Georgia preparing to execute man for 1996 killing

Georgia preparing to execute man for 1996 killing

Georgia is preparing to execute a man convicted in the killing of an off-duty prison guard more than two decades ago.

Marion Wilson Jr. is scheduled to receive a lethal injection Thursday. Wilson and Robert Earl Butts Jr. were convicted of murder and sentenced to death in the March 1996 slaying of Donovan Corey Parks. Butts was executed in May 2018.

Authorities have said Butts and Wilson asked Parks for a ride outside a Walmart store in Milledgeville and then fatally shot him a short distance away. The pair then stole Parks’ car.

The State Board of Pardons and Paroles held a clemency hearing Wednesday and said it would release its decision Thursday. The board is the only authority in Georgia that can commute a death sentence.

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