SC sets execution date for Georgia man who killed 6-year-old boy

<p>A Georgia man who kidnapped, raped and murdered a 6-year-old boy in 1999 will be put to death July 14, the state Supreme Court said Friday.</p><p>William "Junior" Downs, 38, pleaded guilty in 2002 to raping and killing Keenan O'Mailia of North Augusta and asked during sentencing to be put to death.</p><p>O'Mailia's body was found in April 1999 covered with debris. The boy disappeared the night before, when he was riding his bicycle near his home.</p><p>Downs, of Augusta, Ga., said he stopped the boy, threw him down and strangled him.</p><p>Earlier this month, the state Supreme Court decided Downs was mentally competent to be executed. In March, Downs' lawyer Robert Dudek said Downs told him he would rather die since the best he could get out of an appeal would be a life sentence without parole.</p><p>A year after he was sent to death row, Downs pleaded not guilty to murder and sexual assault charges in the death of 10-year-old James Porter, whose body was found in the Augusta Canal two months after he disappeared in March 1991.</p><p>Police said Downs confessed to that slaying.</p>