A Georgia murderer scheduled for execution on Thursday was granted clemency just six hours before his death and will now serve life in jail without parole.
The State Board of Pardons and Paroles made the ruling early Thursday afternoon that Jimmy Meders, 58, would not undergo execution by lethal injection at 7pm.
Meders was convicted in the 1987 slaying of Glynn County convenience store clerk Don Anderson during a robbery.
He is said to have shot Anderson in the chest before shooting him in the head and walking out with $38.
The State Board of Pardons and Paroles made the decision after holding a closed-door clemency hearing on Wednesday.
The Board reportedly considered several factors including, Meders' lack of prior criminal record, the fact he only had one minor infraction during all 30 years on death row and the jury's wish during deliberations to impose a life without parole sentence.
They also considered the support from clemency from the jurors still living.
The clemency application stated that 'every single living juror' confirmed that would have been their verdict if given the option.
Mike Admirand, Meders' attorney, with the Southern Center for Human Rights said they are 'deeply grateful.'
'The board’s critically important role in showing mercy in these rare circumstances cannot be overstated,' he said.
'By taking this action, this parole board has made real the intent of the jury to sentence Jimmy to life without parole, and not death.'
Meders was set to be the 53rd prisoner put to death by lethal injection in Georgia and is now the sixth death row inmate to commuted by the parole board since 2002.
In the days leading up to the execution, Meders' lawyers urged board members to spare his life and asked the state Supreme Court to allow more time to hear their client's appeal.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that a Butts County judge dismissed a petition by Meder's legal team arguing that the death sentence violates both state and U.S. constitutions.
They asserted that in cases similar to Meders' -with few aggravating circumstances and one victim - juries away from the death sentence.
Attorney Michael Admirand added that prosecutors rarely seek the death penalty under those conditions.
In response, state lawyers said 'the execution of an unarmed man during the commission of an armed robbery', among Meders' crimes, qualifies within the parameters of a death penalty case.
Meder's lawyers then appealed to the Supreme Court, writing: 'Because Petitioner’s execution is imminent, he seeks a stay of execution from this Court so that this Court can give adequate time and consideration to his claims.'
Meders claims that DNA tests on the murder weapon would clear him of any crime, but a judge ruled against the testing.
'There’s still overwhelming evidence of his guilt,' the judge said.
The murder of Anderson occurred on October 13, 1987, around 2.30am at a Jiffy convenience store.
Meders had been drinking alcohol with three men: Randy Harris, Bill Arnold and Greg Creel.
After leaving Harris and driving around for hours, Meders, Arnold and Creel arrived at the convenience store.
When Anderson opened the cash register during an exchange, Meders fatally shot him before stealing $38 in cash and food stamps.
Creel, who accompanied Meders into the store, was heating up sausage biscuits in the microwave.
The two men ran out to their car, where Arnold was waiting behind the wheel,m and sped off.
Later, Harris would testify that Meders showed up to a Best Western where he was staying and confessed to the crime.
'I just blowed a man’s head off over $38,' Meders' allegedly said, before sniffing the gun as if it had just been fired.
After Meders' arrest, authorities would find the murder weapon under his water bed and connected 'bait money' from the register to him.
Bait money is fake money kept in some stores to help catch robbers with a matching serial number.
However, Meders say he never shot anyone and that Arnold fired rounds at a truck owned by his and Creel's rival.
Arnold allegedly shot at a man who he recently got into a fight with and later fired a shot at a different truck owned by a family Creel was feuding with.
Despite never being introduced into the trial, there are police records showing that reports of the shootings had been made.
Meders was convicted in 1989 and spent three decades behind bars at a Georgia prison.
Source: dailymail.co.uk, Lauren Edmonds, January 16, 2020
Georgia board spares prisoner's life hours before execution
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s parole board on Thursday spared the life of a prisoner just hours ahead of his scheduled execution, commuting his sentence to life without the possibility of parole.
Jimmy Fletcher Meders, 58, had been scheduled to receive a lethal injection at 7 p.m. Thursday at the state prison in Jackson. But the State Board of Pardons and Paroles released its decision granting him clemency around 1 p.m.
Meders is only the sixth Georgia death row inmate to have a sentence commuted by the parole board since 2002. The last to have a sentence commuted was Tommy Lee Waldrip, who was spared execution on July 9, 2014.
Meders' attorney Mike Admirand, with the Southern Center for Human Rights, said in emailed statement that they are “deeply grateful” for the board's decision.
“The board’s critically important role in showing mercy in these rare circumstances cannot be overstated,” Admirand wrote. "By taking this action, this parole board has made real the intent of the jury to sentence Jimmy to life without parole, and not death.”
Meders was convicted of murder and sentenced to die for the October 1987 killing of convenience store clerk Don Anderson in coastal Glynn County.
The parole board, which is the only authority in Georgia that can commute a death sentence, held a closed-door clemency hearing for Meders on Wednesday. According to the commutation order, the board considered Meders' lack of a criminal record prior to Anderson's killing, the fact that he had only one minor infraction during 30 years on death row, the jury's desire during deliberations to impose a life without parole sentence and the support for clemency from the jurors who are still living.
Meders spent the afternoon of Oct. 13, 1987, drinking alcohol with three men: Randy Harris, Bill Arnold and Greg Creel. After leaving Harris and driving around for hours, Meders, Creel and Arnold ended up at a convenience store about 2:30 the next morning.
While they were there, Anderson was fatally shot in the chest and head, and more than $30 was taken from the cash register, according to authorities.
Meders testified at his trial that all three men went inside, and that Arnold shot Anderson and told Meders to grab the cash. Arnold and Creel both testified that only Creel and Meders entered the store, and Meders shot the clerk and took the money.
Harris, who wasn't at the store, testified that Meders confessed to him afterward that he had "blowed a man's head off over $38."
Meders was the only one charged in the robbery and killing.
Meders was sentenced to death in 1989, four years before a change in the law that allowed a sentence of life without the possibility of parole for capital cases. In the clemency application submitted to the parole board, his lawyers argued that it was clear that the jury wanted that option.
The application cited a note the jurors sent to the judge after 20 minutes of deliberations: “If the Jury recommends that the accused be sentence to life imprisonment, can the Jury recommend that the sentence be carried out without Parole??”
Meders' lawyers also gathered sworn statements from the six jurors who are still alive and able to remember the deliberations. They all said they would have chosen life without parole if it had been an option and supported clemency for Meders.
Additionally, an analysis by Meders' attorneys of Georgia cases for which the death penalty was sought between 2008 and 2018 shows that in cases like his, with a single victim and few aggravating factors, juries don't choose the death penalty today and prosecutors rarely seek it in such cases.
Source: The Associated Press, Staff, January 16, 2020
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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde