Oldest inmate on Georgia's death row executed
Brandon Astor Jones, 72, was executed by lethal injection at 12:46 a.m. on Wednesday at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification prison in Jackson, The Guardian reports. Jones was the oldest inmate on Georgia's death row, having faced 35 years of living with the death sentence after being accused of killing the manager of a convenience store in 1979 with an accomplice, Van Roosevelt Solomon.
Solomon was executed in 1985; Jones' sentence was overturned in 1989 because a trial judge had used a Bible to possibly influence the jury. Jones was sentenced again in 1977, although he continued to appeal for years saying he had a history of mental illness and childhood sexual abuse.
"We have this very strange situation now in which these people sentenced to death a long time ago — and who managed to get through all the stages of review — are now being executed. They almost certainly would not be sentenced to death today," President Stephen Bright of the Southern Center for Human Rights told The Intercept. Bright called situations like Jones' "zombie cases" that "remind us of just how unfair" the justice system used to be.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Jones was the fifth execution this year and one of two scheduled this month in Georgia. Read more about Jones in The Intercept.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
-
Octopuses could be the next big species after humans
UNDER THE RADAR What has eight arms, a beaked mouth, and is poised to take over the planet when we're all gone?
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Sudoku medium: December 23, 2024
The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
By The Week Staff Published
-
Crossword: December 23, 2024
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff Published
-
ABC News to pay $15M in Trump defamation suit
Speed Read The lawsuit stemmed from George Stephanopoulos' on-air assertion that Trump was found liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Judge blocks Louisiana 10 Commandments law
Speed Read U.S. District Judge John deGravelles ruled that a law ordering schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms was unconstitutional
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
ATF finalizes rule to close 'gun show loophole'
Speed Read Biden moves to expand background checks for gun buyers
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Hong Kong passes tough new security law
Speed Read It will allow the government to further suppress all forms of dissent
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
France enshrines abortion rights in constitution
speed read It became the first country to make abortion a constitutional right
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Texas executes man despite contested evidence
Speed Read Texas rejected calls for a rehearing of Ivan Cantu's case amid recanted testimony and allegations of suppressed exculpatory evidence
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Supreme Court wary of state social media regulations
Speed Read A majority of justices appeared skeptical that Texas and Florida were lawfully protecting the free speech rights of users
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Greece legalizes same-sex marriage
Speed Read Greece becomes the first Orthodox Christian country to enshrine marriage equality in law
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published