Clemency hearing set for condemned Jones County killer

A clemency hearing for condemned Jones County killer Daniel Anthony Lucas has been set.

Representatives for Lucas are scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. April 26 with the State Board of Pardons and Paroles.

The meeting is expected to be closed, with no comments from the public, according to a news release from the parole board.

Lucas, 37, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at 7 p.m. April 27 at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson.

Lucas was convicted of murdering 11-year-old Bryan Moss, 15-year-old Kristin Moss and their father, Steven Moss, during a burglary of their Jones County home in 1998.

A jury found Lucas guilty in September 1999 on three counts of malice murder, three counts of felony murder, two counts of burglary and one count of kidnapping with bodily injury.

He was sentenced to death by the jury.

Lucas’ direct appeal proceedings and his state and federal habeas corpus proceedings have concluded.

On Oct. 5, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Lucas’ request to appeal. The Jones County Superior Court issued the execution order.

In Georgia, the parole board has the sole constitutional authority to grant clemency and commute, or reduce a death sentence to life with the possibility of parole or to life without the possibility of parole. Only after an inmate appears to have exhausted all judicial avenues of relief, the parole board will consider granting the commuting of a death sentence.

This story was originally published April 19, 2016 at 4:52 PM with the headline "Clemency hearing set for condemned Jones County killer."