COBB COUNTY, Ga. — The Georgia Supreme Court on Wednesday left a stay of execution in place for death row inmate Stacey Humphreys while the state’s appeal moves forward.
The Cobb County District Attorney’s Office had filed an appeal with the high court in response to the stay of execution ordered for Stacey Humphreys.
“Our focus continues to be on the victims and their loved ones, giving them support and encouragement they need,” the District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
Cobb County Superior Court Judge Tyler Browning issued the order to put the execution on hold late Tuesday. Humphreys had been set to die by lethal injection at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Attorneys for the death row inmate are asking a judge to reduce his sentence to life.
They say the abuse Humphreys suffered as a child played a significant role in him murdering two real estate agents.
“Mr. Humphreys endured years of arbitrary beatings,’ Humphreys attorney, Brian Kammer, told a judge.
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Kammer said Humphreys had a horrible childhood. He said he was sexually abused, beaten and burned with cigarettes.
Kammer told a Cobb County judge that childhood history explains a lot about why Humphreys ended up on death row.
“These folks are abused, harmed as children as young people and it’s coming out in criminal behavior,” he said.
Humphreys would be the first person executed in Georgia in 2026.
A Cobb County jury convicted Humphreys on murder charges in 2004 for the 2003 deaths of 33-year-old Cyndi Williams and 21-year- old Lori Brown. The real estate agents were executed in the sales office of a new subdivision.
Evidence presented at his trial showed that Humphreys forced the victims to strip naked and give him their bank PINs before he shot and killed them.
Prosecutors said Humphreys took their IDs and credit cards to withdraw thousands of dollars.
Humphreys left the state in a rental car and was later arrested in Wisconsin after a high-speed chase.
Police found a handgun that matched bullets found at the scene.
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