<p>Just hours after being released on parole, a man who served nine years in prison stabbed a man to death in south Georgia, officials said Thursday.</p><p>Eddie C. Boyd, 48, was released from Valdosta State Prison Tuesday afternoon, according to Scheree Lipscomb, spokeswoman for the State Board of Pardons and Paroles. That night, he was arrested and charged with killing Mike Morgan, 53, of Cordele.</p><p>"We're heartbroken about the situation and what happened," Lipscomb said. "This is really hard for the board, but we can't look into the souls of the people we're releasing. All we can do is look at their records while in prison."</p><p>Boyd had served nine years of his 15-year sentence for cocaine possession in Dooly and Crisp counties. His behavior in prison led the board to believe he would be a law-abiding citizen upon his release, Lipscomb said.</p><p>In addition, Lipscomb said, Boyd, who was supposed to live with his sister in Americus, was to be under 24-hour electronic surveillance and was to have a parole officer who would visit him both at home and at work.</p><p>It is not clear whether Boyd met his sister, who was supposed to pick him up at a bus station in Cordele at 3:15 p.m. He entered the Cordele Sash Door and Lumber Co. around 4:45 p.m., got into a fight with Morgan, an employee, and fatally stabbed him.</p><p>Police arrested Boyd a little more than five hours later, at about 10:30 p.m., just two blocks from the crime scene. He has been charged with murder, and other charges may be forthcoming, according to Cordele police.</p><p>Boyd has been in and out of prison since 1975 for charges including burlary, armed robbery and forgery, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections Web site.</p>
