Hours before execution, inmate seeks relief through Georgia abuse survivor law

The law was enacted last year to help defendants who defended themselves against domestic abuse or family violence.ATLANTA (CN) — Just hours before his slated execution, a convicted murderer argued to a Georgia judge on Tuesday that a state law enacted last year to protect domestic abuse victims should spare his life.Stacey Ian Humphreys was convicted and sentenced to death nearly two decades ago for the 2003 killings of 33-year-old Cyndi Williams and 21-year-old Lori Brown.He had been out on parole for 13 months following a 1993 felony theft conviction when the two real estate agents were strangled and then shot to death in the model home of a Powder Springs subdivision. After the fatal shootings, Humphreys stole the women’s driver’s licenses and credit cards, then withdrew more than $3,000 from their accounts.The 53-year-old argues he is eligible for a lesser sentence under the new state law because he was subjected to severe and persistent physical and mental abuse as a child that contributed to his criminal behavior.He filed a petition to modify his death sentence to a determinate sentence of not less than 10 years but not more than 30 years.Attorney Brian Kammer of the Federal Defender Program said there was substantial evidence presented during trial showing that the abuse severely affected Humphreys’ mental health and functioning into adulthood.This included years of arbitrary beatings and whippings by his father, being burned with cigarettes, a skull fracture at age 3, exposure to drug and alcohol use and sexual abuse by his paternal great-grandmother, Kammer said.However, the state argues Humphreys’ interpretation of the law is not how it was intended to be construed and that it conflicts with Georgia’s long-standing death penalty sentencing procedures.“The Legislature never intended for this statute to be used in this manner,” Senior Assistant Attorney General Sabrina Graham told the judge.Graham pointed to lawmakers’ language in the bill, stating the purpose of the act is to provide defendants a justification for self-defense by offering evidence of family violence, dating violence or child abuse committed by the alleged victim.It was not meant to give an inmate already sentenced to death a new opportunity, years after trial to present mitigating evidence regarding childhood abuse that was not committed by the victims, Graham added.“That means every single inmate sitting on death row could come along and ask for their death sentence to be modified,” Graham said.She called Humphreys’ argument an insult to the people the act was designed to protect, such as Nicole Boynton, the first Georgia prisoner released under the Survivor Justice Act earlier this year.After serving 23 years of her life sentence, a Cobb County judge determined that Boynton was the victim of repeated violence that had been a significant contributing factor in her crime. Boynton was convicted of stabbing and killing her boyfriend, Ronnie Moss II, during a fight at their home in 1999 when she was 18 years old.Humphreys’ execution is scheduled for Wednesday evening. As of 6 p.m., Cobb County Superior Court Judge Tyler Browning had yet to issue a ruling.In October 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Humphreys’ final appeal, and he remains on death row at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison.Tuesday was not the first time Humphreys made a last-ditch effort to avoid his death sentence.His execution was previously scheduled to take place last year, but was postponed after he argued there was a potential conflict of interest for two of the five members of the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles ahead of his clemency hearing.That clemency hearing resumed Tuesday morning without one of the board members, Kimberly McCoy, who was recused by a Fulton County judge because she had served as an advocate for the families of the slain victims during Humphreys’ trial in 2007.The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles is the only state entity with the power to commute a death sentence, and its hearings are not open to the public.After thoroughly considering all the facts and circumstances of the case, the board said it denied Humphreys’ clemency petition.That leaves the final decision in Browning’s hands. If the judge does not grant his petition for reconsideration, Humphreys will become the 55th Georgia inmate put to death by lethal injection.Since the death penalty was reinstated by the Supreme Court in 1976, Georgia has executed 76 men and one woman, ranking it the 10th state with the most executions per capita.But there hasn’t been another execution in over two years, in part, due to an agreement by the state to temporarily halt executions during the Covid pandemic that was challenged in court over whether requirements had been met to resume them.In June, the Georgia Supreme Court paved the way for the state to move forward with executions. The last inmate executed by the state was Willie James Pye on March 20, 2024.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads