Free Republic

Georgia executed a 72-year-old man, its oldest death row inmate, early Wednesday for the killing of a convenience store manager during a robbery decades ago. Brandon Astor Jones was pronounced dead at 12:46 a.m. Wednesday after an injection of the barbiturate pentobarbital at the state prison in Jackson. He was convicted in the 1979 shooting death of suburban Atlanta store manager Roger Tackett. Jones declined to make a final statement in front of witnesses but agreed to have a prayer read.

Georgia’s oldest death row inmate, who was convicted in the 1979 killing of a convenience store manager, is set to be executed Tuesday. Brandon Astor Jones, 72, is scheduled to be put to death by injection of the barbiturate pentobarbital at 7 p.m. at the state prison in Jackson. He was convicted in the shooting death of Cobb County convenience store manager Roger Tackett. The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, which is the only entity in Georgia authorized to commute a death sentence, on Monday declined to grant clemency for Jones. As is its custom, the board did not...