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8-22-00

GEORGIA: (impending execution halted)

The Georgia Supreme Court granted an indefinite stay of execution today
for Alexander Williams, whose impending death in the electric chair
Thursday evening was creating an international furor.

The court acted only a couple of hours after Williams' attorneys filed
their appeal.

3 of the justices voted for the stay without commenting on their reasons;
2 others voted for it because the court already has under consideration a
challenge to the electric chair as cruel and unusual punishment. One
justice dissented.

Williams was just short of his 18th birthday when he raped and killed
16-year-old Aleta Bunch in Augusta in 1986. His court-appointed attorney
presented no mitigating evidence of his mental illness or the abuse he
had undergone at home.

Since then, his defenders say, he has sunk deep into schizophrenia.

They contended he should not be executed because of his age at the time
of his crime, his weak defense and his current emotional disturbance.

(source: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

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Reiner Stensgaard Goldau
Dove Prison Ministry International
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Page Updated Sat Apr 7, 2001 3:01pm EDT