The Latest: Georgia high court declines to stop execution

The Latest: Georgia high court declines to stop execution

The Latest on the scheduled execution of a Georgia inmate for a 1996 killing (all times local):

7 p.m.

Lawyers for a Georgia death row inmate have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the state’s plans to execute the inmate for a 1996 shotgun slaying.

The lawyers for 42-year-old Marion Wilson Jr. asked as the scheduled 7 p.m. execution time neared that the U.S. Supreme Court block Georgia’s plans to carry out the death sentence and allow a review of a lower court decision rejecting Wilson’s claims.

Earlier Thursday, the Georgia Supreme Court rejected two court challenges by Wilson over arguments claiming prosecutorial misconduct and Wilson’s ineligibility to receive the death penalty.

There was no immediate response from the nation’s highest court as of 7 p.m.

Wilson and Robert Earl Butts Jr. were convicted of murder and sentenced to death in the March 1996 slaying of Donovan Corey Parks. 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.

Butts was executed in May 2018.

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4 p.m.

The Georgia Supreme Court has rejected two court challenges by a death row inmate and declined to stop his scheduled evening execution.

Marion Wilson Jr. is set to receive a lethal injection at 7 p.m. 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 closed-door clemency hearing Wednesday and denied clemency Thursday morning. The board is the only authority in Georgia that can commute a death sentence.

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9 a.m.

The Georgia parole board has denied clemency for a prisoner scheduled to be executed Thursday for the killing of an off-duty prison guard more than two decades ago.

Marion Wilson Jr. is scheduled to receive a lethal injection at 7 p.m. 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 closed-door clemency hearing Wednesday and issued its decision denying clemency Thursday morning. The board is the only authority in Georgia that can commute a death sentence.

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1 a.m.

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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