution goes ahead despite serious doubts about his guilt
Level 2 Intermediate
Troy Davis execution goes ahead
despite serious doubts about his guilt
Ed Pilkington in Jackson
22 September, 2011
1 Moments before he was executed, Troy Davis
looked directly at the family of Mark MacPhail,
the police officer for whose murder he was
convicted. I want to talk to the MacPhail
family, he said. I was not responsible for what
happened that night. I did not have a gun. I
was not the one who took the life of your father,
son, brother. He then asked his own family
and friends to keep the faith, and said to the
medical personnel who were about to kill him
may God have mercy on your souls. He was
given a lethal injection and at 11.08pm he died.
2 The debate about what happened in the prison in
Jackson, Georgia will continue for a long time. In
the final awful hours of waiting, the highest levels
of the American judicial system were involved
including the US Supreme Court, which made
the final decision. The decision to go ahead
with the death sentence, despite serious doubts
over Davis guilt, was a controversial one. It was
Davis fourth execution date, and it was dragged
out, for more than four hours.
3 Davis, 42, was the 52nd man to be executed
in Georgia since the Supreme Court reinstated
the death penalty in 1973. His lawyers and
thousands of supporters around the world were
convinced that an innocent man had been sent
to his death. As news of his death came out of
the maximum security prison, his family was
still huddled in an area of the prison grounds,
surrounded by well-wishers. His sister, Martina
Correia, had earlier promised to continue the
fight to end all capital punishment in America
and said her brothers story would inspire others.
His message to young people is you can lie
down or you can stand up and fight, she said.
4 After the execution, Davis lawyers called it a
legal lynching. Thomas Ruffin said that the
execution was racially bigoted. In the state
of Georgia, 48.4% of people on death row are
Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2011
NEWS LESSONS / Troy Davis execution goes ahead despite serious doubts about his guilt / Intermediate
black males, and in Georgia they make up no
more than 15% of the population.
5 Ruffin said that seven of the nine witnesses
at Davis 1991 trial had since recanted. They
included a man who said under oath that he
had seen MacPhail being killed, and that it was
not Davis who shot him but another man called
Sylvester Cole. Another witness said under oath
that she had heard Cole confess three times to
killing MacPhail and blaming Davis.
6 But last-ditch legal moves by Daviss defence
team failed one by one as both state and federal
judges ruled against them. First, a request for
Davis to have a lie-detector test was rejected. A
Georgia judge refused an appeal and so did the
state Supreme Court. In the end, his only hope
was the US Supreme Court, and for a moment
it seemed that the judges had cancelled the
execution. But the delay was only temporary
and at around 10.15pm the court ruled that the
execution should take place.
7 The decision was welcomed by the MacPhail
family. He [Davis] had all the chances in the
world, said the officers mother, Anneliese
MacPhail. It has got to end. But a second
lawyer for Davis, Jason Ewart, said that as he
died he took with him his search for justice. In
the middle of all the newspaper headlines and
vigils you can sometimes lose sight of the man
who was on death row. Troy Davis was a family
man, and his family mourns tonight.
8 John Lewis, a local radio reporter who was at
the execution, said that while the prisoner was
being killed, MacPhail family members sat in
the front row staring at him. As they left the
room after they were told he was dead, some
of them smiled. So at least someone got some
satisfaction out of this, Lewis said.
Guardian News & Media 2011
First published in The Guardian, 22/09/11
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 Troy Davis execution goes ahead despite serious doubts about his guilt
Level 2 Intermediate
3 Comprehension check
Are these statements true (T) or false (F) according to the text?
1. Troy Davis said that he was not responsible for the murder of Mark MacPhail.
2. Davis was the first man to be executed in Georgia since the death penalty was reinstated.
3. David had a lie-detector test.
4. The US Supreme Court decided that the execution should not take place.
5. Members of Mark MacPhails family watched the execution.

4 Find the word

Find the following words and phrases in the text.
1. a two-word phrasal verb meaning to make something continue for longer than necessary (para 2)
2. an adjective meaning gathered close together to stay warm, feel safe or talk (para 3)
3. a two-word noun meaning the punishment of being legally killed (para 3)
4. a three-word expression meaning in prison and waiting to be executed as a punishment for a crime (para 4)
5. a three-word expression meaning to say something after you have promised to tell the truth in a court of law
(para 5)
6. a two-word adjectival expression usually used with nouns such as attempt or effort meaning a final try at
achieving something difficult when other attempts have already failed (para 6)

5 Words followed by prepositions

Complete the phrases from the text using these prepositions.

to of for (x2) at

1. responsible _______ 4. stare _______

2. confess _______ a crime 5. lose sight _______
3. search _______

6 Word-building
Complete the table.

noun adjective
1. controversy
2. race
3. innocence
4. responsibility
5. secure
6. guilty

7 Discussion
Do you agree with the death penalty for murder? Why? Why not?
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NEWS LESSONS / Troy Davis execution goes ahead despite serious doubts about his guilt / Intermediate
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