Reopening the case could also risk alienating white and conservative voters and complicate Chisolm's relationship with the police force. But if Chisolm fails to intervene, "that would be very unpopular to a lot of black folk," said the Rev. Matthew Southall Brown, a longtime black leader in Savannah.
"All eyes are on him to see what he's going to do, and how he's going to handle this thing," said Brown, 77, the pastor emeritus of St. John Baptist Church. "It's a Catch-22 for him. . . . You're damned if you do, and damned if you don't."
Though it has earned global attention, it is difficult to gauge how potent the Davis case is here. Savannah is an old-fashioned place that prizes gentility and manners, and even local activists say it's no hotbed of public demonstration.
Moreover, the Davis saga has played out at a near-glacial pace. It was nearly two decades ago when Officer Mark MacPhail rushed across the dark parking lot to aid an African American homeless man who was being pistol-whipped by another man. Someone fatally shot MacPhail before he could help.
In court, nine witnesses testified against Davis. But seven of those witnesses began recanting their testimony in 2000 -- nine years after the trial. New witnesses have emerged who assert that a man other than Davis was the shooter, according to court filings from Davis' attorneys.
Prince A. Jackson Jr., head of the Savannah branch of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, said that his group didn't get involved early on because the case against Davis seemed so strong: "It was almost open and shut," he said.
But the group has changed course over time. In hindsight, Jackson now says, the case was a "rush to judgment," brought on in part by the fact that the officer was white.
Over the years, former Dist. Atty. Spencer Lawton Jr. -- who was portrayed unfavorably by author John Berendt in the nonfiction murder mystery "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" -- stood by his prosecution of Davis. Chisolm worked in his office as an assistant prosecutor from 1987 to 2006, but was not involved in the Davis case.
When Lawton announced he would retire in 2008, Chisolm decided to run on the Democratic ticket, even though Lawton, a 28-year veteran of the office, had handpicked Republican David Lock, his chief assistant, to be his successor.
Chisolm won the race over Lock in November with 54% of the vote, thanks in part to large black turnout for Barack Obama.
