Parole board grants stay of execution

The board said the stay will not exceed 90 days.

In a statement, the board said the purpose of the stay is "to allow for additional time to examine the substance of claims offered by Greene’s representatives at today’s clemency appointment and any additional information that becomes available."

The board said it may lift the stay at any time and grant clemency, commuting the death sentence to life or life without parole, or deny clemency.

Greene was sentenced to death for the 1991 killing of 19-year-old Bernard Walker, who came to the aid of a Suwanee Thrifty store clerk in Taylor County.

Greene had forced the clerk to give him $142 from the cash register before he took her to a back room and stabbed her. She survived, but Walker, whom Greene stabbed in the heart, died in the parking lot.

Greene, a 6-foot-5, 350-pound former high school football standout, was tried in Clayton County in 1992 because of pretrial publicity.

After killing Walker, Greene drove to the home of a Macon County couple who had previously employed him as a farm laborer. Greene burst into their home, took their car keys and then stabbed Willie and Donice Montgomery multiple times. The couple survived.

Greene then drove to another convenience store in Warner Robins and pulled a knife on the store attendant, who gave Greene money from the cash register. Greene stabbed her in the back of the shoulder before fleeing. He was later arrested at a relative's home and confessed to the crimes in a videotaped interview, saying he needed money for crack cocaine, according to court records.