Georgia on Wednesday carried out its first execution of 2017, putting to death a man convicted of murder more than 20 years ago.
J.W. “Boy” Ledford Jr. was put to death by lethal injection at 1:17 a.m. Wednesday at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson. The 45-year-old was convicted of the 1992 murder of his 73-year-old neighbor, the physician who had delivered him when he was born.
Georgia executed nine prisoners in 2016, more than any other state.
Ledford had argued a firing squad would be a more humane way to die. However, Georgia law requires executions by lethal injection.
The Georgia Supreme Court denied Ledford’s petition for a stay of execution Tuesday afternoon, and the 11th U.S. Circuit of Appeals denied it hours later.
The U.S. Supreme Court then denied a stay of execution after midnight, clearing way for Ledford’s execution.
The State Board of Pardons and Paroles denied his clemency petition earlier this week, despite pleas from his mother, six sisters and his son. Ledford also described his abusive childhood home with drugs and alcohol, a low IQ and remorse for his actions.
The next scheduled execution in the U.S. is Thomas Douglas Arthur, in Alabama, next week.
