Rare clemency for Georgia inmate

Up until last Friday (4/20) the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles had granted capital clemency only three times since 2002.

Three days after staying the execution of Daniel Greene, the five-member panel voted to commute his death sentence to life without parole, an unusual move that elicited mixed reactions from the tight-knit community. "We want to thank the board so much for their courage in this case," one of Greene's elated attorneys, Lindsay N. Bennett, said in a telephone interview from Atlanta. Greene, who had spent two decades on Georgia's death row and already ordered his last meal, received the news today and appeared to be in shock, Bennett said.

More from Jim Mustian's story in the Ledger-Enquirer (with thanks to Professor Doug Berman's Sentencing Law and Policy blog.