It could be 90 days before the State Board of Pardons and Paroles considers a Georgia death row inmate’s plea for clemency, unless a judge issues a final ruling sooner. Stacey Humphreys, born 1973, was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2003 double murders of Lori Brown and Cynthia Williams, two west Cobb residents and real estate agents. Humphreys has remained on death row after his death warrant expired Christmas Eve due to a suspension on his execution issued by the state Board of Pardons and Paroles. In an order filed Monday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney granted a temporary injunction preventing the Georgia Department of Corrections from carrying out Humphreys’ execution until the inmate can be afforded the “standard, constitutionally mandated clemency hearing” before a full State Board of Pardons and Paroles. The order comes amid unresolved concerns — presented by Humphreys and his team — about conflicts of interest on the state clemency board. “A careful weighing of these factors demonstrates that pressing ‘pause’ on the execution machinery until we answer the non-frivolous question raised by petitioner concerning the proper composition of the boar
