ATLANTA – The State Board of Pardons and Paroles has invited representatives for condemned inmate Travis Clinton Hittson to meet with the Board on Tuesday, February 16, 2016, at 9:00 a.m. to advocate clemency for him. Hittson is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Wednesday, February 17, 2016, at 7 p.m. at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson. The Superior Court of Houston County issued the order for the execution of Hittson for the 1992 murder of Conway Utterbeck.

In February of 1993, Hittson was convicted of murder, theft by taking as a lesser offense of an armed robbery, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. The jury recommended a death sentence which was imposed in March of 1993. Hittson’s direct appeal proceedings and his state and federal habeas corpus proceedings have been concluded.

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 Hittson, 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.