Stacey Humphreys, 53, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on 16 September, more than two decades after he was convicted of murdering two women near Atlanta, Georgia.
The crime
Humphreys entered a real estate sales office in November 2003 and forced two staff members, 33-year-old Cyndi Williams and 21-year-old Lori Brown, to strip and provide the PIN codes for their bank cards. He then fatally shot both women before fleeing with their driver's licences and credit cards, later withdrawing $3,000 from their accounts, according to court records. He was arrested days later and sentenced to death in 2007 after being found guilty of malice murder.
His final meal request
According to the Georgia Department of Corrections, Humphreys has requested barbecue beef brisket, pork ribs, a bacon double cheeseburger, french fries, buffalo wings, and a meat lovers pan pizza, along with butter pecan ice cream, peach ice cream, and two caffeine-free sodas.
Details of the execution
If carried out as scheduled, Humphreys will become the 55th inmate executed by lethal injection in Georgia, and one of 77 people executed in the state since the US Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. Four media witnesses are expected to attend: Kate Brumback of the Associated Press, Caleb Groves of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jack Lindner of the Marietta Daily Journal, and Doug Richards of WXIA-11Alive.
A last-minute legal challenge
Humphreys' lawyer has filed a motion attempting to halt the execution, alleging that one juror lied during jury selection. The motion claims the juror had already decided, well before deliberations, that she would consider no outcome other than a death sentence.
Why not every inmate gets this choice
Unlike Georgia, Texas no longer allows death row inmates to choose their final meal, following the actions of Lawrence Russell Brewer, who requested an enormous final meal in 2011, including multiple burgers, fajitas, pizza, ice cream, and fudge, only to refuse to eat any of it, claiming he wasn't hungry. Following the incident, Texas senator John Whitmire ended the state's 87-year tradition of allowing chosen final meals, a policy change that continues to affect current death row inmates such as Taylor Parker.
Where the death penalty currently stands in the US
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 27 US states retain the death penalty, though several currently have executive holds in place, including California, Ohio, Oregon, and Pennsylvania. A further 23 states have abolished it entirely, ranging from Michigan in 1847 to Washington in 2023.
