ATLANTA – Representatives seeking clemency for condemned inmate John Wayne Conner are scheduled to meet with the State Board of Pardons and Paroles at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, July 13, 2016. Conner is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Thursday, July 14, 2016, at 7 p.m. at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson.

John Wayne Conner received the death sentence for the January 1982 murder of James T. White in Telfair County. He was indicted for malice murder, armed robbery and motor vehicle theft. A jury found Conner guilty as charged on July 14, 1982, sentencing him to death. May 24, 1983, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed Conner’s convictions for malice murder and motor vehicle theft and his death sentence but reversed his conviction for armed robbery. The United States Supreme Court denied Conner’s request to appeal on February 29, 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. The Board maintains a comprehensive file on each inmate on death row. 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 Conner if they choose to grant interviews.

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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