Update 10:45 p.m.
A Georgia man who lost a last-minute round of appeals for a stay of his execution declined to make a final statement and also declined an offer for a final prayer to be said for him.
Corrections officials say Marcus Ray Johnson was pronounced dead at 10:11 p.m. Thursday. The warden left the execution chamber at 9:44 p.m. In most executions, the lethal drug that is used starts flowing within minutes after the warden makes his exit.
Johnson was convicted in April 1998 in the March 1994 rape and murder of Angela Sizemore in Albany.
Johnson met Sizemore at a club and the two were spotted kissing and drinking heavily and were seen leaving together. Sizemore's body was found the next day and prosecutors say eyewitnesses placed Johnson near where her body was found.
Defense attorneys argued there were inconsistencies in the evidence presented at Johnson's trial that raise doubts about his guilt. Prosecutors said defense theories had been rejected by the courts and there was no doubt Johnson killed Sizemore.
_____________________________________________________________
Update: 9:05 p.m.
The U.S. Supreme Court has denied the application for a stay of execution for a condemned Georgia man.
Lawyers for 50-year-old Marcus Ray Johnson filed several last-minute appeals.
________________________
(Associated Press) - Lawyers for a man convicted of killing a woman he met in a south Georgia nightclub have filed yet another appeal on his behalf.
Court officials recently said one appeal for a stay of execution remains pending before the U.S. Supreme Court for Marcus Ray Johnson who was scheduled to be executed at 7 p.m. Thursday at the state prison in Jackson.
The 50-year-old was convicted in the March 1994 rape and murder of Angela Sizemore in Albany.
Johnson's attorneys argue he shouldn't be executed because doubts remain about his guilt. Prosecutors say there is no doubt Johnson killed Sizemore.
The Georgia Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a lower court ruling rejecting a constitutional challenge to Johnson's sentence and conviction. His lawyers then turned to the federal courts.
The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, the only entity authorized to commute a death sentence, voted Wednesday to deny clemency.
