Georgia executes man for beating friend to death in 1982

FILE - Georgia death row inmate John Wayne Conner is shown in this undated prison photo released by the Georgia Department of Corrections. Georgia is preparing to break its own record for the most executions in a calendar year since the death penalty was reinstated 40 years ago. Conner is set to be executed Thursday July 14, 2016 for the killing of a friend after a night of drinking and marijuana use. Conner would be the sixth inmate executed this year by the state. Georgia executed five inmates last year and in 1987 (Georgia Department of Corrections via AP) FILE - Georgia death row inmate John Wayne Conner is shown in this undated prison photo released by the Georgia Department of Corrections. Georgia is preparing to break its own record for the most executions in a calendar year since the death penalty was reinstated 40 years ago. Conner is set to be executed Thursday July 14, 2016 for the killing of a friend after a night of drinking and marijuana use. Conner would be the sixth inmate executed this year by the state. Georgia executed five inmates last year and in 1987 (Georgia Department of Corrections via AP)

By Associated Press July 15, 2016 4 min read

JACKSON, Ga. (AP) – Georgia on Friday executed its sixth inmate this year, the most in any calendar year in the state since the death penalty was reinstated four decades ago.

John Wayne Conner, 60, was put to death for beating a friend to death during an argument after a night of partying in January 1982. Warden Eric Sellers told witnesses the time of death was 12:29 a.m.

Conner didn’t make a final statement and declined to have a prayer said for him.

The warden left the room at 12:15 a.m. Records from past executions show the lethal drug generally begins to flow within a couple of minutes of the warden leaving the room, but that is not visible to news media witnesses.

Georgia executed five inmates last year and in 1987. Only five states have carried out death sentences this year, for a total of 15 executions. Aside from the six in Georgia, six inmates have been executed in Texas and one each in Alabama, Florida and Missouri.