In just the third time out of 24 requests since 1995, the Georgia Pardons and Parole Board on Thursday commuted a death sentence, just hours before the convicted killer was to be executed by lethal injection.

The five-member board commuted admitted murderer Samuel David Crowe's death sentence to life without parole less than 2 1/2 hours before he was scheduled to die Thursday evening for a crime 20 years ago.

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Samuel Crowe was to have been the second man Georgia has executed in 16 days.

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Crowe had already had his last meal — a steak dinner from a restaurant near the prison outside of Jackson — and his final physical and was waiting in a cell for the execution team when his lawyer, Ann Fort, telephoned him with the news the Parole Board had granted him mercy.

"He said, 'We will certainly take that.' It was the first time I've been able to call and give him good news," Fort said.

The board would not give a reason for its decision. "After careful and exhaustive consideration of the request, the board voted to grant clemency," said board spokeswoman Scheree Lipscomb.

Crowe's attorney and several friends and relatives met with the board Thursday. Fort submitted a box of testimonials from the man's supporters, including friends, pastors, an ex-teacher and even a former corrections officer.

Jack Bedsole, a retired corrections officer at Crowe's prison, called the man "a peacemaker" among the inmates in the prison.

"He was the only person I dealt with on death row in 16 years who I felt like if they released him that morning he would never get in any more trouble and he could make a contribution to society," Bedsole said.

By the time the Parole Board made its decision Thursday, the Georgia Supreme Court had already rejected his final appeal, but a petition was still pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The board's decision brought joy to death penalty opponents but angered the district attorney in the county where Crowe was sentenced to die.

Douglas County prosecutor David McDade pointed out that Crowe admitted to killing Joseph V. Pala, a former co-worker at a Douglasville lumber business, to get money in an attempt to get out of financial trouble.

"I am thoroughly disgusted," McDade said. "The victim's family is devastated."

Pala's widow, Fran Pala, who lives in Alabama, and his daughter, Lisa Pala-Hansen, who lives in Massachusetts, asked McDade to speak for them because they were too upset to do it themselves, he said. "They are devastated and hurt," McDade said.

Saying the family had been waiting 20 years for justice, he said: "This was a case where the defendant's guilt was never in question. He horribly, savagely, brutally shot [Pala] and bludgeoned him to death for money. There is no way I can comprehend the pain and grief this decision caused."

On March 2, 1988, Crowe went to Wickes Lumber Co. in Douglasville as Pala was closing the store for the night. Crowe was a former manager trainee at the lumber business, and his wife still worked there.

Crowe and Pala started talking and when Pala, 39, turned his back on his former co-worker, Crowe shot him. Then Crowe hit Pala with a paint can, poured paint over his face and struck him in the head with a crowbar. Crowe left with $1,160 in cash. He later admitted to the crime and was sentenced to death.

Fort said that obviously, the Parole Board believed the depth of her client's remorse.

"He deeply regrets what he did," Fort said. She said that at the time of the crime, Crowe was "in the throes of a terrible drug addiction. He has worked hard every day to in some way to atone for what he did. We're grateful they've decided to let Mr. Crowe live out the rest of his life."

Laura Moye, with the Georgia office of Amnesty International, was thrilled with the board's decision. She and other death penalty opponents got the news as they were preparing to stage demonstrations at the prison and in several other cities.

"It is very rare," Moye said of the Parole Board decision. "We're deeply grateful. Where the state of Georgia is rushing to schedule executions, it's important to slow down."

The board has been asked to commute a pending death sentence 24 times since 1995.

In that time, it commuted the death sentences of Willie James Hall in 2004 and Alexander Williams in 2002.

Crowe was to have been the second man Georgia has executed in 16 days. Earlier this month, Georgia had the first execution in the nation after an unofficial moratorium on them since last fall when the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case involving lethal injection.

— The Associated Press contributed to this article.