Georgia Sets September Execution Date in 2003 Double Murder of Real Estate Agents

Georgia prison authorities have scheduled the execution of Stacey Humphreys for the evening of September 16, more than two decades after he was convicted of murdering two real estate agents in a suburb northwest of Atlanta.

Humphreys, 53, is set to receive a lethal injection at the state prison near Jackson at 7 p.m., according to the Department of Corrections. He was found guilty of malice murder in the 2003 deaths of Cyndi Williams, 33, and Lori Brown, 21.

If carried out, this would mark the first execution in Georgia this year. The state's death penalty process has been largely stalled by litigation over a pandemic-era agreement that defense attorneys argue shields many death row inmates from execution. The last execution in Georgia occurred in March 2024.

Humphreys was previously scheduled to die in December, but that execution was halted after his legal team filed a petition seeking the recusal of two members of the State Board of Pardons and Paroles from his clemency hearing. The lawyers argued that both members had conflicts of interest stemming from their roles during his trial.

One board member, Kimberly McCoy, had served as a victim advocate with the Cobb County district attorney's office during the trial and was assigned to work with the victims' families. The other, Wayne Bennett, was the sheriff in Glynn County, where the trial was moved due to pretrial publicity, and had overseen security for jurors and Humphreys himself.

A Fulton County Superior Court judge halted the execution while reviewing the case. In March, the judge ruled that McCoy must recuse herself due to a "material conflict of interest," but found that Bennett had little recollection of the trial and no conflict. The judge also declined to order the governor to appoint a substitute board member or to force the board to delay the clemency hearing until a full five-member panel could convene, noting that such decisions rested with the governor and the board.

Humphreys' lawyers appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case. A subsequent petition to the U.S. Supreme Court remains pending.

The killings occurred on November 3, 2003, when Humphreys entered a sales office in a model home in Powder Springs, about 20 miles northwest of Atlanta. The two women were working there as agents. Trial evidence showed Humphreys forced them to undress and provide their bank PINs before shooting them fatally.

He took their driver's licenses, bank cards, and credit cards, withdrawing more than $3,000 from their accounts. After his arrest, Humphreys told police he had taken out high-interest payday loans and needed money for a truck payment. At the time, he was on parole for a 1993 felony theft conviction, having been released from prison 13 months earlier.

Witnesses reported seeing a man matching his description at the sales office and a vehicle matching his black Dodge Durango in the parking lot. Police attempted to question Humphreys at his Dunwoody home days later, but he fled and was arrested in Wisconsin after a high-speed chase.

He told investigators he did not remember his actions at the time of the killings, but when asked why he fled, he said, "I know I did it. I know it just as well as I know my own name."

Authorities found a Ruger handgun matching the 9 mm bullets used in the killings in the console of the rented Jeep Humphreys used to flee. Blood on the gun matched Williams' DNA, and blood in his truck matched Brown's DNA, according to court documents.