ATLANTA (AP) – A Georgia prisoner who faces execution this week lost his bid for clemency Monday before the only state authority with the power to commute a death sentence.
Keith Leroy Tharpe, 59, is scheduled to be put to death Tuesday at the state prison in Jackson for the September 1990 shooting death of Jacquelyn Freeman.
After holding a closed-door hearing Monday, the 27th anniversary of Freeman’s death, the State Board of Pardons and Paroles declined to grant him clemency. Consistent with its normal practice, the board gave no reason for its decision.
Tharpe still has requests pending before the U.S. Supreme Court and a state court to halt the execution.
In a clemency application that was declassified Friday, Tharpe’s lawyers detailed a tough childhood and an extensive history of substance abuse that they say included getting black-out drunk by age 10 and a debilitating crack cocaine habit.