ATLANTA - Representatives seeking clemency for condemned inmate Gregory Paul Lawler are scheduled to meet with the State Board of Pardons and Paroles at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, October 18, 2016. Lawler is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Wednesday, October 19, 2016, at 7 p.m. at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson.

Gregory Paul Lawler received the death sentence for the 1997 murder of Atlanta police officer John Sowa. Sowa and Officer Patricia Cocciolone were both shot multiple times by Lawler on October 12, 1997. Cocciolone was critically wounded.

On March 1, 2000, following a jury trial, Lawler was convicted of malice murder, felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault on a peace officer, aggravated battery on a peace officer, and two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. The jury’s recommendation of a death sentence for malice murder was returned on March 3, 2000. The United States Supreme Court denied Lawler’s request to appeal on October 3, 2016.

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 will the Parole Board consider granting a commutation to a death-sentenced inmate. The Board maintains a comprehensive file on each inmate on death row. The file includes the history of the life of the condemned inmate, the inmate’s criminal history and the circumstances of the offense that was 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 Lawler if they choose to grant interviews.

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