On the evening of August 18, 1989, Davis briefly attended a pool party hosted by a friend. As he left with his friend Darrell Collins, the occupants of a passing car yelled obscenities at them.[SUP][6][/SUP] Michael Cooper, a passenger in the other car, was shot in the face, allegedly by Davis.[SUP][7][/SUP] Davis and Collins continued on, and later met Sylvester "Redd" Coles, who was arguing with a homeless man, Larry Young, over a beer.[SUP][6][/SUP][SUP][8][/SUP] Off-duty policeman Mark MacPhail was working as a security guard at a Burger King restaurant in Savannah, Georgia.[SUP][9][/SUP]MacPhail, age 27, the son of a U.S. Army colonel, was married with a 2-year old daughter and an infant son. He had joined the Savannah Police Department in 1986 following six years of military service as an army ranger. MacPhail had worked for three years as a regular patrol officer and in the summer of 1989 had applied to train as a mounted policeman.[SUP][10][/SUP] At about 1:15 am, seeking to help Young who was being attacked in a nearby parking lot, MacPhail was killed. He had been shot twice, once through the heart and once in the face, without drawing his gun.[SUP][6][/SUP][SUP][8][/SUP][SUP][11][/SUP][SUP][12][/SUP] No physical evidence from the crime was retrieved, apart from the bullets and shell casings, which were determined to have come from a .38-caliber pistol. Witnesses to the shooting agreed that a man in a white shirt had struck Young and then shot MacPhail.[SUP][6][/SUP]
On the evening of August 19, Redd Coles went to the police. He told them that he had seen Davis with a .38-caliber gun, and that Davis had assaulted Young.[SUP][6][/SUP][SUP][13][/SUP] The same evening, Davis drove to Atlanta with his sister.[SUP][6][/SUP][SUP][13][/SUP] In the early morning of August 20, 1989, the Savannah police, suspecting Davis and seeking a murder weapon, converged on the Davis home. Having sealed off the area, the police searched the house, and a pair of shorts belonging to Davis were found in a dryer and confiscated.[SUP][14][/SUP] Police issued a reward for information leading to Davis' arrest.[SUP][15][/SUP] Davis' family began negotiating with police, motivated by concerns about his safety; local drug dealers were making death threats because the police dragnet seeking Davis had interrupted their business.[SUP][13][/SUP][SUP][16][/SUP] On August 23, 1989, Davis was driven back to Savannah by members of his family, where he surrendered to police, and he was charged with MacPhail's murder.[SUP][13][/SUP] Hundreds of mourners, including county, state and federal law enforcement officials, had attended MacPhail's funeral at Trinity Lutheran Church in Savannah the day before.[SUP][17][/SUP]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Davis_case
