State Executes Man Who Raped, Killed Girl
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A man convicted of raping and murdering an 11-year-old girl in 1984 was executed by injection in Georgia after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his final appeals.
Byron Ashley Parker, 41, was pronounced dead at 7:26 p.m. at a Georgia state prison about 50 miles south of Atlanta.
Parker was convicted of luring Christie Ann Griffith to a secluded area, then raping and strangling her.
Hours before the death sentence was carried out, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Parker a stay on grounds that the state parole board had given him a tainted clemency hearing because of conflicts of interest.
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