Troy Davis’ Sister Opens Up About His Last Moments Before Execution
Sept. 22 2011, Published 3:30 p.m. ET
Troy Davis’ sister Kimberly, has spoken of her time with her brother just prior to his execution Wednesday night by Georgia authorities, sharing that: "Our last moments were joyous.”
“My brother was giving us charge as to what he wanted us to do, telling us to hold our heads up, telling my nephew to continue to be all that he could be,” she continued.
“My niece was showing him her ballet shoes and telling him to stand on his tippy toes like a ballerina," Kimberly told ABC News from her Savannah, Ga., home.
The Davis family has suffered an unimaginable ordeal, but experienced a particularly brutal form of torture on the last day of Troy’s life. The execution was postponed briefly by the Supreme Court for a legal review, lifting the hopes of thousands of Davis’ supporters worldwide, but at 11:08 p.m., the state of Georgia administered a lethal injection, killing the 42-year-old.
"When we left my brother yesterday, my brother told us to hold our heads up and be strong because if the state of Georgia did succeed in executing him, they would only take his physical body and not his soul,” Kimberly added, choking back tears. "My brother said he only wanted to be a free man and right now, he is free."
But Kimberly is devastated that her brother’s life was taken, saying the death equated to a modern day lynching. "That's what it is--a lynch mob in the state of Georgia, Chatham County," Kimberly said. "We're going to carry on and continue to fight to bring down the death penalty. This fight didn't start with him and it's not going to end with him."
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Kimberly spearheaded a campaign to save her brother by launching an online petition two weeks days ago at Change.org to appeal to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles.
Davis was convicted of the 1989 murder of police officer Mark MacPhail and sentenced to the death penalty. But while Davis convinced thousands of his innocence, and maintained he was not guilty of the crime till the very end, members of the MacPhail family believe justice was served.
Before being put to death, Davis said: "I'd like to address the MacPhail family. Let you know, despite the situation you are in, I'm not the one who personally killed your son, your father, your brother. I am innocent."
Public support grew for Davis after seven witnesses recanted their testimonies from his trial and the possible confession of another suspect.
Some of Troy’s more notable supporters include Alec Baldwin, who fumed after the execution: “For all you blood-thirsty right wing trash out there tonight. The point is he may have been innocent. Ya get it now?”
And singer Rihanna, who tweeted: “I AM TROY DAVIS, and I AM FREE" Never Stop Fighting for Justice and We will Win! by Troy Davis...We won't forget you”
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