Clemency rejected for white supremacist

Georgia’s pardons rejected a bid for clemency on Thursday by a white supremacist set to be executed next week for the murder of one of his followers.

The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles issued no comment when it denied the request for clemency from condemned inmate William Mark Mize, who is set to be put to death April 28 for the 1994 murder of Eddie Tucker.

The 52-year-old Mize was convicted in Oconee County Superior Court for fatally shooting Tucker after he failed to burn down what Mize considered to be a crack house in nearby Athens.

Tucker was a prospective member of the National Vastilian Aryan Party, a white supremacist group that prosecutors compare to the Ku Klux Klan. It was led by Mize, authorities say, and Tucker had filled out an application to join the group but was not yet a full member.

Mize took Tucker to the woods and killed him with a shot to the head after Tucker failed to successfully light the house on fire, according to court records.

Police found the body a few days later, and police soon arrested Mize and several other group members involved in the death. One of the witnesses, Mize’s then-girlfriend, agreed to testify against him and her charges were dropped. Mize was convicted of murder on Dec. 12, 1995, and sentenced to death a day later.

In a string of unsuccessful state and federal appeals, Mize claimed there wasn’t enough evidence to prove he had fired the shot and that prosecutors withheld evidence from a pretrial interview with a key witness.

He also complained that the state introduced “inflammatory, irrelevant evidence” about Mize’s racist beliefs to prejudice the jury. The panel was shown photographs of items seized from Mize’s home, including a KKK belt buckle and a racist poster.