Georgia’s Parole and Pardon Board has rejected a condemned inmate’s plea for clemency, concluding William Earl Lynd should be administered the lethal injection at 7 p.m. Tuesday, in Jackson, south of Atlanta.
The last execution took place in Georgia seven months ago, in June 2007, when John Hightower died of the lethal injection, after having apologized for what he had done and having thanked his family for standing by him, Paul Czachowski, the spokesman for the Georgia Department of Corrections told ABC News.
In the shadow of Lynd’s case, prosecutors in several states hurried to schedule executions that had been delayed by the court’s review. Texas officials announced Monday they would execute Mexican born Jose Medellin, convicted for the gang raping and murder of two teenage girls in Houston 15 years ago. Texas is the state which carries out more executions than any other state.
Death penalty opponents planned protests across Georgia at the time of the execution, including outside the death row at the prison in Jackson.
Demonstrators who disagree with the death penalty say that capital punishments puts government on the same level with the murderers.
"It's a shame and it's very sad Georgia is leading the way in the new resumption of executions in the United States," said Laura Moye, chairwoman of Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. "They're trying to send a message they're tough on crime, but they're acting irresponsibly."
Moye suggested that, too often, race and other such factors played an important role in who is executed for capital crimes.
"Factors like race, class, and the county where the crime occurred have much more to do with who goes to death row than the actual heinousness of the crime," she said, according to CNN.
Lynd was convicted for shooting his girlfriend Ginger Moore three times in the face in December 1988, and then burying her in a shallow grave near Tifton, south Georgia.
Authorities said Lynd had requested a last meal that consisted of two pepper jack barbecue burgers with crispy onions, two baked potatoes with sour cream, bacon and cheese, and a large strawberry milkshake.