ATLANTA - Following a meeting to consider clemency for condemned inmate Keith Leroy Tharpe, the State Board of Pardons and Paroles has denied the request for clemency. The board met today to receive information for or against clemency. The board members have been reviewing the parole case file on the offender for the past several weeks and, prior to today’s meeting, the Board had reviewed information presented today which was filed with the board last week on behalf of Tharpe.

The Jones County Superior Court ordered the execution of Tharpe for the September 1990 murder of his sister-in-law Jaquelin Freeman.  The Georgia Department of Corrections has scheduled the execution by lethal injection for Tuesday, September 26, 2017, at 7 p.m. at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson.

Tharpe was convicted in Jones County of malice murder and two counts of kidnapping with bodily injury and sentenced to death on January 10, 1991, for the murder of Freeman. The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed Tharpe’s convictions and death sentence and the United States Supreme Court denied Tharpe’s request to appeal in June.

In Georgia, the Parole Board has the sole constitutional authority to consider 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.

To view a photo of Keith Leroy Tharpe, 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, 271622.

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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