Stacey Ian Humphreys (GDOC)
COBB COUNTY, Ga. - A new execution date has been set for a Georgia death row inmate convicted of killing two women at a Cobb County real estate office more than two decades ago.
What we know:
The Georgia Department of Corrections announced Thursday that Stacey Humphreys is scheduled to be executed Sept. 16 at 7 p.m. at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson.
The Cobb County Superior Court issued an order allowing the execution to take place between Sept. 16 and Sept. 23. Corrections Commissioner Tyrone Oliver selected the first day of that window.
Humphreys was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2003 murders of Cyndi Williams, 33, and Lori Brown, 21.
What happened to the previous execution?
The backstory:
Humphreys had previously been scheduled to die by lethal injection on Dec. 17, but that execution did not take place.
Ahead of that date, Humphreys challenged the execution in federal court, arguing that an agreement reached when Georgia paused executions during the COVID-19 pandemic should also protect him from execution.
A federal judge rejected that argument, finding Humphreys fell outside the group of death row prisoners covered by the agreement because the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied his request for a rehearing in October 2024, years after the pandemic judicial emergency ended.
Humphreys also raised concerns about Georgia's execution protocol because of health issues. His attorneys argued that lying flat during the lethal injection could cause him severe difficulty breathing and asked that he be allowed to sit upright or stand.
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2003 Cobb County murders
Dig deeper:
Humphreys was convicted of killing Williams and Brown at the real estate office where they worked in Cobb County.
Prosecutors said Humphreys entered the office, robbed the women and forced them to partially undress before shooting both of them in the head. He was arrested after investigators linked him to the killings through evidence from the crime scene.
A jury convicted Humphreys of murder and other charges and sentenced him to death.
What's next?
What's next:
The new execution order could again trigger last-minute legal challenges and a request for clemency from the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles.
The board is the only authority in Georgia that can commute a death sentence. It can also issue a stay or decline to intervene.
If the execution takes place Sept. 16, the Department of Corrections says Humphreys will be the 55th inmate executed by lethal injection in Georgia.