ATLANTA - The State Board of Pardons and Paroles has invited representatives for condemned inmate Brandon Astor Jones to meet with the Board on Monday, February 1, 2016, at 9:00 a.m. to advocate clemency for him. Jones is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Tuesday, February 2, 2016, at 7 p.m. at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson.

Brandon Astor Jones was convicted of the June 1979 murder of Roger Tackett, a convenience store manager in Cobb County. Jones was sentenced to death for the murder. The United States Supreme Court denied Jones’ request to appeal on October 5, 2015.

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 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 Jones 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.