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  The courts could have reconsider the ballistic issues, but what for when they, as last, founded a living miracle, a witness named Harold Davis? Harold Davis testified he saw Philip Workman intentionally point his gun at Lt Oliver and shoot.  By the way, who is Harold Davis? We don't intend to put the blame on Harold Davis. He, also, has certainly been manipulated. But, without his perjured testimony, Philip Workman wouldn't be so close to execution. Memphis native Harold Davis came forward the day after the shooting saying he witnessed the whole thing. Davis is a kind of a drifter with a history of drug abuse. At the time of the crime, he was unemployed. But why did he lie? Very, very complicated. A close Davis friend, Vivian Porter, recently told NewsChannel 5 Investigative reporter Phil Williams she's certain that Davis lied. She could maintain this, just because the night of the crime, she was with Harold Davis. Vivian Porter and Davis were out buying drugs whan they were stopped by a police officer. As he walked up to their vehicle, the cop got an emergency call, stopped and got back into his car and speed off. Later, Vivian Porter and Harold Davis drove by the Wendy's crime scene and realized the officer was responding to the shooting. "It was kind of taped off, you know, Porter said. So that told me that whatever had transpired on the parking lot had already happened." But, still, why did he lie? Harold Davis own sister, Jacqueline Davis Moden, told NewsChannel 5 that Davis was a drug addict who made money by "professionnal witnessing". She said he would scan news reports looking for details about crimes. "Then claiming to have personally witnessed it" so he could collect the reward money. After he went to police in the Wokman case, Davis suddently had money, she added. "A large sum of money, I don't mean 5 or 10 dollars. But he had subtancial amount of money that was questionable to how he would have come about it." This, perhaps, depicts a far too negative Harold Davis. There is no proof that he received a reward, even if Vivian Porter -who by now rus a Christian drug rehabilitation center- added "When he called to say he witnessed it, it had to have neen about money. Because when you are in your addiction, sometimes you'll do anything to get your drugs." When Davis came to the police, he signed a statement describing the shooting in great detail. And he was not in front of the crime scene. So, who gave him those details? At this time, the last prisoner executed in Tennessee was William Tines in November 1960. In 1972 the US Supreme Court (Furman V. Georgia) declared the death penalty unconstitutional. But in 1976, the high court reintated the death penalty. State Tennessee, then labored to create a law that would stand up under the new guidelines. 2 efforts were rejected, one by federal courts as unconstitutional and the other in state courts on technical grounds. The sate eventually passed a law in 1977 that the courts have found satisfactory. It was patterned after other state laws that allow for death sentences in specific circumstances. The law demads certain aggravating circumstances be present to justify a death sentence . Those include risking death to others in the commission of the crime (such as shooting in a crowd), torture, killing for money, and killing during the commission of another felony. The law also requires consideration of mitigating factors. Those could be a lack of prior criminal history -and Philip Workman has no criminal history severe mental or emotional disturbance at the time of the crime, and the age of the defendant. The idea was to save capital punishment for the worst of the worst. Maybe Davis needed money and thought Workman couldn't be sentenced to death. Maybe he thought he needed the money so much that a perjured testimony which would open a cell door to somebody he didn't even know was not a sin. Maybe. But State of Tennessee suddently changed its mind. And Harold Davis too.  In September 1999, Harold Davis said he did lie about Lt Oliver's murder, just because he didn't see it at all as said before. In October, defense lawyers tracked him to a Phoenix motel. In an interview the lawyers videotaped, Davis told them ha was not in the Wendy's parking lot on the night of the shooting. At the question: "Did you see Philip Workman shoot the police officer?", Davis repled "No, I didn't." Adding that he had been drinking and smoking some weed at the time. Harold Davis, then, signed a statement to recant. In this statement, he said that his testimony against Philip Workman had been coerced by Memphis authorities. However, Harold Davis still insists that he was near the Wendy's where he could see some of the struggle in his rearview mirror. "But I never said that I saw the guy shoot the policeman. I never said that" BRAND NEW! Davis added that he did not want to testify against Workman, but police threatened him: "I could get arrested as a hostile witness, and they could stick me in a jail until the trial was over with." In November, Davis landed in jail on a minor carge. He began calling NewsChannel 5 investigative reporter Phil Williams repeatedly, hinting that there was more to his story. He also wanted to know if he could be prosecuted for perjury if he admitted it was all a lie. The fact is that Davis couldn't imagine Workman coming so close to death in a State which didn't execute anybody since 40 years. After being released from jail, Davis agreed to one last videotaped interview with defense lawyers. On that tape, the former prosecution witness breaks down into tears over the prospect of Workman being put to death. "I don't want to see him die for something he didn't do", Davis cried. "I was hoping it wouldn't come to what it came to". Wait, wait... Read the sentence again and again. First Davis said "he could saw some of the struggle" and now he says "Something he (Wokman) didn't do . So, to make it clear, he's saying that Workman is innocent... In the same videotape, Davis claims he was in the neighborhood when the shooting occured (and this is in contradiction with Vivian Porter's testimony, saying they drove "later on the crime scene"), but didn't see it. Still, for reasons he doesn't explain, he came to the police the next day. Open your eyes: if Davis now says he didn't see anything, being in the neighborhood, he can't even say that Workman is innocent... Maybe somebody talked to him.. gave him all the details of the shooting and the names of the persons he would have to talk about and denounce... Maybe... Listen to Davis coming to the police: "They basically told me what happened, he says. And would you be willing to say this happened. I said, I didn't see all that. They said, well this is what you are going to say." Davis says he agreed. But when it came time for Philip Workman's trial, Davis says he tried to back out. "I kept telling the prosecutor I really don't feel good about this", Davis adds. "Late, one night, a big white guy came and knocked on my door. He said he had a message for me and that, if I changed my testimony in any kind of way, people I love and care about could disappear just like I could." "No man should be put to death based on perjured testimony", Workman lawyer Jefferson Dorsey says. "We know that Harold Davis' testimony was perjured". Officer Stoddard admits that Davis' claims trouble him somewhat. The retire officer says he pulled out a stack of old newspaper clippings after he dreamed that he saw Davis' car in a crime scene photo. "But it's not there in the picture?", Phil Williams asked him. "No, he replied, and I don't recall seeing it. I just dreamed that I did". Still, the former prosecutor, Don Strother, denies anyone pressured Davis to say anything. In fact, he says Davis must be lying now. "I believe now, and I believed then, that Mr Davis told the truth, Strother says. "I believe he testified under oath truthfully in court". Defense lawyers, however, argue that Davis' emotions are real -and the evidence at the crime scene matches his current story that he wasn't even there. Dorsey says that raises a disturbing question about police investigation. "Why go to all the trouble to threaten, to coerce somebody into committing perjury in a capital trial? The only solution in my mind is there is something they feel the need to hide." |
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