LaFAYETTE, Ga. — Judge Jon “Bo” Wood looked at three defense attorneys and a prosecutor Wednesday morning and pleaded with them: Just move this case forward.
Wood was presiding over a pretrial hearing for Jamie Ray Ward, a man convicted of murder 25 years ago, in July 1991.
Jamie Ray WardHe originally received the death penalty, but a federal appeals court awarded him a new sentencing hearing in 2010 because a bailiff answered the jury’s question about the possible punishments they could give Ward.
Only a judge was legally allowed to answer that question.
The prosecution is seeking the death penalty again. Ward’s attorneys from the Office of the Georgia Capital Defenders are seeking a sentence of life in prison. On Wednesday, they argued over a series of specific procedural steps that will play out in front of a jury during the new sentencing hearing — whenever that may be.