the hour. in the last hour the united states supreme court rejected a request to block the execution scheduled for 7 p.m. eastern time this evening. 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 mcmacphail. his execution was stayed three separate time over the past 20 years. 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 skahill and barry shek and allen ault.

from the latest from news correspondent, joining us outside the prison in jackson, georgia. what is it like out there tonight? >> we just spoke -- well, the atmosphere is very thick with tension. a lot of anticipation that this execution has gone through. i just spoke with a spokeswoman from the department of corrections here in georgia and she says that they are more than mid way through the ex coexecutn at this point. she believes that within 10 minutes she will get words of the details of this execution but this execution has already begun. before she mentioned it would take 20 to 30 minutes and that was in the previous hour and that was to get everybody in place for this execution it take place. now we understand the execution has began through the process and now we are waiting for confirmation of the details and the sequence in what just happened. inside that execution chamber we understand there was going to be three members of the macphail family. we know that members of davis's

family are right now in the so-called pit area, where they've roped off an area, department of corrections made an area for protesters and support offers for troy davis. his family, troy daviss family, are inside that pit area right now. we are just waiting right now, anticipating some kind of word, the details of this execution. as you've mentioned, this has been a very long struggle and a very emotional struggle own both sides. on one side you've had hundreds of thousands of supporters and protesters all in support of troy davis, saying that the recanting of these statements from seven of the nine witnesses is more than reasonable doubt for this execution to be halted. it came down to a last-minute appeal to the u.s. supreme court. of course they denied that stay and this execution. on the other side, you've had prosecutors and the family of officer macphail saying this has already gone through the judicial process. this has been litigated in a court of law. these witnesses now have recanted their statements

originally swore under oath, pointed and said that troy davis was the trigger man who shot and killed officer macphail as he tried to help a homeless man. so it has all come to a head tonight. the side, the macphail family, saying that, look, this has been a long process. we waited 22 years since he was killed. we are thirsty for justice. we are not blood-thirsty but we are thirsty for justice at this point. now we are awaiting official details and we are anticipating that some of the media witnesses and we are hoping that the macphail family will avail themselves to make some statements following in execution. ed? >> what are the people outside the facility responding to this? what are they doing now? >> ed, within the last hour, this crowd has been dead silent. and throughout the night we've heard kind of periodic hoorays, cheers, then long lulls of silence. as you can imagine, so many

people have been checking devices, blackberries and so on and so forth trying to get information, hoping that the supreme court was actually going to delay this and issue a stay. so as the words came in, people -- and these unconfirmed reports as well, there were cheers and long periods of people waiting. then silence, now a very, very heavy silence that has fallen over the crowd. on one side of georgia highway 36, just to give you an idea, the georgia diagnostic prison on one side, is on the side of highway 36. on the other side is an everyday truck stop. so it's been busy with traffic all day. but lining this highway, hundreds and hundreds of is you pourers and protesters all for troy davis. on the prison side, we are seeing a full force right now, more than a honey would say, of georgia riot police in full gear ready for anything that may break out. and we're not trying to say that they are trying to intimidate the crowd at this point but

they've been here all night anticipating anything that may happen, any outbusts, and of course they are trying to keep everything orderly. we are waiting official word from the department of corrections on the details of this execution. they say it has begun, ed? >> thank you so much. welcome back to you. joining me now is my colleague rachel maddow of the rachel maddow show. thank you for spending time with us on this big story, because obviously the people we talk to on this network tonight, say they is somewhat of a turning point, that this is a case that will get a tremendous amount of publicity after the execution because of the way it's been handled and all of the evidence that has, what many people think, has not been presented. a movement, what does that mean, m your opinion, rachel? where does this conclusion take us from here? >> i think it's the right question to be asking, ed. the question here is substantially for many of the people gathered outside the

prison in jackson georgia about troy davis, the man. about whether or not troy dave sits man that killed officer mark macphail, whether the justice system did produce a just result in convicting him and in sentencing him for death for the broader attention to this case, it is in many casees a question -- it is in the larger sense, a question about the death penalty. one detail of this, that i would draw your attention to ed, is the means by which troy davis is being killed right now in the state of georgia. the state of georgia, like other lethal injection states in this country, used to rely on a drug cocktail that started with a drug called sodium phyopental. it is called in small dosees a truth serum. but in large doses it is a lethal injection cocktail. that drug stopped being made in the united states. its manufacturing plant is in italy. the italians are not fans of the death penalty. the company stopped making it. georgia was handful of states caught out by the federal

government allegedly illegally importing that drug from a fly-by-night drug distributor that temporarily set up shop in the back after driving school in west london. i wish i were kidding but i'm not. the federal government came in and seized georgia's supply. all of the vile vie als that it had on hand. georgia had to come up with a new way it kill its shackled prisoners. it decided on a drug with the trade name nemutal. anyone with experience with that name knowes it is a drug used to put down household pets. it has never been used as an ans thet nick humans. the danish manufacturer says it should not be used in execution and an earlier execution was videotaped, the service time a an execution has been videotaped in years. the first lethal injection videotaped so it could be used in lawsuits again the cruelty of

this particular form of lethal injection. the chaos of the death penalty system in this country itself i think makes it a political issue. >> and the way this all unfolded rachel, we are in a politically hot climate in this country, with an election just a little over a year ago. we have seen debates where execution was a topic in question of a response by one of the contestants. does this shine a spotlight of special sorts. this case, and the political climate in this country or is this conversation about the death penalty going to remain the same? will it be heightened it? will it be intensified? what do you think? >> we have heard so much, ed, about how the right is evolving. how there are splits and differences in the types of conservatives that there are in america and what type of conservatism is rescinded in american politics. if you believe the beltway median with b that, you believe

there is an ascendant strain of lib tarism. of republicans and in the conservative movement in this country. suspicion of government that that government should not be powerful and should be a small as possible. the power of a state government to kill its citizens is a power that comes vested in it a real faith in the state's power to do that well. to do that infallibly. governor rick per rif texas, when he was asked about people cheering when he had seen 234, 235 executions in texas, answered questions about that cheering by talking about what he saw as infallibility of the death penalty justice system in this country. i think the chaos, again, around the troy davis case and the doubts that are raised about the -- whether justice was followed here, i should say. i think raise a real question for americans right, left and center about whether or not we trust state governments to be

100% right on something they can't take back. you can't take back killing a person. >> do you think that with, and i do, by the way, i do believe that this event that we're seeing unfold tonight is going to affect a lot of americans. and i think it is going to be a lot of americans rethinking where they stand on the death penalty. and i also think that a a spotlight will be shown on the lack of resources that poor people have in our country when it comes to a formidable defense and a fair trial. i mean wib think this opens up a whole pandora's box about what we are going to see and the justice system moving forward. in case you just joined us, the united states supreme court denied a stay of execution for 42-year-old troy anthony davis. the execution has reported moments ago by a reporter down in jackson, georgia, is under way. we shoe get the official word of his passing here in a very short time. back to you, rachel. i mean, i really think that this

is somewhat of a news event and gotten so much conversation and so many questions and a miscarriage of justice in the minds of many americans, that this is one that's going to make people rethink the dial. what do you think? >> we have not had broad contested partisan politics around crime and punishment issues. during this recession. as a lot of people said we would. a lost social scientists said, as you see the unemployment rate go up and see american economic fortune goes down, you will see a rise in crime and that will bring crime and punishment issues and back to what we fight about as americans who are politically interested and politically engaged. crime and punishment hasn't really surfaced in that way. i think part of the reason it hasn't is because since the last time we had a round of real national debate about that, since the last time, which i think was during the clinton administration, we have seen groups like the innocence

project and others raise -- >> rachel, let's take some soundbite now. >> the coroner's van will be coming out very shortly. it will be a black van. media will be able to move up to get video of that van. at this time, we may have some people who are at the actual execution who may come out to do interviews. we will wait for them to come out and we will be sitting in the same area if they do choose to do interviews. again, the time of death is 11:08. >> at 11:08 tonight, the execution of troy anthony davis was completed by the corrections facility and the state of georgia. with me, rachel maddow, she will stay with us throughout the hour. you heard the official just say there that we are going to be hearing from some of the people that were involved in this execution explaining the process. the united states supreme court has denied a request for the stay of execution for troy

davis. we will have continuing coverage here on msnbc. stay with us. [ slap! slap! slap! ] [ male announcer ] your favorite foods fighting you? fight back fast with tums. calcium rich tums goes to work in seconds. nothing works faster. ♪ tum tum tum tum tums ♪ hush, little baby ♪ don't you cry ♪ soon the sun ♪ is going to shine ♪ [ male announcer ] toyota presents the prius family. ♪ walk if i want, talk if i want ♪ [ male announcer ] there's the original one... the bigger one... the smaller one... and the one that plugs in. they're all a little different, just like us.

breaking news here on msnbc. news out of jackson, georgia tonight. at 11:08 p.m. eastern time, just a short time ago, troy anthony davis was executed. davis had been on death row for 22 years following his conviction for the murder of an off duty police officer, mark macphail. stay tuned for msnbc's continuing coverage. years. 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 just bankers... we're builders. [ junior ] ...and they've helped build my business.

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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 them, may god bless your souls. then he put his head back down. the procedure began and about 15 minutes later it was over. [ inaudible ] >> any questions? [ inaudible ] >> pretty much, they picked me. >> well, i'll do it. but any questions. >> if you want more exact quotes, we can give tlem to you. >> that would be great. >> i'm rhonda cook with the "atlanta journal constitution." he said, the incident that night, was not my fault. i did not have a gun. and that's when he told his friends to continue to fight. and look deeper into this case

so you can really find the truth. for those about to take my life, may god have mercy on your souls, may god bless your souls. and to the macphail family, he said, of course, i did not personally kill your son, father and brother. i am innocent. >> you've been to an execution, you've been to a few before. how, if at all, was this different? >> there was more security than usual at this execution. there was more security than usual in this execution. but otherwise, it went as other executions have gone here. there was tight security, but the prison folks here are professionals and they have done this before. and it went pretty much as planned. i have the execution starting at around 10:53. and he was declared dead at 11:08. >> how did he look when --

[ inaudible ] >> he was talking very quickly. and as my colleagues have said, he was defiant until the very end, maintaining his innocence until the very end. he spoke quickly. he looked at one of his attorneys sitting opt second row, he appeared to glance at the attorney who nodded at him. mark macphail was sitting in the front row and mark was looking at mr. davis the entire time it seemed. and once he was declared dead, we were ushered out. >> how would you describe the mood? >> somber. how else? it was just a somber event. we were all waiting for about four and half hours in the prison with no details on what was happening. and then when we were ushered into the prison itself, we knew that -- we assumed that supreme court rejected his final appeal. [ inaudible ] >> we saw two.

the officer's brother. his name is william. and mark macphail junior [ inaudible ] >> no, mark macphail leaned forward through the whole process, and his uncle, william macphail, setback and neither seemed to move at all. >> they spent the entire time just staring at troy davis. never turned their heads. never did anything but stair ahead. then when it was over, as they were leaning, they hugged somebody and they seemed to smile about it. so for the macphail family, at least, they seemed to get some satisfaction from what happened. >> who was there from the macphail family? >> pardon? >> who was there, again? >> mark macphail junior, his son, and the officer's brother, william macphail. >> did you talk to him about what troy davis was saying? >> he was saying he was innocent.

he said to the macphail family, again that he was not the one responsible for -- he was not personally responsible for what happened that night. he said he did not have a gun. he said that he was not the one who took their son, father, brother. and he said he was innocent. and that was to the end. he lifted his head up. he was strapped to the gurney when we walked in. and when the warden asked if he today make a statement, he lifted his head up and looked directly at the front row where the macphail family was sitting. he said he wanted to address the macphail family and made sure they heard what he said. which was, he was not responsible for what happened that night in 1989. he did have not a gun. he was not personally responsible for the death of officer macphail. i'm paraphrasing but this is what he was saying p then he addressed his friends and family, telling them to keep praying, keep working, keep digging into this case. he said to the staff, to the people who are about to take my life, may god have mercy on your

souls and may god bless your souls and that was it. >> did the macphail family havefully -- [ inaudible ] >> we couldn't see their faces. they were sitting in first row. so we did not see how they reacted to it. all can i say is watching them while this was going on, they never turned their heads, never waivered the entire time. they just stared at him through the glass as the execution was taking place. >> the execution was delayed for about four hours. do you know if he was strapped to the gurney the entire time? >> no idea. we weren't there. >> did. [ inaudible ] >> i didn't see anybody. just the attorney for him. >> which attorney was that? >> jason ewart. [ inaudible ] >> do you know anything about his last meal? >> i don't know. i don't believe he had a last meal and i don't believe he made a final statement when he was going to be given the opportunity to record one.

but he did make the statement, as we said, while he was strapped to the chair -- strapped to the gurney. and again, addressed directly to the macphail family first. to let them know he was innocent. >> he did not eat his dinner. and he did not take the adavan. >> did he actively participate in a prayer? i know that is something they offer. >> he was offered, but he did not. then they started the execution. he blinked rapidly for some period of time. and then, he went out. then they checked him for consciousness. warden came back into the death chamber. went back out again. they started the lethal mixture. again, the whole thing took about 18 minutes. 11:08, the warden came in and pronounced him dead [ inaudible ] >> he was strapped to the gurney when we came in. everything that happened, he was strapped to the gurney. we came in, the warden was in the room with him.

another prois prison official, medical attendant plus one off to the side and then troy davis strapped to the gurney. the warden read while we were there, read the order from the chatham county judge. asked troy davis if he had any statement. davis made his statement. they ordered the procedure to go on. they asked if he had a prayer first. there was no response. warden stepped out of the death chamber and then it started. [ inaudible ] >> there was a member of the medical staff in there and also somebody else who was out of our eyesight, off to the side. so there were two other people in the death chamber with him. one was a medical attendant who was monitoring the thing the whole time. monitoring the lethal injection. then somebody off to the side. once the procedure was over, two doctors came in. both used stethoscopes. one checked vital signs, eyes, pulse and the like. then they nod in agreement and that's that's when the warden

pronounced him dead. [ inaudible ] >> what was it like to be a witness for this execution? >> somber. i mean, none of these ares as easy. it was very quiet. much more so. the only sound where we were sitting was the sound of the air conditioner. people weren't moving. i mean, it was not even casual movement. i think everybody in there understood the enormity of what was going on and acted accordingly. it was very, very quiet. very respectful and very somber. >> did he make any physical gestures? >> the lethal injection started at 10:53. he turned his head slightly to his left the same minute the lethal injection started. the next minute i have. him blinking his eyes, a little more rapidly for a very brief few seconds. i have him squeezing his eyes shut for maybe a second then

opening them again. at 10:54, about a minute after the lethal injection started, appearing it yawn. then around 10:55 it started slowing down. then at 10:58, five minutes after the lethal injection started, they da consciousness check to make sure he was unconscious before they start the next two lethal injection drugs before they paralyze his body and then there was no movement except for slower breathing. [ inaudible ] >> we saw the county coroner tru truck pull up to the chamber. so i assume he is going out in the coroner truck. thank you. >> the georgia media, eyewitness to the execution of troy anthony

davis, who was pronounced dead tonight at 11:08 eastern time in the death chamber at the jackson, georgia facility. defient was the word that was used to describe him. a somber mood, obviously, in the chamber as reported by john lewis from wsb radio in georgia. and talking to his friends and family, a message for them to dig deeper and find the truth about what happened and telling the macphail family that he did not have a gun and he was not responsible for the death of officer macphail. i'm joined now by the president and ceo of the naacp, ben jealous, joining me by phone tonight. ben, defiant was the word used to describe troy anthony davis. but a very interesting message and following these in the past, it seemed that he had more to say than most people who were about to be executed. asking his friends and family to

dig deeper. how do you receive that tonight, ben? >> you know, the -- he said everything that you would expect troy davis to say. this is not your typical case. this is a case where the man for 22 years has continued that he is innocent and every year and recently everyday more and more information came forward confirming that. i first met sis sister 15 years ago. i had my doubts. as i dug into the case more, as she dug into the case more, every year it became clearer and clearer that she was right, that troy was telling the truth. you would expect him to say those three things tonight. you could wo expect him to i t.o. say, i am innocent. you would expect him to say, keep digging and a man with deep faith and grown close to the guards. there was a minute the other day with a wr the staff was visiting and the guard leaned in and said, please hold it together

for the sake of us. we are sitting here trying to hold it together. the guard talked about how his mom was praying for troy davis and for justice to be done here. these guards are human too. the fact that he was looking them in the eye and saying, you know, may god have plersy on you for what you have to do and god bless your souls, speaks to the strong spiritual conviction that he has. and you know, we should all shouall shutter that it is possible for the supreme court and the limits of our contusion and it disrespects the spirit of our country and a man to be executed amid so much doubt and so clear to so many that this man was innocent. >> ben jealous of the naacp, president and ceo, with us tonight. the words that he spoke, dig deeper. will this be a motivating factor in some sense for those advocacy

groups out there that have maintained that this is just a miscarriage of justice? what are those words? what will they really mean to the groups and people who have followed this? >> you know, the reality is that this just afirms what many have come to believe. and which is that you know, it is time for us to question the death penalty in this country in the way that's final. it is abolished in three states in the past two years. ill illinois, new jersey, new mexico. if we could just abolish it in ten more we could abolish it completely and get america to catch up with the rest of the western world. people are falling out in a special place on the prison grounds for people who are supportive of troy and his quest to clear his name. people left here somber but also left here deeply committed. the reality is that right now in living rooms across this country there are people who woke up this morning knowing they support the death penalty who

have to be questioning, questioning, you know, how can i support it when the instrument can be so blunt that we can execute somebody even when the former head of the fbi is stuck. when the former warden at this prison said stop. when bob barr, former prosecutor for georgia said stop. and so many others, yet we just push on blindly not knowing, you know, amid so much doubt of whether we are doing the right thing or not. and it is terrifying. all we had to do was just sentence him to life without possibility of parole and the family would know that, you know, that -- one family would know that things could be reversed, truth finally -- we find out that the new trial we had been fighting for. and the other family would know that man convicted would not be on streets, barring innocence proved in court. but now we have something that cannot be revoked. we have killed a man amid a pile

of doubt. >> ben jealous, unequivocally, do you think that state of georgia put an innocent man to death tonight? >> absolutely. i have been looking at this case for 15 years. i reviewed thousands of cases in that period. i have never seen a case like this. i sat with a woman today on cnn who is terrified for her life, just a few months ago, fleed savannah, georgia because a few years ago the man who many say is the actual killer threatened her. a few years ago, he admitted in front of her and many others, that he had actually killed officer macphail. and when she made it clear a few months ago that she intended to let the world know that and he would support davis and his quest to save his life, she was so terrified she moved her family out of savannah, georgia. she never talked about the daily terror she lives in.

and she has finally done that, hoping that that will give letter a greater sense of protection of the world knowing that her life is threatened everyday. you don't see that. >> ben, that seems like a terrible injustice that there would be no one in our criminal justice system that would follow up and take action concerning the woman that you are talking about. >> yeah, well i mean -- >> sounds to me like a horrible failure. where is the curiosity of the prosecutor in this case sh. >> yeah, where is the commitment to justice? and that's really a very disturbing thing. reality is that you know, there is a lot of people who have pushed for years to make sure we diversify law enforcement. here we have a black chair of the board of pardons. a black d.a. in savannah. and you know, it's proof that simply change the color of the law, you know, of law enforcement doesn't necessarily,

you know, change the color of justice, if you will, in this country. the reality is, that we need people of all colors. black or white. who have the courage to do the right thing. and to stand up and say, if there's doubt, i'm not going to execute. when in doubt, don't. we saw that from the former warden that we couldn't get it from the d.a. or chairman or the board of pardons. >> president and ceo of the naacp, ben jealous with us tonight, saying that he believes that the state of georgia has executed an innocent man. former georgia prison warden allen ault and our own rachel maddow when we come back. [ female announcer ] introducing new pronutrients

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he said the incident that knit was not my fault. i did not have a gun. and that's when he told his friends to continue to fight and look deeper into this case so you can really find the truth. for those about to take my life, may god have plersy on your souls, may god bless your souls. and to the macphail family, he said, of course, i did not personally kill your son, father, and brother, i am innocent. >> welcome back to "the ed show" on msnbc. joining me now is allen ault retired director of the georgia department of corrections and

former warden 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 usually plays out. >> well, as commission of corrections i was involved in several executions and it's one thing to they're 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, are a man of conscious, believe somebody is guilty, it is still very pre medcated murder. it's scripted and rehearsed. about as premeditated as any killing that you can do. and then, when there is doubt,

either way, it exacts a heavy toll on those who are charged by the state to execute somebody. it hits close to home since in the 70s i was a warden there. and then the 90s, i was asked as commissioner of corrects, to execute several people. several of my colleagues who have been involved in execution in other states feel as i do. now i'm a dean of a college of justice, that's ironic. but i know all the research and i know how unevenly that is applied. thousands of variables that go into it. and i know that it does not detour. and if somebody asked you to reap vengeance for somebody

else, i think that's asking too much. all the civilized world except the u.s. have banned the death penalty years ago. when i was a warden at jackson, the same place the execution happened, there had been a ban on the death penalty. and it wasn't until 1974 that the first law enacted in georgia set the pattern for other states to enact a law that brought it back again. >> mr. ault, there's tremendous despair in your voice tonight. i appreciate your time very much. but i have to ask you the same question i asked ben jealous. drawing your experience and your knowledge, do you think that the state of georgia executed an innocent man tonight? >> i have in way of knowing that one way or the other.

but i think that we have found so many in the last year, with scientistic van advances, that were innocent, that we continue to execute people when there's doubt, i don't think that has anything to do with justice. >> mr. ault, what about the unusual circumstances surrounding all of this? do you think that this is -- this case, this event, this execution will change a lot of attitudes in this country? >> well at one time i would hope that that would happen. but you know, we have presidential candidates who say that signing execution orders doesn't bother their conscious at all. but i still think that mean of conscience, it does bother them. and if people were aware of all

the facts about capital punishment, i think logically they would change their mind. but logic does not always prevail as you well know. dr. ault, stay with us. let's bring in rachel maddow who wants it ask a question. rachel? >> thanks. mr. ault, i'm grateful to have you sinus with us tonight. you asked georgia corrections to reconsider, specifically highlighting the toll this would take on corrections officers and other people in the corrections system involved in this execution saying, that you understand interest your own personal experiences the awful life-long repercussions that come from participating in the execution of prisoners. i wondered if just in terms of those of white house know and care about government workers, and people who are public servants working for corrections departments, if you could describe what you meant by that, the repercussions for people who work in the system.

>> well in my experience, i could have stayed in atlanta but i chose to go to jackson. i didn't ask staff to do something i wouldn't do. but i know that we tried to get psychological and psychiatric help for all of the people that participated. and one day i understood fully that i was trying to get it for everybody but me. and then i realized what a heavy toll it had taken on me and my conscience and i still have recurring problems with that. and i'm sure i will the rest of my life. i have talked to otheres who have participated as i did in other states or with the federal government, and those people,

people of conscience had the same type of struggle that i did. if i thought that had actually detoured, and i tried to use that rational when i was participating, that i thought if i would save one life, maybe it was worth it. but i soon realized that is not what capital punishment is all about. >> dr. ault you highlight in the letter you wrote to georgia official he today, with other wardens of death row prisons i should mention but you highlighted the particular toll on corrections officials when there is a case of doubt or when there is a case of a prisoner who is to be executed who maintains his or her innocence until the very end. but when i hear you talking about it tonight, i hear you not using those qualifications just about prisoners who maintain their innocence. do you think that that type of toll, for corrections staff or people involved in executions, is just about executing people even in cases where there isn't

doubt about guilt or innocence? >> it exactes a toll whether you believe they are innocent or guilty. you are actually killing somebody. now, there are people without conscience, psycho pathic type people, some politicians, and sadists who volunteer. i had people volunteer to kill people. but i think the state, i would hate to see us fall, to be that depraved, that they would let people like that do the execution. i have, after i have reviewed had research as a professor and as a dean, and i know that it does not detour crime. i can't see the justification. and if we're just reaping

vengeance for somebody, i don't see the justification in that either. i have talked to a lot of families of victims who didn't feel fulfilled after the execution took place. i can't speak for all the families of victims. but i know i've talked to many. >> dr. allen ault and rachel maddow, thanks for staying with us. coming up next, barry shek of the innocence project and ari melbourne of the nation. our coverage of the execution of troy anthony davis continued here on msnbc. stay with us. b, b, that's not caused by a heart valve problem? are you taking warfarin to reduce your risk of stroke caused by a clot? you should know about pradaxa. an important study showed that pradaxa 150mg reduced stroke risk 35% more than warfarin. and with pradaxa, there's no need for those regular blood tests. pradaxa is progress.

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is best absorbed in small continuous amounts. only one calcium supplement does that in one daily dose. citracal slow release... continuously releases calcium plus d for the efficient absorption my body needs. citracal. he asked his family if his family and friends to keep praying, to keep working, and keep the faith. and he said to the prison staff, he said to the ones that will take my life, he said to them, may god have mercy on your souls

and then he said to them, may god bless your souls. he put his head back down and about 15 minutes later, it was over. >> welcome back to the "the ed show." we are talking about the execution of troy anthony davis. joining me is lawyer and columnist of the nation magazine ari mel burn. also joining us on the phone is barry shek, co-founder of the innocence project. ari, are there aspect of this case that made it more of an important one for a stay of execution despite tonight's result? >> absolutely. as several of your guests have pointed out. one aspect was a change in key eyewitness testimony. people who at one point believed one thing and later believed another. another aspect is of course reports, many credible, about the prospect after different suspect. and the third aspect, one we

have to hammer here and one i know have you brought up repeat lid in your interest in justice issued, is the racial aspect. when you look at the way the death penalty is used in the united states and when you look at the way prosecutors pursue these cases, whether it is deliberate or accidental, whether it is something that we think comes from a direct racial analyst or other coincidences or juries, the fact and data is all out there that shows that the death penalty is disproportionately used many times against african-americans. that's an issue we are to weigh in addition to the other tough issues tonight. one thing i want to say to you ed, you asked an important question repeatedly, about whether an innocent man was executed. as we take one step back there the issues tonight, we know from the innocence project that 273 people have had post conviction dna exonerations. that means that science has told us, what juries didn't, which is that it turned out they were not guilty. 17 of those people were at one

time on death row. and lastly 166 of those 273 post conviction exonerations were people who were african-american. that all fits in to the real questions we have to continue to press about how this system works in the united states. >> ai am so troubled to night with the fact that a woman spoke with ben jealous who had been told her life was threatened and that she had to move, and that she had been told by someone who said he was the killer, and yet there was no one in the system that could take that information and follow up on it. that's what i love so terribly troubling. that whether this gentleman was innocent or guilty tonight, that someone wasn't there to follow up on it with all of the different stories and evidence surrounding it that was not brought forward. barry shek, how does that play with you? someone whose been in this

profession for so many years and obviously been involved in information coming out after the execution? what about this piece of information tonight, barry? >> well, you know, and i want to add one important factor to what ari listed about this case. and that has to do with the ballistics evidence. everybody agrees, georgia bureau of investigation agrees, that ballistics evidence put before the jury in an effort to tie a gun and motive to troy davis, was unreliable and should never have gone before the jury. unreliable forensic evidence. indeed, one of the jurors told the board of pardon and paroles yesterday that if she had known that that evidence, ballistic evidence was unreliable, she never would have voted to execute him. she said it played a very large role in the jury deliberations. now i raise that because, remember, innocence project we

have over 270 post conviction dna exonerations and so many of these cases we actually find the real perpetrator. but most of them were eyewitness misi'd misidentification. but a lot of it, unreliable scientific evidence was a factor. two important things that have to be covered in this campaign. one is the case of cameron todd willingham which deals with a man that governor perry executed based on unreliable evidence and now is the testimony after jailhouse snitch. everybody -- most disinterested legal observers believe there is powerful evidence that willingham was innocent and executed. what is worse about it is governor perry has been engaged in a concerted campaign to cover up that the arson evidence in that case was unreliable.

that's an extremely serious issue. there is also a case, the last person that george w. bush executed, claude jones, we went back and found a hair that was a key legal piece of evidence in the case. post execution dna test was done on that, and showed it wasn't his. so these are very troubling cases. >> barry scheck, i appreciate your time tonight. ari, the nation magazine, thanks so much. thanks for joining us. our coverage of the execution of troy davis continues. [ carrie ] i remember my very first year as a teacher, setting that goal to become a principal. but, i have to support my family, so how do i go back to school? university of phoenix made it doable. i wouldn't be where i am without that degree.

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