that Coles—one of the witnesses who had not recanted—was the real killer. Representatives from the Council of Europe and European Parliament also spoke out on Davis's case, asking U.S. authorities to halt the planned execution and calling for a new trial. On July 16, 2007, the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles granted a ninety-day stay of execution in order to allow the evaluation of evidence presented, including the doubts about Davis's guilt. The stay was superseded by the August 2007 decision of the Georgia Supreme Court to grant Davis's application for discretionary appeal from the denial of his Extraordinary Motion for a New Trial. Defense lawyers requested a new trial based on statements of mistaken identity. On March 17, 2008, the Georgia Supreme Court denied the appeal by a 4–3 majority. The majority wrote that the recanting witnesses "have merely stated they now do not feel able to identify the shooter", that the trial testimony could not be ignored, and that they "in fact, favor[ed] that original testimony over the new." In dissent, the Chief Justice wrote that "if recantation testimony, either alone or supported by other evidence, shows convincingly that prior trial testimony was false, it simply defies all logic and morality to hold that it must be disregarded categorically". Second execution date In July 2008, Davis's lawyers filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking review of the Georgia Supreme Court decision and arguing that the Eighth Amendment creates a substantive right of the innocent not to be executed. However, an execution date was scheduled for September 23, 2008, before the United States Supreme Court decided whether to take up Davis's case. The Georgia Supreme Court refused to grant a stay of execution and the Board of Pardons and Paroles denied clemency. Amnesty International condemned the decision to deny clemency, and former president (and Georgia governor) Jimmy Carter released a public letter in which he stated "Executing Troy Davis without a real examination of potentially exonerating evidence risks taking the life of an innocent man and would be a grave miscarriage of justice." Reverend Al Sharpton also called for clemency after he met and prayed with Davis on death row. A stay of execution was also supported by the NAACP; the president of the Georgia state conference said "This is a modern-day lynching if it's allowed to go forward." Former