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ProDeathPenalty.com

Parker had been convicted earlier on felony charges and was placed on probation in Fulton County on May 15, 1984. The probation was transferred to Douglas County that day, and he was scheduled to meet with his assigned Douglas County probation officer on June 1. He failed to appear then, but he did meet his probation officer on June 5, and asked for permission to leave the state. After Parker failed to appear for the polygraph on the morning of June 7, he was arrested on two warrants that were issued for his arrest; one charged him with the misdemeanor offense of possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, and the other was for the probation violation. After talking further with police, he told them he would take a polygraph test, provided that he was allowed to talk to his attorney beforehand. Parker took the polygraph. The examiner wanted to conduct another test before he could come to any final conclusions, but the examiner did tell the sheriff that, not withstanding his answers, Parker knew where Christy's body was. Parker was returned to Douglas County. He talked briefly to a couple of officers, and then Parker was allowed to talk to his mother and two sisters, for about half an hour. Afterwards, he was again given Miranda warnings and the interrogation resumed. At approximately midnight, Parker admitted responsibility for the victim’s disappearance, and agreed to reveal the location of the body. He drew a map, which police officers used to find the body. Afterwards, Parker was interrogated again; this time the confession was tape-recorded.

Georgia Attorney General

Press Advisory - 12/12/01 - Information on the Execution of Byron Ashley Parker.

Georgia Attorney General Thurbert E. Baker offers the following information on the execution of Byron Ashley Parker.

Execution - On November 27, 2001, the Superior Court of Douglas County filed an execution order, setting the seven-day window in which the execution of Byron Ashley Parker may occur to open at noon, December 11, 2001, and close at noon, December 18, 2001. The Commissioner of the Department of Corrections scheduled Parker’s execution to take place at 7:00pm on December 11, 2001. Parker had concluded his direct appeal from his Douglas County criminal case as well as one state and one federal habeas corpus case. The scheduled execution of Parker was carried out at approximately 7:26pm on Tuesday, December 11, 2001.

Parker’s Crimes - Bryon Ashley Parker was sentenced to death for the malice murder of Christy Ann Griffith in Douglas County on or about June 1, 1984. On direct appeal, the Georgia Supreme Court found the following facts: The 11-year-old victim in this case disappeared on June 1, 1984. Foul play was soon suspected. Law enforcement officers questioned a number of persons residing in the trailer park where the victim had lived -- including Parker, who was questioned on June 5, and again on June 6. He signed a consent-to-search form on June 6. Officers searched Parker’s house on June 6, but found nothing relating to any possible criminal activity except for a small amount of marijuana. Because Parker’s statements regarding his whereabouts at the time the victim disappeared were not entirely consistent, and because the investigators learned that Parker had earlier been charged in an incident involving a young girl in Florida, they began to focus their attention on Parker as a suspect. Parker was asked if he would be willing to take a polygraph examination the next day (June 7). Although Parker assented to the test, he failed to show up for the examination.

Parker had been convicted earlier on felony charges and was placed on probation in Fulton County on May 15, 1984. The probation was transferred to Douglas County that day, and he was scheduled to meet with his assigned Douglas County probation officer on June 1. He failed to appear then, but he did meet his probation officer on June 5, and asked for permission to leave the state.

After Parker failed to appear for the polygraph examination on the morning of June 7, two warrants were issued for his arrest; one charged him with the misdemeanor offense of possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, and the other was for a violation of the terms and conditions of his probation in that he “failed to appear as directed to the Douglas County Probation Office.” Parker was arrested on these warrants. After talking further with law enforcement officers, he told them he would take a polygraph examination, provided that he was allowed to talk to his attorney beforehand. Parker had called an attorney prior to his arrest and had made arrangements to meet him that day. Now Parker called him again, and the attorney met him at the FBI Atlanta office, where the examination was to take place.

The attorney (who did not represent the defendant at trial) testified that he told Parker that Parker could not be required to take the test, but Parker answered that if he did not, his probation would be revoked and he would be “put in jail for five years . . . on that marijuana charge.” The attorney testified he then talked to the sheriff who “indicated” to him that if “Parker could clear himself at that particular time with this polygraph test, . . . he could go on home.” The attorney testified that he discussed the situation with Parker, who adamantly denied any involvement in the disappearance of the girl. They agreed, then, that Parker should go ahead and take the examination. As the attorney left, he indicated “to them that I was not going to sit in on this, I would be at my home, and as soon as this is completed for someone to call me.”

The sheriff confirmed that he had discussed the marijuana warrant with the attorney. He testified he had told the attorney, “I can’t promise you anything, . . . but if this young man passes the test . . . I’ll go to the district attorney and ask him, you know, explain to him the situation and ask him to cause the warrant to be dismissed.” He denied discussing the probation warrant and denied threatening Parker with five years of prison if he refused to take the examination. He explained that the probation warrant was issued from another county, and that it was for failing to appear according to the terms and conditions of his probation, and that the sheriff therefore had no control over that situation.

Parker took the polygraph examination. The examiner wanted to conduct another test before he could come to any final conclusions, but the examiner did tell the sheriff that, not withstanding his answers, Parker knew where the body was. [Footnote omitted]. Parker was returned to Douglas County. He talked briefly to a couple of law enforcement officers, and then Parker was allowed to talk to his mother and two sisters, for about half an hour. Afterwards, he was again given Miranda warnings and the interrogation resumed. The sheriff testified that, in accordance with the attorney’s request, he and Parker attempted to call the attorney, at his office and at his home. He testified: “[Parker] tried, you know, one or more times. I tried several times because Parker was being interviewed, and I did not reach [the attorney] until after I had discovered the remains of [the victim]. So it could have been 2:00 or 3:00 o’clock in the morning, but I had tried up to near midnight at both numbers and failed to reach him.” The state asked the sheriff whether the attorney had ever asked or directed the sheriff to refrain from talking to Parker. The sheriff answered that he had not.

At approximately midnight, Parker admitted responsibility for the victim’s disappearance, and agreed to reveal the location of the body. He drew a map, which law enforcement officers used to find the body. Afterwards, Parker was interrogated again; this time the confession was tape-recorded. Parker v. State, 256 Ga. 543-45, 350 S.E.2d 570 (1986).

The Trial - Parker was indicted by the Douglas County grand jury on July 17, 1984, for the malice murder, rape and kidnapping of Christy Ann Griffith. At a jury trial on November 5-9, 1984, Parker was found guilty of murder and rape, and a judgment of nolle prosequi was entered on the kidnapping count. The jury found the existence of three statutory aggravating circumstances: one O.C.G.A. § 17-10-30(b)(7) circumstance and two (b)(2) circumstances, i.e., the murder was committed during the commission of the capital felonies of kidnapping with bodily injury and rape, and fixed the sentence for murder as death. The trial court imposed a consecutive life sentence for rape. On appeal the Georgia Supreme Court adjudicated some issues but remanded the case for further proceedings on the admissibility of Parker’s custodial statements. Parker v. State, 255 Ga. 167, 336 S.E.2d 242 (1985). After the remand, the state appellate court affirmed the murder conviction and death sentence, but set aside the rape conviction because the trial court erroneously declined to charge on child molestation as a lesser included offense. Parker v. State, 256 Ga. 543, 350 S.E.2d 570 (1986), cert. denied, 480 U.S. 940, reh’g denied 481 U.S. 1060 (1987). The death sentence was affirmed based upon the (b)(2) kidnapping with bodily injury aggravating circumstance, while the other two circumstances were set aside: the (b)(7) due to instructional error and the (b)(2) based on rape since the rape conviction itself was reversed. Id. at 551.

The State Habeas Corpus Case - Parker filed a habeas corpus petition in Butts County Superior Court on July 24, 1987, and subsequently amended the petition while he also pursued a freedom of information act request in Washington, D.C., for documents from the F.B.I. Evidentiary hearings were held on March 26, 1990; May 21, 1990; July 19, 1990; and March 9, 1992. Relief was denied on May 5, 1995, in an unpublished order. The Georgia Supreme Court denied Parker’s application for certificate of probable cause to appeal on May 24, 1996. Certiorari was denied on December 16, 1996. Parker v. Zant, 519 U.S. 1043 (1996).

The Federal Habeas Corpus Case - On November 15, 1996, Parker filed a federal habeas corpus petition in the United States District Court, Northern District of Georgia. On August 13, 1999, the district court denied relief. Parker was granted permission to appeal on six issues, but he pursued only four in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. The briefing schedule was stayed pending decision by the United States Supreme Court on a particular issue. In an opinion entered March 15, 2001, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the district court’s denial of relief. Parker v. Head, 244 F.3d 831 (11th Cir. 2001). Rehearing was denied on May 31, 2001. Parker v. Head, 260 F.3d 628 (11th Cir. 2001). The United States Supreme Court denied certiorari on November 26, 2001.

Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (Parker News)

News Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution - December 12, 2001

"Parker Executed Despite Advocates' Pleas for Mercy," by Rhonda Cook.

Jackson -- Despite claims that he is a changed man, Byron Ashley Parker died at 7:26 p.m. Tuesday, becoming the fourth person executed in Georgia by lethal injection since Oct. 25. He recorded his final words into a tape recorder before he was led into the death chamber, where he apologized to the family of Christie Ann Griffith. He declined to make a second statement to witnesses after he was strapped to the gurney.

Hazel Griffith, mother of the 11-year-old girl Parker was convicted of murdering, said she would go to her daughter's grave today to tell her, " 'Baby, rest in peace because your killer is dead in hell.' He took everything away from me, and I hope he burns in hell."

Parker, 41, was sentenced to die for the Douglas County kidnapping, raping and strangling of Christie Ann Griffith in 1984 after the young girl asked him if he had seen the taxi that was to carry her to her brother's high school graduation. Parker offered her a ride. He took her to a secluded area where he killed her and left her body tied to a tree. During the crime, his 2-year-old son waited inside a nearby locked car.

Parker spent his last day visiting with friends and relatives; about 20 came throughout the day. Corrections spokesman Mike Light said Parker was emotional all day Tuesday, and after his relatives left he cried for the first time.

Unlike the the 26 men Georgia has executed in the past 18 years under the current death penalty law, Parker did not ask for anything special for his last meal. Parker declined the meal that was served late Tuesday afternoon to other inmates at the Diagnostic and Classification Prison at Jackson. All he had before his execution was chocolate milk and coffee. Witnesses said Parker's only words once he was in the chamber were to ask for a prayer, and to echo the chaplain when he ended it with "Amen." Throughout the 10-minute procedure Parker "mostly stared at the ceiling," according to witnesses. In addition to the official witnesses who are routinely assembled for executions, this time there was an investigator for a 19-year-old accused murder facing the death penalty in Bibb County. A judge ordered the Department of Corrections to allow a representative for Thomas Gaillard to be there to present evidence in his unscheduled trial as to whether lethal injection is unconstitutionally cruel.

Unlike two of the three previous lethal injections, Corrections officials said they had no problems finding veins in which to send the lethal drug combination. "He's getting an easy way out," said Hazel Griffith, still bitter about the death of her youngest child. Griffith, now a 57-year-old grandmother, waited at home for news that Parker was dead.

Parker's advocates tried to win him mercy by portraying him as changed and rehabilitated. They included about 100 writers who considered him a peer. Parker has written poetry, novels and screenplays, including some that were published, according to his attorney. "I believe in rehabilitation," Bettie Sellers, Georgia's poet laureate 1997-2000, said of the man to whom she had offered writing tips. "I believe if anyone has been rehabilitated . . . Byron Parker is that person. He is not the same person who murdered that little girl."

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News Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution - December 11, 2001

"Parker's Execution Set for Tonight; Investigator for another inmate will be allowed to watch insertion of IVs," by Rhonda Cook.

Condemned child killer Byron Ashley Parker decided he would not bother asking the state Board of Pardons and Paroles for mercy. Instead, Parker put his hopes in the federal appeals court. Parker's attorney said the condemned man believed he could not get a fair hearing before the Parole Board. The board reviewed his case anyway, and declined to commute his sentence to life in prison.

Parker, 41, is sentenced to die at 7 p.m. today for raping and murdering Christie Ann Griffith. Prosecutors said Parker took the 11-year-old Douglas County girl to a secluded area where he strangled her while his 2-year-old son was waiting in a locked car nearby. While Parker's lawyers worked to keep him alive, other attorneys worked to lay the groundwork to challenge the constitutionality of lethal injection.

A judge ordered the Department of Corrections Monday to allow an investigator for another accused killer to watch Parker's execution, including the strap-down and the insertion of the IVs. Since the first lethal injection Oct. 25, witnesses have been allowed into the death chamber only after the IVs have been inserted. In two of the executions, medical workers had problems inserting the IVs. Opponents of the death penalty contend that the insertion of the IVs in those cases amounts to torture. The investigator will be looking to bolster the argument that lethal injection is unconstitutionally cruel at Parker's execution. The investigator works for attorneys representing Thomas Gaillard, 19, accused of killing a Macon convenience store clerk last December. Gaillard's trial has not been scheduled.

Parker is set to become the fourth person to die by lethal injection in Georgia. In his federal court appeal, Parker claimed he couldn't get a fair hearing before the Parole Board because its chairman was not open to his request. He cited comments board Chairman Walter Ray reportedly made three years ago, suggesting that he would not commute the sentence of any death row inmate. Ray has denied saying that. A federal judge called the allegations "troubling" but said they did not disqualify Ray from deciding cases.

At a news conference Monday, Parker's sister pleaded for mercy. "Byron's not the same person who committed this crime," said Teresa Lummas, Parker's older sister. "Byron's rehabilitated. He's remorseful and tried to make up for what he did. ... I don't think it will help the family of Christie have peace or any closure." The slain girl's mother said, however, she is looking forward to the execution. "I am eager," said Hazel Griffith. "It will be a bit of closure. It won't be much, but it will be closure. I won't have to hear his name any more. He will be wiped out, off the map."

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News Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution - December 6, 2001

"Death Row Inmate Claims Fair Hearing is Impossible," by Rhonda Cook.

Byron Ashley Parker, scheduled to be executed next week, claims he cannot get a fair hearing before the state Board of Pardons and Parole because three of the five members are beholden to the attorney general and would not spare the condemned killer to curry favor with the state's top lawyer. In a document filed with the U.S. District Court Wednesday, Parker's lawyers said these board members have a "servile relationship with the Attorney General." They also claimed board Chairman Walter Ray has vowed no death row inmate will "ever get clemency" as long as he is head of the panel. Ray said Wednesday, "I never made the statement in question or any statement like it. I review the facts of every case and vote based on those facts."

Parker's lawyers also contended that Ray, as chairman, counts the secret votes of the other four members and he could "manipulate" the results of a balloting. But Ray said the original votes are preserved with the signatures of each board member on the ballots and can be provided to a judge for private review. The state's attorneys had not read the court motion and had not filed a response.

Parker is set to be executed Tuesday for the 1984 kidnapping, rape and murder of an 11-year-old Villa Rica girl. Prosecutors said Christie Ann Griffith was about to go to her brother's high school graduation when Parker abducted her, taking her to a wooded area, where he raped and strangled her. Parker's 2-year-old son was waiting in a locked car nearby. If he is executed next week, Parker will be the fourth person to die by lethal injection in Georgia since Oct. 25.

One of the arguments Parker is raising in the appeal filed in federal court is similar to one that was central to the final legal maneuvering in two of the three who were executed before him --- that two of the five Parole Board members face a conflict of interest because the office of Attorney General Thurbert Baker is investigating them for allegations that they had an improper relationship with a private probation firm. Parker's lawyers, as in the two previous cases, claim Ray and board member Bobby Whitworth would be inclined to deny Parker's pleas for mercy to curry favor with Baker, whose office also is charged with defending death sentences. But the state and federal courts that heard the similar appeals in the two previous cases refused to step in, saying there was nothing to show that those men did not have fair hearings.

This time, though, another board member has been added to the mix. Gene Walker has been accused of sexually harassing his secretary, who expects to sue him if they can't reach an agreement within three months. If civil charges were brought against Walker, Baker's office would defend him. "The board, as it is comprised today, does not provide a fair, neutral and detached decision-making body," wrote Parker attorney Thomas Dunn. "The Attorney General, the principal proponent of Mr. Parker's execution, is either investigating or defending three of five Board members. These members have an obvious and apparent interest in accommodating the Attorney General by adopting their defender-prosecutor's position that Mr. Parker should die," Dunn wrote.

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News Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution - November 29, 2001

"Fourth Execution of Year Set Dec. 11," by Bill Rankin.

Georgia on Wednesday scheduled its fourth execution of the year. The Department of Corrections said Byron Ashley Parker, 41, would be executed at 7 p.m. Dec. 11 for the murder and rape of an 11-year-old Douglas County girl in 1984. If Parker's execution is carried out, Georgia will have executed more people this year than in any other year since 1987. After a three-year hiatus, Georgia's death chamber is now preparing for its fourth execution since October when the Georgia Supreme Court declared the electric chair unconstitutional on grounds it was cruel and unusual punishment. Since late October, condemned killers Terry Mincey, Jose Martinez High and Fred Marion Gilreath have been executed by lethal injection.

When he was 24, Parker was convicted in the slaying of Christie Ann Griffith, who lived in a Villa Rica mobile home community and was a fourth-grader at Arbor Station Elementary School. Prosecutors said that Parker picked up Christie, who was preparing to go to her brother's high school graduation, and drove her to a wooded area where he raped and killed her. His 2-year-old son waited in the car nearby. Douglas County police discovered the girl's body a week later off Chapel Hill Road. Douglas District Attorney David McDade said Wednesday his thoughts were with the Griffith family. "They have suffered long enough," he said. "They deserve some closure. This won't end their suffering, but it will turn a page in their life, hopefully."

Amnesty International

USA (Georgia) Byron Ashley Parker (m), white, aged 41

Byron Parker is scheduled to be executed in Georgia at 7pm local time on 11 December 2001. He was sentenced to death for the murder of 11-year-old Christie Ann Griffith in 1984 and has been on death row for 17 years.

Since the trial, a majority of the jurors who sentenced Byron Parker to death have supported commuting his death sentence to life imprisonment. At the trial, the jury had been left largely unaware of the abuse he suffered as a child. His clemency application is based upon his remorse for the crime and his rehabilitation during his time on death row. He has pursued his education at his own expense, achieving his high school diploma, as well as a degree from the University of Iowa, where he has also taken graduate courses. He has published poetry, short stories and screenplays. A former poet laureate of Georgia has reportedly used Byron Parker's writings in classes she teaches at a state college.

Byron Parker has requested a clemency hearing before the State Board of Pardons and Paroles, but is questioning its ability to conduct a fair hearing because of apparent conflicts of interest of some of its members. The Board's Chairman and one of its members are being investigated by the state Attorney General's Office over allegations of criminal misconduct in a matter unrelated to their involvement with the Board. A third member is reportedly facing a lawsuit for the alleged sexual harassment of his secretary and would be defended against that claim by the Attorney General's Office.

The Attorney General's Office is the very same office that represents the state when condemned inmates appeal against their death sentences as well as when they petition for clemency. Byron Parker's lawyers have filed a civil action in federal court, arguing that it is impossible for their client to have a fair clemency hearing while three of the Board's members are either being investigated or defended by the body that is the "principal proponent" of his execution.

Byron Parker's lawyers are seeking a stay of execution until such time as none of the Board members have relationships with the Attorney General's Office that may raise doubts about their impartiality as Board members. The lawyers are calling for the Governor to investigate and remove any Board members who cannot fulfil their duties. According to the court action, under Georgia law, if the Governor has reason to believe that any member of the board is "unable to perform the duties of his office", he or she must convene a "council" to establish if that is the case.

Article 6(4) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states: "Anyone sentenced to death shall have the right to seek pardon or commutation of the sentence". For this to be a meaningful right, and for public confidence in the justice system to be maintained, transparency and fairness in the clemency process are essential. Amnesty International does not seek to make any comment on the allegations against the individual Board members, and in any event opposes the execution of Byron Parker or any other inmate regardless of these allegations. Nevertheless, it believes that the current situation in relation to the Georgia clemency process can serve only to undermine public confidence in the administration of justice in Georgia.

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Byron Parker - Scheduled Execution Date and Time: 12/11/01 7:00PM EDT.

With the scheduled execution of Byron Parker on Dec. 11, Georgia is on track to carry out four executions for 2001, all within a two-month period. Parker’s last chance to avoid being executed appears to lie with the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles- two members of which are currently being investigated for criminal activity. It is unlikely this board can provide a fair and just hearing.

Parker was sentenced to death for murdering Christie Ann Griffith in 1984. Parker’s case had legitimate 6th amendment claims- he was interrogated by police without legal counsel for six days after he invoked his right to an attorney. However, the procedural rules of the U.S. circuit courts bar this claim from being considered on its merits. Because this claim was not raised at the guilt or punishment phase of trial, it may not be raised on appeal, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled.

Parker’s last chance lies with the Board of Pardons and Paroles, which is currently being investigated by the Attorney General’s Office. Unfortunately for Parker, it will be that very same office which argues against his clemency to the Board. It is hard to find a greater conflict of interest when two members of the board have an opportunity to side with the agency investigating them for criminal acts. Let the Governor of Georgia know that the review of criminal cases requires fairness and impartiality.

Death Penalty Information Center

Later today, a civil rights action lawsuit is being filed against the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles on behalf of death row inmate Byron Parker, alleging that three of the five parole board members are operating under a conflict of interest. Lead attorney Thomas Dunn says the lawsuit is intended to give Mr. Parker a fair and impartial clemency hearing. As reported in today's Atlanta Journal Constitution, three of the five board members are either under serious criminal investigation or the threat of a career-ending sexual harassment suit. Chairman Walter Ray and member Bobby Whitworth are being investigated by the Attorney General of the State of Georgia. Board member Eugene Walker is being defended in a sexual harassment lawsuit by the same Attorney General's Office.

"The Attorney General of Georgia is the principal proponent of Mr. Parker's execution," said Dunn. "Given that three of the five members of the Board are operating under a conflict of interest - - they are in a position to want to curry favor with their prosecutor or defender from the Attorney General's office. Therefore, Mr. Parker cannot get a fair and impartial clemency hearing." Mr. Parker has requested a clemency hearing before a Board that contains unbiased and conflict-free members.

Parker, who is scheduled to be executed at 7:00p.m.on Tuesday, December 11, 2001, has exhausted all appeals. He has also requested that the Governor of Georgia, Roy Barnes, carry out his statutory duty to remove those members that are "incapacitated" and unable to fairly and impartially decide a clemency application.

While on death row, Parker, who had an 8th grade education, earned a GED and took college level psychology and writing courses. A number of prominent writers have befriended Parker, including Bettie Sellers, former poet laureate of Georgia, and author Dave Marsh. Parker would become the fourth person executed in Georgia since the use of the electric chair was ruled unconstitutional on October 5, 2001.