The Georgia Parole Board commuted the death sentence of Samuel David Crowe. The parole board took this action three hours before the scheduled execution of Crowe and after he had eaten his last meal and was prepared to enter the execution chamber. His sentence has been commuted to life without parole.
Samuel David Crowe had confessed to the murder of "store manager Joseph Pala during a robbery at the lumber company in Douglas County, west of Atlanta. Crowe, who had previously worked at the store, shot Pala three times with a pistol, beat him with a crowbar and a pot of paint." according to the Reuters article: http://www.reuters.com/...
Unlike Troy Davis, a black man who maintained his innocence until the end, Crowe, a white man, pleaded guilty to armed robbery and murder.
Can anyone explain why the Parole Board would grant clemency to Crowe when they refused clemency to Troy Davis?
UPDATE: I stand corrected and thank my DK friends who pointed out that this occured in 2008, not yesterday. I picked up this link on FB yesterday and thought it happened yesterday. I can see now why it wasn't the sensational news I thought it should be.
Nevertheless, the question remains why the parole board granted clemency to Crowe when they didn't grant it to Troy Davis.