The Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to throw out the latest execution order for Ray “Jeff” Cromartie.
Cromartie, 52, had been scheduled to be executed last week for the 1994 murder of a South Georgia store clerk, only to have the high court grant a temporary stay over concerns about a procedural issue.
A Thomas County judge issued a second execution order, setting the inmate's death for Nov. 13. That date may now hold, unless Cromartie succeeds in getting another court to stop the execution. He has been hoping for an order to require new DNA testing on evidence from the case, which his attorneys say could prove he is innocent.
Cromartie doesn’t deny involvement in the robbery that led to 50-year-old Thomasville clerk Richard Slysz’s death, but he says it was his co-defendant who pulled the trigger.
Cromartie says Corey Clark shot the clerk in the store not far from the Florida border. Clark, who was released from prison more than a decade ago and couldn’t be reached for comment, has testified Cromartie was the gunman.
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