Parole board set to meet Tuesday on condemned Houston County killer Travis Hittson

The state Board of Pardons and Paroles is scheduled to hear a clemency request Tuesday on behalf of condemned Houston County killer Travis Clinton Hittson.

The board has invited Hittson's representatives to meet with the board at 9 a.m. to lay out a case for clemency.

Hittson, a Navy veteran, is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 7 p.m. Feb. 17 at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison near Jackson.

A Houston County Superior Court judge issued the execution order for Hittson for the 1992 murder of Conway Utterbeck.

In February 1993, Hittson was convicted of murder, theft by taking, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. The jury recommended a death sentence, which was imposed in March 1993.

Hittson's direct appeal proceedings and his state and federal habeas corpus proceedings have concluded.

His attorneys have asked for a 90-day stay of execution "to permit full consideration of his application" as well as a commutation of the death sentence.

In their application to the parole board, Hittson's attorneys base their bid on five grounds:

-- The naval community doesn't want Hittson executed;

-- Hittson is "deeply remorseful" for what he did and "has worked relentlessly for redemption and rehabilitation";

-- His crime "was an extreme aberration" from the life he had lived before it happened;

-- His punishment would have been life without parole had the sentencing jury had that option at the time;

-- Hittson's co-defendant, Edward Vollmer -- "the man who orchestrated this crime and manipulated Mr. Hittson into believing his life was in danger from Conway Utterbeck" -- may one day be paroled.

In Georgia, the parole board has the sole constitutional authority to commute, or reduce, a death sentence to life with the possibility of parole or to life without the possibility of parole. Four jurors who voted for a death sentence have since written to the parole board and asked that Hittson be sentenced to life without parole, saying they believe that is the appropriate punishment.

This story was originally published February 15, 2016 at 3:01 PM with the headline "Parole board set to meet Tuesday on condemned Houston County killer Travis Hittson ."