Man scheduled for execution in Middle GA faces clemency hearing. What to know
The day before a convicted murderer is slated to be executed in a prison in Middle Georgia, he will face a parole board to decide whether the execution should move forward or not.
Stacey Humphreys, who was convicted of murder, aggravated assault, armed robbery, and kidnapping with bodily injury charges on Sept. 25, 2007, is expected to be executed on Dec. 17 at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, roughly 46 miles north of Macon.
But on Dec. 16, the State Board of Pardons and Paroles will conduct a clemency meeting, in which “the board may commute the death sentence to a life sentence with or without the possibility of parole, issue a stay or deny clemency,” according to Steve Hayes, director of the office of communications for the parole board.
“In Georgia, only the Parole Board may grant executive clemency to a condemned inmate,” Hayes said.
If the parole board doesn’t change the sentence or issue a stay, Humphreys would be the first man in Georgia to face execution this year.
Attack on employees at construction company
Humphreys, a convicted felon still on parole at the time of the killings, entered the sales office of a home construction company in a model home in Cobb County on Nov. 3, 2003, where Cindy Williams and Lori Brown worked as real estate agents. Humphreys saw Williams first, alone in the office, and used a stolen handgun to force her to undress and reveal the personal identification number for her ATM card, according to Cobb County Superior Court records.
After finding out the current balance of Williams’ bank account, Humphreys choked her, according to court records. He shot her multiple times, court records say.
Brown entered the office after Humphreys attacked Williams, and Humphreys choked her as well, according to court records. Humphreys also forced Brown to undress, and provide her PIN for her ATM card. He checked her balance, and killed her as well.
The incident took roughly 50 minutes, according to court records.
He then left with the victims’ driver’s licenses and credit cards. Humphreys then withdrew $3,000 from their accounts. He deposited $1,000 into his account and possessed $800 in cash when he was arrested, according to court records.
After the shootings, he fled to Wisconsin, but he was arrested on Nov. 8, 2003. He was found with a Ruger 9 mm pistol, which was determined to be the murder weapon, with blood that was determined to be from Williams. A stain on his Dodge Durango was also discovered to be blood, this time from Brown’s, court records show.
Though in a statement Humphreys claimed he didn’t remember his actions during the crime, when asked why he fled, he said, “I know I did it. I know it just as well as I know my own name,” according to court records.
Prior efforts to reverse death sentence
A Cobb County jury found Humphreys guilty of the murders and sentenced him to death, but he requested a new trial, citing issues that were present during the trial and sentencing, according to court records.
Jurors struggled to reach a consensus on his sentence, court records say, with one juror requesting to be removed from the panel due to the “hostile nature” of another juror, according to court records. The hostile juror alleged to have been a victim of a violent crime, and was insistent upon the death penalty. Despite rising frustrations from other jurors about the dispute, a Cobb County judge instructed them to keep deliberating.
The jurors ultimately voted for death.
Humphreys filed a habeas corpus petition in the Northern District of Georgia in May 2018 in an effort to change his sentence based on the issues presented at trial, according to court records. But a federal judge denied it in September 2020. Humphreys appealed the decision, but the appellate judges affirmed the judge’s decision, according to court records.
He then appealed that decision to the U.S. Supreme Court in October 2024, court records show.
While most of the justices declined to review Humphrey’s petition, Supreme Justice Sonia Sotomayor, along with Associate Justice Elena Kagan and Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, said that the Supreme Court “(allowed) a death sentence tainted by a single juror’s extraordinary misconduct to stand,” according to court records.
A judge at Cobb County Superior Court last week ordered Humphreys’ execution to be scheduled Dec 17.
