Oldest Prisoner On Georgia's Death Row Is Executed

Georgia’s oldest death row inmate was executed early Wednesday after the United States Supreme Court declined to grant a stay of execution. The inmate, Brandon Astor Jones, 72, was put to death for the 1979 killing of Roger Tackett, a store manager, during a robbery.

Mr. Jones, who accepted a final prayer and recorded a final statement before his execution by lethal injection, was pronounced dead at 12:46 a.m.

He was convicted of the slaying with another man, Van Roosevelt Solomon, who was executed by electrocution in 1985.

Late Tuesday, lawyers for Mr. Jones tried to block the execution by challenging the constitutionality of a Georgia law established in 2013 that protects the identity of those who manufacture and prescribe the drugs used in executions. They had also argued that the death penalty was too severe a punishment for the crime. Both arguments were however rejected.