EXCLUSIVE L'STYLZ MAGAZINE INTERVIEW WITH

TROY ANTHONY DAVIS ON DEATH ROW AT THE GEORGIA

DIAGNOSTIC & CLASSIFICATION PRISON
-- March 12, 2009 --
IMPORTANT NOTE TO TROY DAVIS' SUPPORTERS: This interview
took place before the August 17, 2009 Supreme Court
decision which granted Troy Anthony Davis a new evidentiary
hearing in front of a U.S. district judge.

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L'STYLZ MAGAZINE INTERVIEWER: What does it feel like being
on Georgia's death row for eighteen years for a murder that
you not only did not commit but indeed for a murder that
the Georgia government knows you did not commit?

TROY DAVIS: [It is] like no one cares in this state because
it's not them or their child. I am a very strong person
but sometimes I want to cry because of how it is killing my
family. I walk around like none of this is real. God
strengthens and guides me but deep down I'm hurting for
those who love me so much. I can handle whatever I face
but those I love and who love me are being mentally and
emotionally broken by this unjust and broken system.

INTERVIEWER: How did you handle the news that the federal
courts and the Georgia state courts refused to study the
new evidence of your innocence, even when seven original
witnesses recanted their trial testimony, and even when at
least five newly discovered eyewitnesses identified a man
other than you as the actual murderer; that is, that these
five new witnesses saw another man named Sylvester "Red"
Coles commit the murder or that they heard this other man
confess to the crime?

TROY DAVIS: [I responded] the way any Godly person would.

I gave it all to God. I never really put Faith in
Georgia's justice system. I was hoping for the best but
prepared for the worst. I told my lawyers [that] God will
walk me out of here [from Georgia's death row] a free man;
not the courts. The courts in Georgia seem reluctant to
correct this injustice because of how many more cases they
may face with similar arguments. When I heard the denials
[of my appeals and petitions] by both the [federal and the
Georgia state] courts, I just asked "What's next?" [In
other words,] what more do I have to do to prove my
innocence? What are they afraid of?

INTERVIEWER: What should the black community know about

Georgia's death row?

TROY DAVIS: That more often than not only a small number of
murderers face the death penalty for killing blacks. Black
people face the death penalty for killing non-blacks twice
as often as whites or any other race [charged with
homicide]. The death penalty is targeting the poor who
can't afford lawyers. Inmates on [Georgia's] death row
have lost interest in fighting for their lives. [It is
that depressing.] They seem to believe [in dying, that
they should be executed or go ahead and] die because they
don't believe they will win a second chance [at life]. [In
fact,] most [would] rather get it over with[, their death
sentence,] rather than fight for a chance at [even] life
without parole.

INTERVIEWER: Who suffers if Georgia continues to prosecute

the wrong man for the murder in your case?

TROY DAVIS: My family suffers the most because they will

have to live with the state [of Georgia] saying [that,]
despite [the overwhelming evidence of] my innocence,
protecting [the reputation of] Georgia's judicial system is
more important [to politicians and judges] than my life.
Then[, on top of that,] the victim's family suffers because
they will never know the truth. And, finally, all of my
supporters[, those from all over the world who call for me
to get a new trial, they] suffer because they will lose
[their] hope and [their] faith that "INNOCENCE MATTERS".

[At the end of the day,] stand up and fight with me, all of
you who believe in justice. Speak up and get involved
before someone close to you is wrongfully convicted.
[Speak up before] you lose them to this one-sided system
that portrays INNOCENCE as meaningless.