The planned execution this week of a death row prisoner is on hold for now while a Fulton County judge considers whether at least one of the five-member Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles must recuse themselves from a clemency hearing.
The decision was announced during an hourslong emergency hearing seeking to halt the execution of Stacey Ian Humphreys, who was scheduled to die by lethal injection for the 2003 murders of two Cobb County real estate agents.
“Roughly an hour before this hearing started there was a stay of execution issued,” Humphreys’ attorney Jessica Gable Cino told Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Other attempts to halt Humphreys’ execution in federal court have been denied, and he was slated for a Tuesday clemency hearing. His attorneys were in McBurney’s courtroom on Monday arguing a motion to force the recusal of two of the board members.
One board member, Vice Chair Wayne V. Bennett, was the sheriff responsible for courthouse security in Glynn County where the murder trial was held. The other, new board member Kimberly McCoy, served as an advocate for the families of the slain victims during Humphreys’ trial nearly two decades ago, his attorneys said.
Tuesday’s clemency hearing was delayed after McCoy decided she would sit in on the hearing, but abstain from voting. In Monday’s hearing, McBurney and the lawyers tangled over whether an abstention would be fair.
Cino argued that simply abstaining does not resolve the issue at hand and that the board needs to have five voting members during a clemency hearing.
“Abstention effectively means we have Mr. Humphreys starting one vote down, a ‘no’ vote and that is not constitutionally effective,” she said.
McBurney compared it to a hitter’s batting average in baseball.
“Doesn’t Mr. Humphreys walk into that room with fewer chances to get three votes?” McBurney asked the state. “He has to bat .750 instead of .600. Doesn’t that change the dynamic in a way that’s not fair?”
Tina Piper, an attorney representing Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr’s office, argued that as long as there’s a quorum -- in this case at least three votes -- the clemency hearing can take place.
McBurney raised questions about what the timeline might look like should the board decide to quickly reschedule its hearing.
“In your experience, when they un-suspend things, do they un-suspend and say, ‘we’ll see everyone in 20 minutes for the clemency hearing’ or is it a week’s notice?” the judge asked.
Piper struggled to give a definitive answer.
“I don’t know that I could give you a time frame, but it’s not 20 minutes,” she said. “They would get the same notice they get normally, I would think.”
“I mean I haven’t been on death row before, so I don’t know what kind of notice you get,” McBurney said.
La’Quandra Smith, the parole board’s attorney, said should the suspension be lifted, the board would most likely provide a 24-hour notice for the defendant and his attorneys, “depending on whether the window for execution is still open.”
Humphreys attorneys argued that they would need more notice on a rescheduled clemency hearing, saying they have many witnesses, some from out of state, who will be present and testifying at the hearing.
Smith said this is the first time in her two decades working for the board that a member has had a conflict in a death penalty hearing.
Board of Pardons and Paroles spokesman Steve Hayes couldn’t say for certain whether the clemency hearing would be rescheduled within the execution window, which expires Dec. 24 at noon.
“The board didn’t want to get in a position of starting a clemency meeting if there was an outstanding court proceeding,” he said.
Credit: Georgia Department of Corrections
Credit: Georgia Department of Corrections
Humphreys was sentenced to death in 2007 for the 2003 killings of Cyndi Williams and Lori Brown, who were strangled and then shot to death in the model home of a Powder Springs subdivision.
The trial was moved from Cobb County to coastal Glynn County because of pretrial publicity.
McCoy served as a victim advocate for Cobb County at the time of Humphreys’ trial, which resulted in her getting close to Williams’ and Brown’s families, Humphreys’ attorneys argued.
She was appointed to the board by Gov. Brian Kemp on Dec. 1.
McCoy testified that she has only been on the job three weeks and found out about Humphreys execution warrant on her second day. It wasn’t until Sunday night that the decision was made for her to abstain from voting on Humphreys clemency application, McCoy said.
However, when asked by McBurney what abstaining meant to her in this case, McCoy said she would do what McBurney directed.
Cino said a five-member board is required to hear the clemency application, so if McCoy were to be recused, Kemp could appoint an interim board member to fill her spot. But Piper said Kemp couldn’t actually do so.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Bennett, who testified over Zoom from St. Simons Island, said his involvement in the trial will have no bearing on his clemency decision. He said he has received Humphreys clemency application and is currently reviewing it.
“I’m a factual person, I believe in the evidence, the rule of law and that’s what I go by,” he said. “I can’t bring in past experience from 18 years ago that would make up my mind or my decision process one way or the other.”
McBurney did not make a ruling at the end of the four-hour hearing, saying he would take the arguments under advisement.
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