Execution halted for man who murdered two real estate agents as judge probes parole board’s ‘conflict of interest’

He was scheduled for execution on Dec. 17, but the lethal injection was paused just days beforehand

Stacey Humphreys was scheduled to be executed for the 2003 murders of two real estate agents. (Georgia Department of Corrections)

A Georgia judge on Monday temporarily halted a December execution that had already been put on hold, citing that questions about the state’s clemency process must be addressed before Stacey Humphreys’ death sentence can proceed.

Humphreys, 52, was scheduled for execution on Dec. 17, but the lethal injection was paused just days beforehand.

He was convicted of malice murder and other charges in the 2003 shooting deaths of Cyndi Williams, 33, and Lori Brown, 21, at their Cobb County real estate office, northwest of Atlanta.

The legal dispute centers on Humphreys’ lawyers’ claims that two Georgia parole board members have conflicts of interest that could compromise a clemency hearing.

Real estate agents Cynthia Brown and Lori Williams were murdered in Georgia in 2003 by Stacey Humphreys. (Cobb County Superior Court handout)

Humphreys’ lawyers earlier this month filed a petition asking a judge to order the two members of the parole board to recuse themselves from considering his clemency petition.

The lawyers said one of those board members, Kimberly McCoy, was previously a victim advocate with the Cobb County district attorney’s office at the time of Humphreys’ trial and was assigned to work with victims in the case.

Another board member, Wayne Bennett, was the sheriff in Glynn County, where the trial was moved because of pretrial publicity. Humphreys’ lawyers say Bennett oversaw security for the jurors and Humphreys himself during the case.

In an order filed Monday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney wrote that “pressing ‘pause’ on the execution machinery until we answer the non-frivolous question raised by Petitioner concerning the proper composition of the Board for his clemency hearing is the correct course of action.”

He ordered lawyers for both sides to file additional legal briefs on the issue by Jan. 19.

Additionally, the judge wrote in his order that Humphreys deserves to have the conflict of interest question researched and argued thoroughly so that a parole board free of conflicts of interest can decide his case at a clemency hearing.