Execution date set for Jones County man in sister-in-law’s 1990 shooting death

A Jones County man is set to be executed at 7 p.m. Sept. 26 for the 1990 murder of his sister-in-law.

Keith Leroy Tharpe was sentenced to death in 1991 after being found guilty of fatally shooting Jacquelyn Freeman three times with a single-shot 12-gauge shotgun. The trial was held three months after the killing.

Tharpe’s state and federal appeals have concluded, according to a statement issued by the Georgia Attorney General’s office Wednesday.

A Jones County Superior Court judge has filed an order setting a seven-day window when the execution may happen. The window begins at noon Sept. 26 and ends at noon Oct. 3.

According to a summary of the case included in the release:

Tharpe's wife left him in August 1990 and moved in with her mother. After Tharpe reportedly made violent threats to and about his wife and her family, a peace warrant was issued against him, and he was ordered not to have any contact with his wife or her family.

Tharpe called his wife Sept. 24, 1990, and the couple argued.

The following morning, Tharpe's wife and Freeman were on the way to work when Tharpe used his vehicle to block theirs on a Jones County road, forcing them to stop.

Armed with a shotgun and apparently under the influence of drugs, he got out of his vehicle and ordered them to get out of their car as well.

He took Freeman to the back of his vehicle and shot her. Tharpe then rolled her into a ditch, reloaded his gun and shot her again, killing her.

This story was originally published September 6, 2017 at 5:02 PM with the headline "Execution date set for Jones County man in sister-in-law’s 1990 shooting death."