ATLANTA – The State Board of Pardons and Paroles has scheduled a meeting for May 16, 2022, to receive information for or against clemency for Virgil Delano Presnell, Jr. The five-member Georgia Parole Board will begin its meeting with Presnell’s representatives at 9 a.m. to receive information in favor of commuting Presnell’s death sentence.

Virgil Delano Presnell, Jr., was convicted by a jury of four crimes committed in 1976 against two girls, ages eight and ten years old. He was convicted of kidnapping and murdering the younger child and kidnapping with bodily injury and raping the older child. The jury imposed the death sentence.

The Superior Court of Cobb County has ordered the execution of Presnell which has been scheduled by the Georgia Department of Corrections for 7 p.m. on May 17, 2022, at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson.

The Parole Board will thoroughly review the comprehensive case file maintained on the offender prior to the scheduled meeting.

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 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 Virgil Delano Presnell, 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, 100899.

For more information, contact the Parole Board’s communications office at 404-657-9450 or email [email protected].