Georgia executes long-time death row inmate

John Wayne Conner killed a man in 1982

(CNN)

Georgia officials executed a man early Friday who beat a friend to death during an argument after a night of partying more than three decades ago.

John Wayne Conner was executed at 12:29 a.m. at the state prison in Jackson by an injection of pentobarbital, according to the Washington Post and ABC News.

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The 60-year-old was convicted of beating J.T. White to death in January, 1982 during an argument after a night of drinking and marijuana use. His lawyers had argued Conner was intellectually disabled and, therefore, ineligible for execution.

The U.S. Supreme Court denied a stay of execution about 50 minutes before the execution was carried out.

Conner declined a final prayer and didn’t record a last statement, state officials say.

He was the sixth inmate executed in Georgia this year, the most in a calendar year in the state since the death penalty was reinstated nationwide in 1976.


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