Judge issues 48-hour stay of execution for Georgia killer

ATLANTA - A Superior Court judge issued a 48-hour stay of execution Tuesday for James Willie Brown -- who was convicted of raping and strangling an Atlanta go-go dancer in 1975. <br> <br> The 54-year-old Brown was scheduled to die by injection tonight for killing Brenda Sue Watson, who was 21. <br> <br> Butts County Superior Court Judge Kevin Wangerin stayed the execution until at least 7 p.m. Thursday so the court could consider Brown&#39;s motion for habeas corpus. <br> <br> A spokeswoman says the state Board of Pardons and Paroles is still considering Brown&#39;s clemency appeal. <br> <br> Brown has argued that he is mentally ill and not fit to stand trial for Watson&#39;s killing on May 12, 1975. The couple had a steak dinner and a night of dancing at a DeKalb County motel bar that night, and Watson was never seen alive again. <br> <br> If the board denies clemency, Brown will become the ninth person executed by lethal injection since Georgia adopted the procedure last year.