ATLANTA - Representatives seeking clemency for condemned inmate Steven Frederick Spears are scheduled to meet with the State Board of Pardons and Paroles at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, November 15, 2016. Spears is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Wednesday, November 16, 2016, at 7 p.m. at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson.

Steven Frederick Spears received the death sentence for the October 2001 murder of Sherri Holland which occurred in Lumpkin County. On March 21, 2007, following a jury trial, Spears was convicted of murder. The jury found the existence of two statutory aggravating circumstances and recommended a death sentence for the murder.

The Georgia Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the convictions and death sentence in the case on February 16, 2015. Spears did not appeal to the United States Supreme Court.

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. 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 Spears 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.ga.gov.