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The Latest: Supreme Court grants temporary stay of execution

Original Publication Date September 26, 2017 - 2:01 PM

JACKSON, Ga. - The Latest on the scheduled execution of Keith Leroy Tharpe in Georgia (all times local):

10:35 p.m.

The U.S. Supreme Court has granted a temporary stay of execution for a Georgia man who killed his sister-in-law 27 years ago.

Keith Leroy Tharpe had been scheduled to die Tuesday. Lawyers for the 59-year-old black inmate say he is intellectually disabled and thus ineligible for execution, and that his death sentence is tainted by a juror's racial bias. The high court is apparently considering those arguments.

Tharpe was convicted in the September 1990 shooting death of Jacquelyn Freeman.

Tharpe stopped his estranged wife and sister-in-law as they drove to work and ordered them out of the car and then fatally shot Freeman.

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4:55 p.m.

The Georgia Supreme Court has denied a stay of execution for a prisoner convicted of killing his sister-in-law 27 years ago.

In a 6-3 vote, the state's high court turned down a request from Keith Leroy Tharpe, who is scheduled to receive a lethal injection at 7 p.m. at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson. The court also turned down his request to appeal a lower court ruling against him. He has another appeal pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Tharpe was sentenced to die for the September 1990 slaying of Jacquelyn Freeman.

Tharpe's lawyers say his death sentence was tainted by a juror's racial bias. Lawyers for the state have argued there's no evidence race affected jury deliberations.

Tharpe would be the second inmate executed in Georgia this year. The state executed nine inmates last year.

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3:30 a.m.

A Georgia man who killed his sister-in-law 27 years ago is set to be executed Tuesday.

Keith Leroy Tharpe, known to friends and family as Bo, is scheduled to die at 7 p.m. at the state prison in Jackson for the September 1990 slaying of Jacquelyn Freeman.

Tharpe stopped his estranged wife and sister-in-law as they drove to work and ordered them out of the car and then fatally shot Freeman.

Tharpe's lawyers have asked the courts to stop the execution, saying his death sentence is tainted by a juror's racial bias. Lawyers for the state have argued there's no evidence race affected jury deliberations.

Tharpe would be the second inmate executed in Georgia this year. The state executed nine inmates last year.

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This story has been corrected to say Tharpe was sentenced in 3rd paragraph.

News from © The Associated Press, 2017
The Associated Press

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