Georgia

ATLANTA — The state's Supreme Court unanimously voted to reinstate the death sentence handed down to a man convicted in Hall County of the 1994 murders of his girlfriend and her friend. Earlier this year, a lower court threw out the sentence against Scotty Garnell Morrow after finding that he was denied effective counsel during the sentencing phase of his trial. But, in a decision handed down this week, Justice Hugh Thompson writes, “we conclude that trial

ATLANTA — A former DeKalb County police officer faces a year and a day in federal prison for helping hide a stolen vehicle, unlawfully accessing government information and lying to federal agents, the FBI said. Donald Briston, 41, of Lilburn, who pleaded guilty to the federal charges in July, was also sentenced by U.S. District Judge Timothy C. Batten Sr. to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay a $3,000 fine. “The citizens

ATLANTA — The state’s Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to drop a stay of execution a Dougherty County judge granted to a man who was set to be executed for the 1994 murder a woman he met at a west Albany bar. Dougherty County Superior Court Chief Judge Willie Lockette on Tuesday granted the stay of execution to 46-year-old Marcus Ray Johnson. District Attorney Gregory Edwards filed an emergency motion to dismiss the stay, but the