Troy Anthony Davis was born on October 9, 1968, in Butts County, Georgia, and grew up in Savannah’s Cloverdale neighborhood. He was the eldest of five children born to Joseph Davis, a Korean War veteran, and Virginia Davis, a hospital worker. His parents divorced when he was very young, and Davis took on responsibilities as an older brother in a working-class, predominantly Black community.

During his years at Windsor Forest High School, Davis struggled academically and eventually dropped out during his junior year to help care for his younger sister, who had a disability that required regular rehabilitation. Despite leaving school early, Davis pursued his education and obtained his high school equivalency diploma in 1987 from Richard Arnold Education Center. Teachers described him as someone who attended classes regularly but lacked discipline. Neighbors remembered him by the nickname "Rah," which stood for "Rough as Hell," although many said that the name did not reflect his behavior. They described him instead as a dependable figure who acted as an older brother to many children in the neighborhood.

In July 1988, Davis pleaded guilty to carrying a concealed weapon and was fined as part of a plea agreement. Around this time, Davis began working as a drill technician at a plant that manufactured railroad crossing gates. Although his supervisors found him likeable and capable, his attendance was poor, and by the end of the year, he had stopped working. Davis returned to the job twice in 1989 but did not remain either time. Despite personal and financial struggles, he contributed to his community by coaching in the Savannah Police Athletic League and had plans to enlist in the United States Marine Corps. Friends and family described him as optimistic about building a better future before his life was upended by the events of August 1989.

On the night of August 18, 1989, a series of incidents unfolded in Savannah that ultimately led to Troy Davis’s arrest. Earlier in the evening, Davis attended a pool party in the Cloverdale neighborhood. While leaving with a friend, Daryl Collins, shots were fired from a passing car toward a group of teenagers. In the chaos, 27-year-old Michael Cooper, a passenger in the car, was shot in the jaw. Witnesses later said Davis was seen during the altercation, though the shooter’s identity remained unclear. Davis and Collins left the scene and went to a pool hall on Oglethorpe Avenue before heading to a nearby Burger King parking lot.

At the Burger King, they encountered Sylvester “Redd” Coles in an argument with Larry Young, a homeless man. During the confrontation, Young was pistol-whipped, but he was unable to identify his attacker. Around 1:15 a.m. on August 19, off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail, who was working security for the restaurant, attempted to intervene after witnessing the altercation. As he approached, he was shot twice, once in the heart and once in the face and died instantly. Witnesses reported seeing a man in a white shirt strike Young before firing at MacPhail. Shell casings recovered from the scene matched those from the earlier shooting involving Michael Cooper, but the .38-caliber pistol used in both incidents was never found.

In the days following the murder, police questioned Coles, who claimed Davis had assaulted Young and fired the fatal shots. Coles did not disclose that he owned a .38-caliber revolver, which he claimed to have given away earlier that night. Davis fled Savannah after the shooting, traveling to Atlanta with his sister. Police searched his home on August 20 but recovered only a pair of shorts from a dryer. Amid fears for his safety, Davis’s family negotiated with authorities, and on August 23, Davis voluntarily surrendered to police. He was charged with MacPhail’s murder along with other related offenses.

In August 1991, Davis was tried and convicted. The prosecution presented thirty-four witnesses, including seven who said they saw Davis shoot MacPhail and two others who testified that Davis confessed to them. Six witnesses, including Davis and his mother, testified for the defense. No physical evidence tied Davis directly to the crime, and the murder weapon was never recovered. Despite these gaps, the jury deliberated for less than two hours before returning a guilty verdict. Davis was sentenced to death two days later.

Over the next two decades, Davis consistently maintained his innocence, and his case attracted worldwide attention. Multiple witnesses recanted their trial testimony, some claiming police coercion. Human rights organizations, public figures, and international leaders urged the courts to grant a new trial or clemency. In 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered a federal evidentiary hearing to review new evidence. In June 2010, during the two-day hearing, several witnesses admitted that their original testimony was false or unreliable and implicated Redd Coles as the real shooter. Despite these developments, the court upheld Davis’s conviction, concluding that the new evidence was insufficient to prove innocence.

All subsequent appeals were denied, and Georgia scheduled Davis’s execution for September 21, 2011. Nearly one million people signed petitions urging clemency, but the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles refused to intervene. After last-minute appeals to state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, failed, Davis was executed by lethal injection at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison. He was pronounced dead at 11:08 p.m. In his final words, Davis addressed Officer MacPhail’s family, insisting that he was innocent and expressing sorrow for their loss. He asked for continued prayers and forgiveness and wished mercy upon those carrying out his execution.

Davis’s funeral took place on October 1, 2011, in Savannah and was attended by more than a thousand mourners. His case remains one of the most controversial in modern American legal history, sparking debates over eyewitness reliability, police practices, and the death penalty in the United States.