2
The phone call
“Hey, it’s Sahil. Do you have a second to talk?” Sahil was a childhood friend a few years older than me. While his parents and my mother had been friends for decades, he’d never called before. He lived too far away to see regularly, and we’d drifted apart over the years. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d seen him.
“Sure,” I said. “What’s up?”
“Have you heard of Troy Davis?”
“I haven’t.”
“He’s an inmate on Georgia’s death row, convicted of killing a cop in Savannah. There’s a lot of evidence that he’s innocent. I’ve been working on the case at Amnesty International. He’ll be executed in a couple of weeks, so I’ve been calling everyone I know to get them involved before it’s too late.”
I handed the phone to my mother and drifted away from the call. Plenty of death row inmates preached their innocence to all who’d listen. Surely, after decades of appeals, the man’s innocence would have come to light. If he could lose in court time and time again, he must have been guilty. Far more likely that Troy Davis was lying than to have a faulty trial and faulty appeals. I shrugged it off and retreated to the bedroom and the television.
But the topic resurfaced on the ride home from school a few days later.
“Remember what Sahil was saying, about Troy Davis?” my mother asked. The car remained motionless in Alpharetta’s rush-hour traffic. Her voice was somber, carrying a heavy weight. “I’ve been researching the case online. There are serious problems. Sahil was right.”
A Google search revealed Troy Davis was a black man convicted in 1991 of the 1989 murder of a white Savannah police officer, Mark MacPhail. His conviction rested primarily on nine eyewitness testimonies. Seven of those nine had recanted or altered their testimony, citing police coercion and intimidation. There was no physical evidence, no gun and no DNA. It all sounded convincing on the surface.
But if the evidence was as strong as Davis supporters claimed, why hadn’t the courts ordered a new trial? The claims Davis made of mistaken identity, shoddy evidence, witness tampering, a rushed and sub-par investigation and a systematic denial of appeals on technicalities implied a legal system so brazenly unjust that they had to be false. Even Georgia, with its troubled history of segregation, lynchings and race riots, couldn’t be so perverse. Not in 2008.
As I read through articles, one fact stood out: Georgia set the execution for Sept. 23, 2008, but the Supreme Court was reportedly due to examine the case on Sept. 29. The state had intentionally set an execution date days before the highest court in the country was to review the case. Troy Davis had been on death row for nearly two decades. What difference would a few more weeks make?
These questions brewed in my mind at school the next day. If the Supreme Court was going to review the case just six days later, if Troy Davis had already been on death row for 17 years, if Georgia was so confident the evidence against Troy Davis was ironclad enough to kill him, why couldn’t they wait?
Could he really be innocent? And could that really happen here, in America?
5
A bond forged
Between 2008 to 2011, two execution dates were set followed by stays of execution. Davis’ case sparked protests around the world. Global figures, including Pope Benedict XVI and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, urged his execution be halted. During that time Gautam visited Davis as often and as long as the prison permitted, every three months for six hours. They also exchanged more than 50 letters and spoke on the phone often. Within a few months of meeting, Davis started calling Gautam his adopted nephew; Gautam called Davis his uncle.
Troy’s fourth execution date was announced for Sept. 21, 2011. Gautam, who recorded their phone calls, had just turned 18.
Troy: “I’m frustrated. No matter what I try to do, people in power are just so corrupt that they will continue to hide the truth and sacrifice an innocent person. They don’t care if I can prove innocence, because if my attorneys didn’t exercise due diligence I can be executed. The courts and the past parole board hearings didn’t deny me because they didn’t believe the witnesses, they denied me because it would question the tactics the police used...”
Gautam: “The greatest lesson I’ve learned from all this is to not trust the legal system. In school they always taught us our legal system was the greatest and fairest in the world, but if you’re rich, if you’re powerful, it works in your favor.
Troy: “Initially, everyone starts off wanting positive change and to stop crime. When you see criminals that go in and come right back out, DAs and police officers get frustrated that the system keeps releasing the people who terrorize society. So they start conjuring evidence and making stuff up, and that’s how they become corrupt. Look at how many people got out of death row because they had DNA to prove their innocence. Eyewitnesses misidentified them in nearly every one of those cases. After the first few, they should’ve changed the system. But nobody wants to rock the boat.
“But enough about me, what’s new in your life besides being so good at chess?”
Gautam: “Pranavi’s been having all this drama with her friends. She’s friends with her boyfriend’s ex and that’s causing problems.”
Automated Voice: You have 60 seconds left on this call.
Troy: “At this age, she should concentrate on her studies. The boys will come. Just try to enjoy life, and tell Pranavi to tell her friend that she can’t force people to love her. She needs to love herself.”
Gautam: “Pranavi revels in this kind of stuff. School barely registers as a priority.”
Troy: “That’s sad because everything you learn today will be useful in the future. Everything. Especially math. You’re gonna use math every day of your life! You and Pranavi need to try your best at everything you do.’
Automated Voice: You have 15 seconds left on this call.
Troy: “All right Gautam. Take care and remember I love y’all. Tell Pranavi I—”
The call disconnected. That was always the worst part, being reminded someone could always take him away.
ABOUT THE STORY
Before festivities for the Georgia Author of the Year Awards ceremony began last month, many of the contenders for Best Memoir were already conceding defeat because Jimmy Carter’s book, “A Full Life,” was a nominee. So imagine everyone’s surprise when the former president of the United States lost out to 22-year-old Gautam Narula for his self-published book “Remain Free” about his relationship with former death row inmate Troy Davis, who was executed in 2011. I later invited Gautam to lunch and was thoroughly impressed by his compassion and intelligence. I knew his story would make a great Personal Journey. Special thanks goes to AJC staff writer Helena Oliviero for helping craft this excerpt.
Suzanne Van Atten
Personal Journeys editor
personaljourneys@ajc.com
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gautam Narula is a freelance software developer and chess instructor currently seeking a job in software engineering. After the execution of Troy Davis, Gautam launched a Kickstarter campaign that raised about $11,000 to fund the cost of publishing his memoir. The book, which debuted in September 2015, won a Georgia Author of the Year Award for Best Memoir. All proceeds from the book go to the Innocence Project, a non-profit organization committed to exonerating wrongly convicted people through the use of DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system. Gautam hopes to someday develop software that will prevent wrongful convictions. He believes Troy Davis will someday be exonerated.
READ MORE ON THE TROY DAVIS CASE:
Troy Davis case draws international attention
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