JACKSON — The Georgia Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected an attempt by the state to bar the videotaping of the scheduled execution of Cobb County killer Andrew Grant DeYoung, yet the state Department of Corrections later delayed the execution 24 hours in order to further address the controversial issue.
Those decisions came amid a flurry of last-minute judicial activity surrounding DeYoung, who was sentenced to die Wednesday night for the 1993 stabbing deaths of his 41-year-old parents, Gary and Kathryn, and his sister Sarah, 14, at the family’s east Cobb home.
In a separate ruling, decided by a 4-3 vote, the court declined to issue a stay of DeYoung’s execution. The U.S. Supreme Court also refused to stop the execution.
State Attorney General Sam Olens and Department of Corrections officials wouldn’t offer specifics for the execution delay, other than Olens saying that Georgia had never been forced to deal with the videotaping issue before. Yet Olens reiterated that all appeals had been exhausted in court.
Barring more delays, DeYoung’s execution has been rescheduled for 7 p.m. on Thursday.
Earlier in the week, a Fulton County judge, in an extraordinary decision, had ordered the recording of DeYoung’s execution after hearing claims the state’s lethal injection process caused unnecessary pain and suffering. The videotaping of an execution remains extremely rare and would be the first such recording in almost two decades. No states with the death penalty currently allow it.
The state Attorney General’s Office had asked the state Supreme Court to bar the videotaping. “Executions in this state are not public, and the potential for sensationalism and abuse of a videotape of an execution is a great concern,” the AG’s office said.
The state Supreme Court, in a unanimous order, did not address the merits of videotaping DeYoung’s execution. Instead, the court found that the state AG’s office had failed to follow proper procedures when asking the court to consider its appeal.
The decision let stand a ruling by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Bensonetta Tipton Lane, who is overseeing the appeal of death row inmate Gregory Walker.
Lane granted a request to allow DeYoung’s execution be recorded after hearing concerns about Georgia’s lethal injection process. Lane ordered that the videotaping not interfere with the execution or identify any of those involved in carrying it out, and she also ordered the tape be immediately turned over to the court under seal. A defense expert can also witness DeYoung’s autopsy, Lane said.
Brian Kammer, Walker’s lawyer, said the videotaping should be allowed.
“Up to now, the Department of Corrections has refused to allow for experts to witness the executions,” Kammer said. He contended the state botched the June 23 execution of Roy Willard Blankenship by subjecting the condemned killer to unnecessary pain and suffering. State officials have said there are no grounds for such a claim.
“At this point, we need an objective recording to eliminate any dispute as to what transpires in the next lethal injection,” Kammer said. “If there’s nothing to hide, then the Department of Corrections should want to allow scrutiny and a recording of its practices.”
A federal judge denied DeYoung’s request for a stay of his execution, dismissing his lawsuit that sought the delay on grounds the state’s lethal injection procedure causes needless pain and suffering.
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