ATLANTA (AP) – Georgia is preparing to carry out its eighth execution of the year with plans to execute a man who killed his ex-girlfriend 15 years ago.
Steven Frederick Spears, 54, is scheduled to be put to death Wednesday by injection of the barbiturate pentobarbital at the state prison in Jackson. He was convicted of murder in the August 2001 slaying of his former girlfriend Sherri Holland at her home in Dahlonega, about 65 miles northeast of Atlanta.
Here are some things to know about the scheduled execution:
THE CRIME
Spears told investigators in a 90-minute, tape-recorded confession that he came up with four different plans to kill Holland. According to a summary from the Georgia Supreme Court: