Georgia board involved in death row decisions gets new member

The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles has a new member, after Gov. Nathan Deal announced Thursday that he had appointed to the board Criminal Justice Coordinating Council executive director Jacqueline Bunn.

The move means Bunn will leave her post with the council. Deal said former state lawmaker Jay Neal, who left the state Legislature in 2013 after Deal gave him a state job, will take Bunn’s place on an interim basis.

Bunn, a lawyer, first started her career with Georgia in 1997 as an assistant state attorney general. The board can also commute prison sentences and restore civil and political rights, often making news for decisions involving prisoners on death row requesting clemency.

She will be the only woman on the five-member board. She replaces Albert R. Murray, who resigned after six years on the board and is retiring from state government.

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