Execution warrant signed for Melbert Ray Ford
An execution warrant has been signed for condemned killer Melbert Ray Ford Jr., who is now scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection on June 9 at 7 p.m.
Ford sits on death row for the 1986 killings of his former girlfriend, Martha Matich, and her 11-year-old niece, Lisa Chapman, during a grocery store robbery in Newton County.
Ford had been scheduled to be executed in February, but the state Board of Pardons and Paroles granted him a 90-day stay because the five-member parole board, which hears clemency petitions from death-row inmates, did not have all its members. Last week, Gov. Sonny Perdue appointed state Juvenile Justice Commissioner Albert Murray and state Rep. Terry Barnard (R-Glenville) to the board, giving the board its full five-member contingent.
About the Author
Bill Rankin has been an AJC reporter for more than 30 years. His father, Jim Rankin, worked as an editor for the newspaper for 26 years, retiring in 1986. Bill has primarily covered the state’s court system, doing all he can do to keep the scales of justice on an even keel. Since 2015, he has been the host of the newspaper’s Breakdown podcast.
