The Georgia Department of Corrections says an execution date has been set for Stacey Ian Humphreys, who was sentenced to death for the 2003 murders of two Cobb County real estate agents.
Humphreys was convicted and sentenced to death in 2007 after a Glynn County jury found him guilty of killing Lori Brown, 21, and Cynthia Williams, 33, inside a model home at the Oakwind subdivision where they worked as real estate agents.
Prosecutors said Humphreys kidnapped the women from the Cobb County property, then shot, strangled, and robbed them, taking their ATM and credit cards.
Because Humphreys received a death sentence, the case was automatically appealed. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the conviction, and in October the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case — even though three justices wrote that one juror may have been “tainted” because she previously had been the victim of an alleged rape and robbery before serving.
Before his murder conviction, GDOC records show Humphreys served almost eight years in prison on unrelated convictions, including theft offenses.
GDOC ordered that the execution take place between Dec. 17 and Dec. 23. Commissioner Tyrone Oliver scheduled the execution for Wednesday, Dec. 17 at 7 p.m. at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson.
The Stacey Ian Humphreys case
2003
Nov. 3 — A builder discovers the bodies of Cynthia Williams (33) and Lori Brown (21) inside the sales office of the Oakwind subdivision in Powder Springs, Cobb County. Williams is found strangled and shot twice. Brown is shot once.
Investigators say Williams was forced to undress and provide her ATM PIN. Both women’s cards were stolen and used for more than $3,000 in withdrawals.
Nov. 7 — Humphreys, a convicted felon on parole, skips a scheduled meeting with his parole officer and flees Georgia.
Nov. 8 — Humphreys is captured outside Milwaukee, Wisconsin, after a 30-minute police chase. Authorities recover the murder weapon — a Ruger 9mm pistol — and blood linked to both victims inside his rental vehicle.
2004
Feb. 12 — A Cobb County grand jury indicts Humphreys on multiple counts, including malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, kidnapping, and armed robbery. The State of Georgia files its notice of intent to seek the death penalty.
2007
Sept. 4 — Jury selection begins in Glynn County, where the trial was moved due to pretrial publicity.
Sept. 25 — The jury finds Humphreys guilty on all counts, including two counts of malice murder.
Sept. 30 — After hearing mitigation evidence about Humphreys’s childhood abuse and mental illness, the jury deliberates nearly 19 hours and recommends a death sentence.
Oct. 1 — The trial court formally imposes the death sentence for each murder.
2010
March — The Georgia Supreme Court affirms Humphreys’s conviction and death sentence. The U.S. Supreme Court denies certiorari.
2016
Humphreys’s state habeas corpus petition is denied in Butts County.
2017
The Georgia Supreme Court rejects his request for additional review of his habeas claims.
2020
Sept. 19 — The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia denies federal habeas relief, rejecting claims about juror misconduct and the Allen charge.
2024
June 11 — The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals issues a lengthy opinion affirming the denial of habeas relief. The panel rules that his juror-misconduct claims are procedurally defaulted under Georgia’s “no-impeachment rule.”
2025
January — Humphreys files a petition for certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court (Case No. 24-826), arguing that his death sentence was tainted by juror misconduct.
October — The U.S. Supreme Court denies review.
Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justices Kagan and Jackson, issues a dissent saying the sentence was “tainted by a single juror’s extraordinary misconduct” and that lower courts applied the wrong legal standards.
