Photo By Michael Alexander

UPDATE: State’s high court leaves stay of execution in place

Georgia’s Board of Pardons and Paroles denied clemency for death row inmate Stacey Humphreys on Sept. 15. Humphreys’ attorneys then filed a motion for a hearing on applying the new Georgia Survivors Justice Act to the case to reduce his sentence to life without parole. This state law is designed to consider abuse suffered by an individual who has committed a crime as a mitigating factor. According to his lawyers, Humphreys was routinely abused throughout his childhood and medical evidence supporting the abuse was introduced in his trial for the murders. Cobb County Superior Court Judge Tyler Browning issued a stay of execution the same day to allow for a hearing under the act. A lawyer for the Attorney General’s office filed an appeal with the Supreme Court of Georgia. On Wednesday, Sept. 16, the state Supreme Court said that they would consider the case in the ordinary course of business and that it raises “important and novel questions. “We leave undisturbed the stay order issued by the Cobb County Superior Court,” wrote the justices. A hearing is scheduled for Dec. 8.

The Bishop’s Sept. 14 statement appealing for mercy

ATLANTA—In a Sept. 14 statement, Georgia’s Catholic bishops—Archbishop Gregory J. Hartmayer, OFM Conv., of Atlanta; Bishop Stephen D. Parkes of Savannah and Atlanta’s auxiliary bishops—ask the state’s board of pardon and paroles to commute the sentence of death row inmate Stacey Humphreys.

Cobb County’s Superior Court has ordered the execution of Humphreys. The Georgia Department of Corrections is set to carry out the execution the evening of Wednesday, Sept. 16, at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson. Humphreys was convicted in Cobb County for the 2003 murders of Lori Brown and Cyndi Williams. If executed, he will be the 55th inmate put to death by lethal injection.

The bishops’ statement follows:

“In spite of growing public opposition to the death penalty in our country, the state of Georgia has chosen to perpetuate a culture of death and scheduled the execution of Stacey Humphreys for September 16.

Mr. Humphreys does not deny having committed the crimes for which he was convicted, and we are not arguing for his innocence. Instead, we ask for mercy and forgiveness, especially in light of the deep remorse and desire to take accountability that Mr. Humphreys expressed even prior to his trial.

This mercy is not granted at the expense of the memory and dignity of his victims, Cyndi Williams and Lori Brown. Rather, it is a clear sign of the firm rejection of the very violence that took their lives. As a state, as a society, we must commit to pursuing justice in a manner that does not devolve into vengeance and further violence.

We, the Catholic bishops of Georgia, urge the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to choose mercy, to embrace a culture of life and honor the will of the 11 jurors who voted for life by commuting Mr. Humphreys’ sentence to life without parole.

Our prayers are for the healing of the families and loved ones of Cyndi Williams and Lori Brown; they are for our elected officials, that they can come to see their role as one that should preserve life rather than take it; and they are for Stacey Humphreys, that he is granted mercy and his life is spared.”