Georgia inmate forgoes appeals ahead of execution for 2001 murder

[November 16, 2016]  By David Beasley

ATLANTA (Reuters) - A Georgia man scheduled to be executed on Wednesday for the 2001 choking death of his ex-girlfriend is not pursuing appeals and refuses to discuss his legal options, his lawyer said in an interview.

Steven Spears, 54, could halt his lethal injection if he decided to file state and federal appeals still available to him, according to his lawyer, Allyn Stockton.

But the death row inmate has not communicated with Stockton in about a year and refused to accept the last letter Stockton sent him in prison, leading the lawyer to believe his client has lost the will to live.

"That's the only way I can think of this," Stockton said.

The execution is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET (0000 GMT) at the state prison in Jackson, about 50 miles (80 km) south of Atlanta.

If carried out, Spears would be the 18th person put to death this year in the United States and the eighth in Georgia, the most of any state, according to the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center.

Spears told police he killed Sherri Holland, 34, because he suspected she was dating someone else, according to court records.

He said he hid in her son's bedroom until the early hours of Aug. 25, 2001, and then attacked Holland, binding her hands and feet with duct tape while he choked her.

"Last thing she said was she loved me," Spears told police. "Swear to God, that's the last thing she said. Last words came out of her mouth."

Spears, who was arrested after hiding out in the woods for 10 days, also said "If I had to do it again, I’d do it," according to the court synopsis.

He was convicted and sentenced to death in 2007. The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed the death sentence in 2015 after an automatic appeal.

On Tuesday, Spears' lawyer asked Georgia's pardons and paroles board to stop the execution, arguing the inmate possesses "some good human qualities" including kindness and intelligence.

Spears' ex-wife, Gwen Thompson, said in a court petition on Monday that mental illness rather than rational decision-making had caused Spears to abandon his appeals.

(Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Alan Crosby)

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