Parole Board Denies Clemency for Emmanuel Hammond

Atlanta, Ga - Earlier today, the State Board of Pardons and Paroles met to consider a clemency request for condemned inmate Emmanuel Hammond. Attorneys representing Hammond declined the appointment, stating Hammond was not seeking executive clemency. Despite Hammond’s decision not to seek clemency, the Board reviewed its file on him to determine whether to grant clemency. The Board voted to deny clemency.

Emmanuel Hammond was convicted in Fulton County in March 1990 of murder, kidnapping and armed robbery. Julie Love, the victim, was last seen July 11, 1988. A year later, in August of 1989, 34 year old Janice Weldon reported to police that 26 year old Emmanuel Hammond and his cousin, Maurice Porter, were responsible for Love’s disappearance. Police placed a "body bug" on Weldon and monitored conversations between her and Porter. Porter made several incriminating statements. Porter and Hammond were subsequently arrested. Porter confessed and led police to Love’s skeletal remains.

Porter and Weldon testified at Hammond's trial that on July 11, 1988, Porter, Weldon and Hammond were driving around and spotted Julie Love walking alongside Howell Mill Road in Fulton County. Love declined Hammond’s offer for a ride. Later, after driving back past her, Hammond, armed with a sawed-off shotgun, jumped out, grabbed Love and threw her into the car. After unsuccessfully trying to use Love’s bank cards at an automated teller machine, Hammond struck Love repeatedly with the shotgun and Porter raped her at Grove Park Elementary School.

Weldon was dropped off at her apartment and Hammond and Porter returned to the school with Love. Using a clothes hanger, Hammond and Porter tried unsuccessfully to strangle Love as she struggled. Hammond told Porter to drive to Grove Park, where he took Julie Love into the woods, leaving Porter with the car. Porter heard a gunshot and a few minutes later Hammond returned alone, his face flecked with blood. The next morning, Weldon asked Hammond what had happened to Julie Love. Hammond later told Weldon that after Love "put her hands in front of her face," he "blew the side of her face off." He dumped her body in a trash pile and covered her up with a board.

Hammond is scheduled to die by lethal injection January 25, 2011, at 7:00 p.m., at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, Georgia.

To view a photo of Emmanuel Hammond, go to www.dcor.state.ga.us

Click on GDC Inmate Query, agree to the terms on the disclaimer page, and enter the offender’s

EF number, 255470

For more information on the Parole Board, please visit our web site at www.pap.state.ga.us

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