FORSYTH, Ga. — A man sentenced to death for the brutal murder of his ex-wife and another man has been executed by the state of Georgia.
Donnie Lance, who was scheduled to die on Wednesday evening, was convicted in 1999 for the murders of Sabrina "Joy" Lance and Dwight "Butch" G. Wood, Jr.
The Georgia Supreme Court summarized that Wood was found shot twice with a shotgun and Lance was beaten repeatedly in the face until she died.
The door to Wood's home also showed an imprint consistent with a work boot that investigators believe Donnie had been wearing the night of the crime - suggesting he kicked the door in during the confrontation.
He denied owning the shoes; though, a search of his shop uncovered a box for the same kind - at the same size. Evidence continued to pile up when an unspent shotgun shell that matched the ammo used to kill Wood was found in a grease pit at Lance's shop.
A man named Joe Moore also testified that he visited Lance at his shop the morning before the bodies were found. Lance allegedly told him "that bi***" would not be coming to clean his house on that day. The profanity was believed to be referring to Sabrina.
Moore added that Lance told him that Wood's dad "could buy him out of a bunch of places, but he can't buy him out of Hell."
At some point during this conversation, Moore said Lance told him both people were dead.
Before Donnie Lance was put to death, a petition for clemency was spearheaded by his children who cited their father's good behavior in prison and the addition pain his death would cause as reasons to spare him.
Lance became the 53rd inmate in Georgia put to death by lethal injection.
MORE HEADLINES