Overview
- Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney on Monday ordered a temporary halt to executing Stacey Humphreys, who was convicted in the 2003 killings of Cyndi Williams and Lori Brown after a Dec. 17 execution date was previously stayed.
- The order blocks the State Board of Pardons and Paroles from advancing Humphreys’ clemency petition for 90 days unless the court rules sooner, and it bars the Georgia Department of Corrections from carrying out an execution until a clemency hearing is held.
- McBurney set a Jan. 19 deadline for supplemental briefs on the alleged conflicts and invited arguments on whether Kimberly McCoy can be replaced for the hearing; Humphreys seeks temporary replacements to be appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp.
- Humphreys’ lawyers challenge two board members: McCoy, who previously worked with the victims’ families as a Cobb County victim-witness official, and Wayne Bennett, who was Glynn County sheriff when the trial was held there.
- The judge said there appears to be no sound basis to require Bennett’s recusal and cautioned that McCoy’s plan to abstain would function as a no vote, emphasizing the need for a full, unconflicted five-member vote because errors in clemency cannot be undone.