FORSYTH, Ga. — The Georgia inmate accused of robbing and killing an off-duty prison guard 22 years ago has been executed.
Robert Earl Butts, Jr. had been sentenced to die back in November 1998 in Baldwin County for the 1996 murder of Donovan Corey Parks.
Prosecutors say Butts and 41-year-old Marion Wilson Jr. asked Parks for a ride outside a Walmart store in Milledgeville on March 28, 1996, and then ordered him out of the car and fatally shot him a short distance away.
He was scheduled to die by lethal injection at 7 p.m. May 4 at the Jackson State Prison. The execution was carried out nearly three hours later at 9:58 p.m.
For his final meal, Butts requested a bacon cheeseburger with American and Cheddar cheeses, rib-eye steak, six chicken tenders, seasoned French fries, cheesecake and strawberry lemonade.
Butts was originally scheduled to die Thursday, May 3 at the state prison in Jackson, but the board held a clemency hearing Wednesday to hear arguments about commuting his sentence. That's where they issued a a stay of up to 90 days for in order to continue consideration of the case. However, on Thursday, they denied Butts' request for clemency and his death sentence be commuted.
He is the state's second execution of 2018 and the 49th inmate put to death by lethal injection.
Wilson's case is still pending.
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