1. Execution set for Tuesday unless U.S. Supreme Court intervenes.
Kenneth Fults failed Monday evening to persuade the State Board of Pardons and Parolesto commute his death sentence to life, but he still had an appeal pending before the U.S. Supreme Court as the scheduled time for his lethal injection drew nearer. In their pleas to the parole board and the nation's highest court, Fults' lawyers sought mercy in part because one of the jurors from the sentencing trial referred to Fults years later using a racial epithet. Fults is scheduled be the fourth man put to death in Georgia this year. He is set to die in a small, cinder-block room at the Georgia Diagnostics and Classification Prison near Jackson at 7 p.m. Tuesday for murdering his 19-year-old next-door neighbor 20 years ago. Read more.
2. Family of slain Wal-Mart security guard says he should've had gun.
On Monday, Ferguson's family and friends mourned the young father, who would have celebrated his 5-year wedding anniversary with wife, Tiana, in July. The family's pastor, Timothy Daugett, told The Atlanta-Journal Constitution that Ferguson's death possibly could have been prevented if he had also had a gun. Shortly before 9 p.m. Sunday, Ferguson confronted a man attempting to push a cart filled with three TVs out of the store. When Ferguson intervened, the alleged shoplifter grabbed a gun and fired, striking Ferguson. The gunman didn't get away with the TVs, but he left the store driving an older model sedan and remained on the loose late Monday. Read more.
3. Allstate rate increase rate for Georgia drivers prompts 'consumer alert.'
Georgia Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens issued a rare "consumer alert" on Monday after Allstate Insurance filed for a 25 percent auto insurance rate hike that will take effect May 22. Hudgens said the 25 percent increase is the average rate change, but "many policyholders should be prepared to see a rate change as high as 58.3 percent." At the end of 2015, Allstate had 11 percent of the auto insurance market in Georgia, making it the second-largest insurer in the state, behind State Farm. It is the first time Hudgens has issued such an "alert." Read more.
4. 2 potential jurors excused as jury selection begins in Harris trial.
The tedious process of finding 12 citizens to serve on the jury that will determine whether Justin Ross Harris intentionally locked his son inside a hot car to die was narrowed ever so slightly Monday. Two men — one celebrating his 40th wedding anniversary in Paris and another away "on the high seas" — were dismissed from a pool of more than 300 jurors summoned to appear. Eight other potential jurors with scheduling conflicts were accommodated by Cobb Superior Court Judge Mary Staley but not released from duty. Legal observers expect it will take roughly two weeks, perhaps longer, to settle on a jury. Read more.
5. Accused shooter of Riverdale police officer dies.
A 24-year-old man accused of killing a Riverdale police officer during a drug raid in February has died from injuries sustained in the shootout, an attorney for the man's family said Monday. Jerand Edward Ross died at 2:25 a.m. Monday at a Stockbridge hospice, Jonesboro attorney Keith Martin told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Ross had been moved to the hospice earlier this month from Atlanta Medical Center. Ross' death comes exactly two months to the day of the shooting at the Villages on the River apartments in Riverdale. Authorities said Ross shot Riverdale police Maj. Greg Barney, who was helping Clayton police serve a no-knock warrant at the complex. As law enforcement officers closed in on apartment 10-E, Ross ran out of the back door, where he encountered Barney. Read more.
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