Georgia urges high court to allow executions of nine inmates

An agreement halting the executions of nine Georgia inmates on death row during the coronavirus pandemic shouldn’t keep them alive anymore, the state’s solicitor general argued Wednesday to the Georgia Supreme Court.

Solicitor General John Henry Thompson asked the justices to overturn a Fulton County judge’s ruling from last year, saying the 2021 agreement still prevents the executions.

His argument coincided with the separate plea of a condemned Georgia prisoner who wants to be executed by firing squad instead of lethal injection.

Thompson said the pandemic is “in the state’s rearview mirror,” and the justice system is operating normally. He said executions of Georgia inmates not subject to the 2021 agreement “have and will continue to take place under safe and fair conditions.”

“These nine inmates have received the reprieve their attorneys bargained for,” Thompson argued. “They cannot be allowed to escape justice permanently.”

The agreement prevents the attorney general from pursuing execution warrants for the nine inmates until the COVID-19 vaccine is readily available to all people. Last year, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Shukura Ingram agreed with a group of Georgia capital defense attorneys that the condition has not been met because the vaccine has not been approved for infants under the age of 6 months.

Thompson argued the vaccine is as widely available now as it is ever likely to be.

He was supported on that point by Justice Charles Bethel, who pointed out that the vast majority of common vaccines are typically not given to infants. Bethel suggested it was reasonable for the agreement to reflect that reality.

Sarah Brewerton-Palmer, an attorney for the Federal Defender Program, said the state refuses to accept the plain language of the agreement and wait until COVID-19 vaccines are approved for infants. She acknowledged that she did not know when that might happen.

“They have to come forward with evidence that children under 6 months old are able to get the vaccine without obstacle,” she said of the state.

Thompson said the capital defenders’ interpretation of the agreement doesn’t make sense, given the issues associated with executing inmates during the pandemic are long gone.

“The vaccine is readily available to everyone, subject, of course, to the responsible practice of medicine by medical providers,” he said. “I don’t think anyone would say that the measles vaccine is not readily available to all members of the public because a baby does not receive it until they’re 1.”

There are 33 inmates on death row in Georgia, the state corrections department reported in December. The agreement does not halt all executions.

The last inmate executed by the state was Willie James Pye in 2024.

Wednesday’s debate in the state Supreme Court came as condemned Georgia prisoner Michael Nance separately asked the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to revive his firing squad lawsuit.

Nance claims lethal injection would be unconstitutionally cruel and may not work as intended in his case because of his deteriorated veins and prolonged exposure to back pain medication.

But 11th Circuit Chief Judge William Pryor pointed out during a hearing Wednesday in Atlanta that Nance had three medical procedures in recent years in which intravenous access was successful. He said Nance hadn’t shown any evidence those procedures were cruel.