Kennesaw, Georgia– A Georgia judge on Monday ordered a temporary stay on a December execution that had already been postponed, saying questions about the state’s clemency process must be addressed before… Stacey Humphries “The death sentence can be carried out.
Humphreys, 52, was facing the death penalty scheduled for December 17, but the procedure was temporarily halted a few days before he received a lethal injection.
He was convicted of first-degree murder and other crimes in the 2003 shooting deaths of Cindy Williams, 33, and Lori Brown, 21, at a real estate office where they worked in Cobb County, northwest of Atlanta.
At issue: Humphreys’ attorneys contend that two members of the Georgia Parole Board have a conflict of interest that would taint their participation in the clemency hearing.
Humphreys’ attorney earlier this month File a petition He asks the judge to order the two members of the parole board to recuse themselves from considering his clemency application.
One of the board members, Kimberly McCoy, was previously a victim advocate with the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office at the time of Humphreys’ trial and was assigned to work with victims in the case, the attorneys said.
Another board member, Wayne Bennett, was the sheriff of Glynn County, where the trial was moved due to pretrial publicity. Humphries’ lawyers say Bennett supervised the security of jurors and Humphries himself during the case.
In an order filed Monday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney wrote that “pressing the ‘pause’ button on the enforcement mechanism until we answer the non-frivolous question raised by petitioner regarding the appropriate composition of the board for a clemency hearing is the correct course of action.”
He ordered lawyers for both sides to submit additional legal briefs on the issue by January 19.
Additionally, the judge wrote in his order that Humphries deserves to have the conflict of interest issue thoroughly researched and discussed so that a parole board free of conflicts of interest can make a decision on his case at a clemency hearing.