Atlanta - The State Board of Pardons and Paroles has invited representatives for condemned inmate Marcus Ray Johnson to meet with the Board on Wednesday, November 18, 2015, at 9:00 a.m. to advocate clemency for him. Johnson is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Thursday, November 19, 2015, at 7 p.m. at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson.

The Board previously conducted a clemency meeting for Johnson in October 2011; however the Board suspended action prior to reaching a decision after a stay was issued in Johnson’s case by the Dougherty County Superior Court.

 
Marcus Ray Johnson was convicted on April 5, 1998, of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, rape, and aggravated battery in the March 1994 death of Angela Sizemore in Albany. Johnson was sentenced to death.

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. The Board maintains a comprehensive file on every death-sentenced inmate. The file includes the history of the life of the condemned inmate, the inmate’s criminal history and the circumstances of the offense he committed resulting in the death sentence.

It is anticipated that the meeting will be closed as authorized by O.C.G.A. § 50-14-3 (a)(2). No public comment will be taken at this meeting and no other business will be conducted. Media will be afforded the opportunity to take photographs prior to the meeting. Media should check in with credentials by 8:30 a.m. in the Board’s public reception office at 2 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, S.E., East Tower, 4th Floor, room 458. Media should first be cleared for entry by building security on the Plaza Level. Members of the media will be given an opportunity to wait until the conclusion of the meeting to interview those seeking executive clemency for Johnson, if they choose to grant interviews.

For more information please contact Steve Hayes, Director of the Office of Communications, at 404-657-9450 or [email protected] or visit our website at www.pap.georgia.gov.