Parole Board denies clemency request of convicted killer Tracy Housel

ATLANTA - A state parole board turned down a plea for mercy Monday from a man convicted of the rape and beating death of a Lawrenceville woman. <br> <br> A member of the British Parliament, anti-death penalty activists, friends and family testified to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles not to execute convicted killer Tracy Housel. <br> <br> The dual American-British citizen is scheduled to be executed Tuesday at seven p.m. for the 1985 rape and beating death of Jean Drew. <br> <br> Vera Baird, a member of the British Parliament, read excerpts from a letter written by British Prime Minister Tony Blair asking for Housel&#39;s sentence to be commuted to life in prison. <br> <br> Baird was joined with Sister Helen Prejean, an anti-death-penalty activist and author of the book ``Dead Man Walking.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> The Law Society, representing 80,000 lawyers in England and Wales, also wrote to the parole board, and 121 members of the British Parliament signed a motion calling for the sentence to be commuted. <br> <br> Housel, described by police as a drifter, confessed to robbing and raping the 46-year-old Drew before strangling and bashing her head in. <br> <br> Testifying during his sentencing hearing, Housel also admitted he beat a Texas truck driver to death with a hammer, and stabbed and slashed the throat of an Iowa man. <br> <br> There has never been any question Housel committed the crime, but his lawyers argue that his initial trial was unfair. <br> <br> Housel&#39;s current lawyers say his former court-appointed attorney, Walt Britt, was an inexperienced lawyer just out of law school who had never tried a murder case. <br> <br> Under Britt&#39;s advice, Housel pleaded guilty. His defense at the sentencing trial lasted less than 30 minutes. <br> <br> Britt attended Monday&#39;s hearing to plea for his former client&#39;s life. <br> <br> Housel&#39;s lawyers also argue that Housel was temporarily insane at the time of the killing because of severe hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, and had suffered an abusive childhood. <br> <br> Housel has spent the last 17 years on Georgia&#39;s Death Row.