Judge issues indefinite stay of execution for Georgia killer

ATLANTA - A judge has issued an indefinite stay on the planned execution of a man convicted of raping and strangling an Atlanta go-go dancer. <br> <br> Butts County Superior Court Judge Kevin Wangerin stopped the execution of James Willie Brown Wednesday -- the day before he was scheduled to die by lethal injection at 7:01 p.m. <br> <br> Based on a claim by Brown that prosecutors knowingly introduced false testimony against him at trial, Wangerin granted the prisoner&#39;s motion for habeas corpus -- a legal concept that allows defendants to challenge the government&#39;s right to hold them or the legitimacy of a court to try them. It is often pursued as a last resort when regular appeals are fruitless. <br> <br> The judge scheduled a conference call for Friday to set a hearing at which Brown&#39;s lawyers can argue that the allegedly false testimony is cause to reconsider the case. <br> <br> According to the order issued Wednesday, Brown claims that Anita Jean Tucker lied when she testified that Brown told her he wasn&#39;t ``crazy&#39;&#39; but was acting ``crazy&#39;&#39; to avoid conviction. Brown also claims that prosecutors knew Tucker was lying. <br> <br> Brown&#39;s attorneys also argued he&#39;s insane and unfit to stand trial for the May 12, 1975, killing of Brenda Sue Watson, but Wangerin rejected those arguments. Brown was dismissed from the military in 1966 for ``mental difficulties&#39;&#39; and was raised by an abusive alcohol father. <br> <br> The 54-year-old Brown killed Watson, who was 21, after the two had a steak dinner and a night of dancing at a DeKalb County motel bar.