Atlanta, March 15, 2018 – The Supreme Court of Georgia has unanimously dismissed a motion requesting a stay of execution for Carlton Gary, who is scheduled to be put to death tonight at 7:00 p.m. by lethal injection at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, GA. Gary, 67, was sentenced to death in Muscogee County for the rape and murder 40 years ago of three elderly women. Two had been strangled with their own stockings; the third had been strangled with her scarf. In 1977 and 1978, the women were among seven older women who were raped and strangled to death in the Wynnton neighborhood of Columbus, GA. Gary was accused of, but not charged with, the other four Georgia murders. Three of the other four women also had been strangled with their stockings.

Gary was arrested in 1984 for a burglary and tied to the murders based on fingerprint evidence at one of the murder scenes. He was convicted and sentenced to death in 1986. On March 6, 1990, the Supreme Court of Georgia upheld his convictions and sentences. In December 2009, hours before Gary was due to be executed, the Georgia Supreme Court granted him a stay of execution and ordered the Muscogee County Superior Court to conduct a hearing on his request for DNA testing of evidence collected from the crime scenes. Such testing had not been available at the time of his conviction.

Gary contends that his innocence has been proven by the recent DNA testing results and other evidence, including a footprint at one of the crime scenes and a bite mark on one of the victims. He has asked the Georgia Supreme Court to stay his execution while the U.S. Supreme Court considers his claims.

But with today’s order, the Georgia Supreme Court has dismissed Gary’s motion for a stay of execution. The high court has determined that procedurally, Gary should have brought an application for a discretionary appeal to the Court. Instead, he brought what is deemed an “original motion” – one that originates in this Court rather than coming to this Court as an appeal of a decision by a lower court.

“We conclude that Gary has failed to show why this Court must exercise its original jurisdiction in his case, something that this Court will do only in ‘extremely rare’ cases, which this case is not because the relevant recent decision in the trial court could be raised before this Court through an application for discretionary appeal,” today’s order says.