ATLANTA - A judge halted the execution of Wallace Fugate with just hours to go Tuesday, saying the convicted killer deserves another clemency hearing before a full parole board. <br>
<br>
The 52-year-old Fugate was scheduled to die by lethal injection at 7 p.m. Tuesday night for the 1991 shooting death of his ex-wife, Pattie. <br>
<br>
Fulton Superior Court Judge John J. Goger had asked the state Attorney General's Office on Monday to delay the execution until an empty seat is filled on the Board of Pardons and Paroles, affording Fugate a clemency hearing before a full panel. <br>
<br>
But the Attorney General's Office declined and, after a teleconference this morning with opposing attorneys, Goger issued the order to stay the execution. <br>
<br>
Fugate's attorney, Stephen Bright of the Southern Center for Human Rights, argued that Fugate's hearing before the Board of Pardons and Paroles last week was illegal because one of the five seats on the panel was vacant. <br>
<br>
Two members of the parole board resigned Thursday amid a state ethics investigation. Gov. Roy Barnes immediately appointed Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Buddy Nix to fill one seat, but the other remained vacant when Bright went before the board Friday morning. <br>
<br>
The parole board denied clemency for Fugate Monday afternoon, prompting Bright to sue the board in Fulton County Superior Court. <br>
<br>
Assistant Attorney General J. Jayson Phillips told Goger that Georgia law does not require all five board members to hear clemency pleas. He noted that several higher courts have already rejected Fugate's appeals. <br>
<br>
The votes of three board members are required for a death sentence to be commuted. Bright argued that a missing member reduces Fugate's chances for clemency. <br>
<br>
The Georgia Supreme Court denied another appeal from Fugate Tuesday afternoon.
