A Georgia judge has halted the execution of a man convicted of killing two women after his attorney argued that severe childhood abuse may have contributed to his crimes and entitled him to another hearing.
Stacey Humphreys, 53, could avoid the death penalty under a new state law that gives him the opportunity to argue that abuse he allegedly endured as a child was linked to his criminal behavior.
Humphreys was sentenced to death for the 2003 murders of Cyndi Williams, 33, and Lori Brown, 21, in Atlanta’s suburbs.
He was scheduled to die by lethal injection at 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday at a state prison near Jackson.
On Tuesday, attorney Brian Kammer told Cobb County Superior Court Judge Tyler Browning that Humphreys had survived severe family violence and extensive abuse during his childhood.
Kammer said his client had been “severely damaged by this abuse and violence” and that the trauma “contributed significantly to his criminal behavior.”
Browning issued a stay of execution, clearing the way for a hearing under the Georgia Survivor Justice Act. The law allows incarcerated people to seek reduced sentences if they can demonstrate that abuse they suffered contributed to their criminal conduct.
“Mr Humphreys endured years of arbitrary beatings,” Kammer told Browning, WSB-TV reported.
Stacey Humphreys, 53, could avoid execution if a hearing finds that abuse he allegedly suffered as a child contributed to his crimes
Humphreys was scheduled to receive a lethal injection at 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday at a state prison near Jackson before Cobb County Superior Court Judge Tyler Browning issued a stay on Tuesday
Humphreys was sentenced to death for the 2003 killings of Cyndi Williams, 33, and Lori Brown, 21, in Atlanta’s suburbs
Kammer said Humphreys was beaten and whipped for years and suffered an untreated skull fracture at the age of three.
The attorney also said Humphreys was sexually abused, burned with cigarettes and repeatedly exposed to drug and alcohol abuse, along with domestic violence.
“These folks are abused, harmed as children; as young people, and it’s coming out in criminal behavior,” Kammer said.
Experts testified that the abuse caused “severe damage to [Humphreys’] mental health” and “helped bring about the criminal behavior that brought Mr Humphreys to his capital trial,” Kammer told Browning.
The judge wrote that if an appellate court ruled before Humphreys’ scheduled execution that he wasn’t entitled to a hearing, he would consider lifting the stay for his death to proceed as scheduled.
On Wednesday, the Georgia Supreme Court allowed Humphreys’ stay of execution while the state’s appeal moves forward.
‘Given the important and novel questions regarding the newly enacted SJA raised by this litigation, this appeal will be considered in the ordinary course of business and according to a forthcoming scheduling order,’ the Supreme Court said in a statement.
‘Our focus continues to be on the victims and their loved ones, giving them support and encouragement they need,’ the District Attorney’s Office said in a statement to WSB-TV.
Attorneys are asking for Humphreys’ sentence be reduced to life in prison, according to the outlet.
Humphreys’ attorney Brian Kammer, his client was ‘severely damaged by this abuse and violence and it contributed significantly to his criminal behavior’
Sabrina Graham, a lawyer with the attorney general’s office, said nothing in the law was applicable to reducing Humphreys sentence as requested
Kammer said that Humphreys’ case ‘really fits the bill’ of the Survivor Justice Act.
Meanwhile, Sabrina Graham, a lawyer with the attorney general’s office, said nothing in the law was applicable to reducing Humphreys sentence as requested.
Graham argued that the Survivor Act was intended ‘for people who were the subject of abuse by the victims that they harmed.’
‘There’s nothing in the statute that says it applies to death row inmates,’ she said. ‘There’s nothing in the statute that even remotely suggests that.’
Should the law apply to a case such as Humphreys, Graham worried that it would ‘open up this door for all these people to come along and essentially get another bite at the apple and ask a trial court to serve essentially as the Board of Pardons and Paroles and commute a death sentence.’
Humphreys was denied clemency on Tuesday by a parole board.
The two women were working as real estate agents in Powder Springs when Humphreys walked into their office in a model home at around midday on November 3, 2003.
Humphreys had ordered Williams and Brown to strip naked and tell him their bank PINs before he fatally shot them both, evidence given at his trial determined.
The new law was signed this year by Governor Brian Kemp and was intended to help survivors of domestic or child abuse
Over $3,000 was withdrawn from the women’s bank accounts by Humphreys, according to court documents.
Humphreys told police upon his arrest that he needed the money to pay off his truck after he had taken out some high-interest payday loans.
The new law was signed this year by Governor Brian Kemp and was intended to help survivors of domestic or child abuse.
Our News Outlet reached out to Kammer and the Attorney General’s Office for comment.
