Georgia to execute man for 1990 murder of father-in-law
By David Beasley
ATLANTA (Reuters) - Georgia is scheduled to execute on Tuesday a man convicted of fatally shooting his father-in-law and kidnapping his estranged wife and her sister in 1990 who is set to become the ninth person put to death in the state this year.
William Sallie, 50, is due to die by lethal injection at 7 p.m. EST at the state prison in Jackson. The State Board of Pardons and Paroles denied his request for clemency late on Monday.
Sallie would become the 19th person executed in the United States this year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Georgia has carried out more executions this year than any other U.S. state, according to the group. Another execution is scheduled in Alabama on Thursday.
At the time of the murder, Sallie was separated from his wife, Robin, and their 2-year-old son, who were living with her parents in rural Bacon County in south Georgia.
Dressed in green camouflage and carrying a pistol, duct tape and handcuffs, Sallie broke into the Moore house in the early morning and shot his sleeping in-laws, John and Linda Moore, according to court records. John Moore, 49, died from his injuries.
Sallie then handcuffed Robin and her 17-year-old sister, and took them back to his trailer, releasing them later that night.
Sallie was originally convicted and sentenced to death in 1991, but the Georgia Supreme Court later ordered a new trial after it was disclosed that one of the defense attorneys had a conflict of interest. He was then convicted again in a second trial.
Sallie's lawyers have petitioned the State Board of Pardons and Paroles to commute his sentence to life without parole. They argued that a juror was biased against Sallie and lied about having a "checkered and tumultuous" history of divorces and child-custody fights.
The juror later told investigators that she pushed a divided jury for a death sentence.
(Editing by Letitia Stein and Andrew Hay; Editing by Will Dunham)
