ATLANTA - The State Board of Pardons and Paroles has scheduled a meeting for Tuesday, October 29, 2019, to consider clemency for condemned inmate Ray Jefferson Cromartie. The sole purpose of this meeting is to receive information for or against clemency for Cromartie. The Board’s meeting is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.

The Superior Court of Thomas County has ordered the execution of Cromartie for the 1994 murder of Richard Slysz. The Georgia Department of Corrections has scheduled the execution to take place by lethal injection on Wednesday, October 30, 2019, at 7 p.m. at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson.

Cromartie was indicted in the Superior Court of Thomas County, Georgia, for one count of malice murder, one count of aggravated assault, one count of aggravated battery, one count of armed robbery and four counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. Cromartie was convicted as charged in the indictment and sentenced to death on October 1, 1997. The United States Supreme Court denied Cromartie’s request to appeal on December 3, 2018.

Cromartie has concluded his direct appeal proceedings, and his state and federal habeas corpus proceedings.

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 appeals and other judicial avenues of relief will the Parole Board consider granting a commutation to a death-sentenced inmate. At that time, the condemned inmate’s attorney may petition the Board to grant executive clemency for his or her client. 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 background information on the condemned inmate including the inmate’s criminal history and the circumstances of the crime(s) 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., Atlanta, Georgia 30334. 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 in the board hearing room 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 persons appearing before the Board, if they choose to grant interviews.

To view a photo of Ray Jefferson Cromartie 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, 382831.

For more information please contact Steve Hayes, Director of Communications for the State Board of Pardons and Paroles at 404-657-9450 or [email protected] or visit our website at www.pap.georgia.gov.

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