Top Ga. Court Halts Execution Today, Orders Judge to Mull DNA Testing
Four hours before a convicted murderer was scheduled to be put to death today, the Georgia Supreme Court halted the execution and ordered a trial judge to consider Carlton Gary’s request for DNA testing.
The 59-year-old Gary, who was convicted in 1986 of raping and strangling three elderly women with their own stockings, is also accused in sexual assaults of four other women in the late 1970s. He doesn’t deny that he was present at the homes of three victims, but contends that another man committed the crimes, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“We are gratified the Supreme Court saw what we always saw—how could you execute someone if there is DNA that can tell us whether he is in fact guilty?” says attorney Jack Martin, who represents Gary. “It would have been a sin to execute him without conducting a test.”
