Georgia is hours away from carrying out its sole execution of 2026.
Stacey Humphreys, 53, is scheduled to die by lethal injection on September 16 for the 2003 double murder of real estate agents Cyndi Williams, 33, and Lori Brown, 21. The Warner Robins killing has kept him on death row for nearly two decades, yet he remains the only inmate the state has managed to schedule this year despite a crowded death row.
The Georgia Department of Corrections confirmed the timeline last week. Humphreys entered the women’s sales office on November 3, 2003, forced them to reveal their bank PINs, then shot them both dead. Investigators later found evidence the victims had also been strangled, and roughly $3,000 was withdrawn from their accounts.
Thirty-three people currently sit on Georgia’s death row, but systemic delays have frozen most executions. A legal settlement born during the COVID-19 pandemic temporarily blocked the state from seeking execution warrants for nine inmates. Some conditions have since lifted, yet the agreement still creates procedural obstacles for those prisoners. Humphreys was not among the nine, allowing prosecutors to pursue his case on a separate track entirely.
The remaining 23 inmates outside both groups continue through standard appeals and post-conviction review. No additional executions have been calendared.
Humphreys has taken advantage of Georgia’s unusually permissive final meal policy. Unlike Florida, Oklahoma and other states that impose dollar limits or ban fast food outright, Georgia places no restrictions on last requests. The 53-year-old ordered barbecue beef brisket, pork ribs, a bacon double cheeseburger, french fries, buffalo wings and a meat lovers pan pizza. For dessert he requested butter pecan ice cream, peach ice cream, and two caffeine-free sodas.
The Death Penalty Information Center notes that 27 U.S. States retain capital punishment, though several do not actively carry it out. Georgia’s last execution before this scheduled date occurred in 2025, when the state put to death a prisoner convicted of a 1994 killing. That gap reflects broader national trends: supply chain issues with lethal injection drugs, ongoing litigation over execution methods, and pandemic-era court backlogs have slowed death chambers across the country.
Humphreys’ case attracted limited appellate attention in recent years. His direct appeals were exhausted by 2010, and subsequent habeas petitions failed to overturn his conviction or sentence. The Georgia Supreme Court denied a stay request last month, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene earlier this week.
Brown was 21 and newly licensed when she started at the Warner Robins agency. Williams, 33, had worked in Middle Georgia real estate for nearly a decade and mentored younger agents. The November 2003 robbery unfolded during business hours in a small strip office visible from the road; a co-worker discovered the bodies the following morning after both women failed to return calls. The brutality of the crime—binding, interrogation for PINs, strangulation and shooting—shaped local coverage for months and underpinned the jury’s death recommendation at trial.
No further Georgia executions have been scheduled for 2026.