ATLANTA - The State Board of Pardons and Paroles has scheduled a meeting for Wednesday, May 2, 2018, to consider clemency for condemned inmate Robert Earl Butts, Jr. The sole purpose of this meeting is to receive information for or against clemency for Butts. The Board’s meeting is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.

The Superior Court of Baldwin County has ordered the execution of Butts for the 1996 murder of Donovan Corey Parks.  The Georgia Department of Corrections has scheduled the execution to take place by lethal injection on Thursday, May 3, 2018, at 7 p.m. at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson.

Butts was convicted in Baldwin County of murder, armed robbery, hijacking a motor vehicle, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, and possession of a sawed-off shotgun. He was sentenced to death on November 21, 1998. The United States Supreme Court denied Butts’ request to appeal on January 22, 2018.

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. Following the meeting, the Board may commute the sentence, issue a stay of up to 90-days, or deny clemency.

The Board maintains a comprehensive file on each death row inmate. The file contains the history of the life of the condemned inmate, including the inmate’s criminal history and the circumstances of the crime that was committed resulting in the death sentence.

The meeting will take place at the Parole Board’s central office in the East Tower of the Floyd Veterans Memorial Building located at 2 Martin Luther King, Jr., Drive, S.E. 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 arrive by 8:30 a.m. to be cleared by building security on the Plaza Level. Media should proceed to check in with credentials in the Board’s public reception office on the 4th Floor, room 458. Following the meeting, media will be given an opportunity to interview those appearing before the Board, if they choose to grant interviews.

To view a photo of Robert Earl Butts, Jr., go to www.gdc.georgia.gov, click on Find an Offender, agree to the terms on the disclaimer page and search by the offender’s EF number, 405158.

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

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