The Georgia Supreme Court left in place a stay of execution for Marcus Ray Johnson a little more than four hours before he was to die by lethal injection for the 1994 murder of a woman he had met in a bar.
Considering the Supreme Court's decision, the state Board of Pardons and Paroles then announced it was delaying its decision on Johnson's clemency request until “it appears that all appeals through the courts have ceased or been exhausted.” Johnson's advocates met with Parole Board members Monday.
On Tuesday Dougherty County Superior Court Judge Willie Lockette issued a stay after Johnson's lawyers asked for time to see whether DNA testing could be conducted on available biological evidence collected in the investigation of the murder of Angela Sizemore. Lockette scheduled a hearing for Feb. 1.
Johnson's attorney, Brian Kammer, has said Johnson had left the scene before someone else attacked and mutilated her.
Kammer said there is now DNA evidence that may "decisively" support Johnson's claims of innocence and implicate other killers. At the very least, the testing may raise enough questions that a jury would be inclined to acquit him rather than convict him.
"If the saliva, hairs, tape lifts, fingernail clippings or Ms. Sizemore's clothing reveal the DNA profile of another person, these would strongly suggest that a different perpetrator or perpetrators committed the crime," Kammer wrote in a court motion.
Ken Hodges, Dougherty County's district attorney when Johnson was convicted, said there was substantial direct and circumstantial evidence, including Johnson's own statements and admissions. "All indicate he was the only person involved in this," Hodges said. "There is no evidence to suggest anyone else was involved."
Even if there is evidence to suggest someone else assisted Johnson, Hodges added, "It doesn't reduce his culpability at all."
This turn of events came two weeks after Georgia executed Troy Anthony Davis for the 1989 murder of a Savannah police officer amid worldwide protests that he may have been innocent.
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