A convicted assassin who was scheduled to be executed in Georgia this week had his date with dying suspended after the state introduced Monday that it was contemplating a brand new clemency software.
Stacey Humphreys, 52, was making ready to be put to dying by deadly injection Wednesday, when the state Board of Pardons and Paroles mentioned it was ordering the suspension of his execution following an Eleventh-hour petition.
Filed by the nonprofit Georgians for Alternate options to the Loss of life Penalty, the petition, which obtained greater than 1,400 signatures, highlights “profound irregularities that occurred contained in the jury room” throughout Humphreys’ trial.
“The Board has the distinctive authority to appropriate what the courts couldn’t: a dying sentence that emerged solely after a coerced breakdown of deliberations, not by means of a lawful or unanimous jury choice,” it learn.
The jury deadlocked 11-1 in favor of life with out parole for Humphreys, however bent below one juror’s refusal “to contemplate something however dying,” the group claims.
Additionally they alleged that the cussed juror “misrepresented her background throughout jury choice and used her private historical past to strain others into voting for dying.”
If a jury reaches a impasse throughout deliberations, below Georgia regulation they’re required to inform the decide and declare a mistrial, in line with the Southern Judicial Circuit of Georgia.
The nonprofit argued in dying penalty circumstances, state regulation would impose a compulsory life sentence if the jury deadlocked, however claimed “the courtroom coerced additional deliberations till dying was imposed” in Humphreys’ case.
“We additionally ask the Board to completely think about the intensive mitigating proof offered at trial, Mr. Humphrey’s lifelong trauma and abuse, and his constant expressions of regret. Clemency on this case is just not an act of leniency, however an act of justice: a vital step to revive the sentence the jury supposed and to forestall the execution of a person whose dying verdict was by no means legitimately reached,” the group wrote within the petition.
“Granting clemency honors the jury’s intent, upholds equity, and corrects a grave procedural injustice.”
Final week, a federal decide declined to dam Humphreys’ execution. The Supreme Court docket additionally beforehand refused a request to enchantment his case.
Humphreys was sentenced to dying on Sept. 30, 2007, for the 2003 murders of Cynthia Williams, 33, and Lori Brown, 21, two actual property employees whom he cornered at their firm’s gross sales workplace.
He pressured them to strip bare and fork over their financial institution card PIN numbers earlier than he shot them each execution-style.
When Humphreys was finally captured, he bizarrely claimed he didn’t bear in mind killing the ladies, however then when requested why he fled the scene, mentioned as a result of he knew he “did it.”
“I do know it simply in addition to I do know my very own identify,” he mentioned, in line with a press launch from Georgia’s Workplace of the Legal professional Normal.
Humphreys had requested a gluttonous unfold for his ultimate meal, chock stuffed with southern classics with a splash of fast-food — which went viral.
The smorgasbord, which might ship any affordable human right into a meals coma, consisted of barbecue beef brisket, pork ribs, a bacon double cheeseburger, French fries, coleslaw, cornbread, buffalo wings, a meat lover’s pan pizza, and vanilla ice cream, all earlier than washing it down with two lemon-lime sodas, in line with a press launch from the Georgia Division of Corrections.
It’s unclear if Humphreys’ request was accredited, or if it might nonetheless be honored if his clemency is denied.
The decide’s authentic order permitted Humphreys to be executed anytime between Wednesday and Dec. 24.
