Ga. executes man for killing teenager during robbery in 1992

<p>A 34-year-old man was executed Tuesday for fatally stabbing a teenager and beating him with a baseball bat as he pleaded for his life during a robbery in 1992 in central Georgia.</p><p>Timothy Don Carr was given a lethal injection at the state prison in Jackson for killing 17-year-old Keith Patrick Young on Oct. 8, 1992. He was prounced dead at 8:37 p.m.</p><p>"It's time for justice to be served," Carr said in a final statement issued by the prison before the execution. He also apologized to the victim's mother for any grief he may have caused her and told his family that he loved them.</p><p>Last-minute appeals and a clemency petition to the state parole board failed. Carr's execution was Georgia's first in 2005 and 37th since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1973.</p><p>Just before the chemicals were administered, Carr was asked if he had anything to say. He uttered the word "Peace."</p><p>As the chemicals were pumped into his veins, Carr's eyes were closed and his chest heaved several times. He gasped slightly and slowly died.</p><p>The victim's mother and grandfather witnessed the execution. Carr's lawyer and family were at the prison earlier but left about 3 p.m.</p><p>Prosecutors say Carr, girlfriend Melissa Burgeson and two 16-year-olds drove Young in his car to a remote area near Bolingbroke, about 65 miles southeast of Atlanta. There, Carr slashed Young's throat at Burgeson's urging and beat him in the head with a baseball bat. The two juveniles later testified that the victim pleaded for his life.</p><p>Young was left on the side of the road to die before the couple fled to Murfreesboro, Tenn., in the victim's Pontiac Grand Prix. It was there that they were arrested following a high-speed chase.</p><p>Carr was convicted in 1994 and sentenced to death. Burgeson was given a life sentence with the possibility of parole. The two 16-year-olds were tried in juvenile court.</p><p>Among those pleading for Carr's life at Monday's clemency hearing were his mother, brother and aunt. His lawyer, Brian Kammer, asked the board to stay Carr's execution for 90 days or to commute his sentence to life in prison.</p><p>At the hearing, Kammer argued his client received a disproportionate sentence to Burgeson's and that prosecutors portrayed Carr as less culpable in Burgeson's trial, but more culpable during his trial to obtain a death sentence.</p><p>Kammer also told the parole board that jurors in the Carr trial were unaware of Burgeson's lighter sentence and of her role in the killing, or Carr's family history or mental illness.</p><p>There's been testimony over the years that Carr was sexually abused as a child. A court-appointed forensic psychologist who examined Carr said in an affidavit Friday that Carr was mentally ill when he committed the crime and had recently ingested "massive quantities of hallucinogenic mushrooms."</p><p>For his last meal, Carr ate two musroom and swiss hamburgers, a vanilla milkshake, a chocolate milkshake and two soft drinks.</p>