|
Year of Reenactment
(since 1972 suspension) |
1973 | |
|
Year of First Execution
(since reenactment) |
1983 | |
|
History
|
1845-1923: hanging |
|
|
Current Method
|
Lethal injection |
|
|
|
|
Georgia has life without parole. A jury decides the sentence. The State Board of Pardons and Paroles has the exclusive authority to grant clemency.
Georgia does not guarantee an attorney to death row inmates wishing to file post-conviction appeals. One such inmate, Exzavious Gibson, was forced to appear before an appellate judge with no representation, while the state's case was argued by experienced death penalty counsel. Gibson lost that appeal after offering no arguments and challenged the state's failure to provide representation to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to take his case in 1999.
In 2000 the Pardons and Parole Board granted clemency to Alexander Williams because of his mental retardation and his age at the time of the crime. The electric chair was declared cruel and unusual by the Georgia Supreme Court in October 2001.
Troy Davis was executed in 2011, despite strong evidence of innocence.