ATLANTA - The State Board of Pardons and Paroles has invited representatives for condemned inmate Joshua Bishop to meet with the Board on Wednesday, March 30, 2016, at 9:00 a.m. to advocate clemency for him. Bishop is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Thursday, March 31, 2016, at 7 p.m. at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson as a result of the execution order issued by the Superior Court of Baldwin County.

On February 8, 1996, following a jury trial, Joshua Bishop was convicted of malice murder and armed robbery for the 1994 murder of Leverett Morrison. The jury’s recommendation of a death sentence was returned on February 12, 1996. Bishop’s direct appeal proceedings and his state and federal habeas corpus proceedings have been concluded. The United States Supreme Court denied Bishop’s request to appeal on October 6, 2014.

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 Bishop, 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.