Georgia executes man for '94 store clerk killing
November 13, 2019
JACKSON, Ga. (AP) -- Georgia has executed a man convicted in the 1994 killing of a convenience store clerk.
Officials say 52-year-old Ray Jefferson Cromartie was pronounced dead at 10:59 p.m. Wednesday after an injection of pentobarbital at the state prison in Jackson.
Cromartie had been convicted and sentenced to die for the April 1994 slaying of Richard Slysz at a convenience store in Thomasville, near the Georgia-Florida line.
A Georgia Supreme Court summary of the case says Cromartie and another man went into a convenience store on April 10, 1994, and Cromartie fatally shot Slysz and then grabbed two cases of beer before leaving the store.
Prosecutors say Cromartie also shot another convenience store clerk a few days earlier. That clerk was badly wounded but survived.
November 13, 2019
JACKSON, Ga. (AP) -- The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a request to stop the planned execution of a Georgia inmate convicted of killing a convenience store clerk 25 years ago.
The nation's high court, without explanation Wednesday night, denied the request for a stay of execution put forward by lawyers for inmate Ray Jefferson Cromartie.
Cromartie was convicted of malice murder and sentenced to death for the April 1994 slaying of Thomasville convenience store clerk Richard Slysz.
Cromartie was initially scheduled to receive a lethal injection starting after 7 p.m. at a state prison in Jackson. The nation's high court issued its decision hours after that time had passed. Earlier Wednesday, a federal appeals court also had refused to intervene.
November 13, 2019
JACKSON, Ga. (AP) -- A Georgia inmate set to be executed for a killing 25 years ago has an 11th-hour appeal pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The nation's high court had no immediate response to the request for a stay of the scheduled Wednesday night execution of inmate Ray Jefferson Cromartie.
Cromartie was convicted of malice murder and sentenced to death for the April 1994 slaying of Thomasville convenience store clerk Richard Slysz.
Barring court intervention, Cromartie was scheduled to receive a lethal injection after 7 p.m. at a state prison in Jackson. That hour passed with no immediate Supreme Court response to his appeal.
Earlier Wednesday, a federal appeals court refused to intervene, upholding a lower court decision.
