ATLANTA - Following a meeting with representatives for condemned inmate Gregory Paul Lawler, the State Board of Pardons and Paroles has denied a request for clemency in the case. 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.

In reaching its decision to deny clemency in this case, in addition to information received during today’s meeting, the Parole Board reviewed all case materials from the comprehensive parole file of Lawler. 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.

Gregory Paul Lawler received the death sentence for the 1997 murder of Atlanta police officer John Sowa. Sowa and Officer Patricia Cocciolone were each 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. 

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

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