Georgia executes convict after 34 years on death row


The southern U.S. state of Georgia early this morning executed a man after the United States Supreme Court denied a stay of execution for the convict who had been on death row for 34 years. 

John Wayne Conner received a lethal injection  at the state prison in Jackson, Georgia. 

The 60-year-old Conner was scheduled to be put to death yesterday evening pending the appeal process which was under way.  

His lawyers argued that executing him after 34 years on death row was unconstitutional,  cruel and unusual punishment which amounted to double jeopardy, receiving multiple punishments for the same offense. 

Conner was convicted for fatally beating his friend J.T. White during an argument after a night of drinking in 1982.  

Conner's execution is the sixth in Georgia this year, a record under the current death penalty law. 

Capital punishment remains legal in a declining number of U.S.states, as just a handful continue to carry out executions.


SOURCE: VOA