William Mize granted stay of execution from Ga. Supreme Court

According to a press release from the court:

The Supreme Court of Georgia today issued a stay of execution for William Mark Mize to give the trial court judge time to rule on Mize’s Extraordinary Motion for New Trial. Chief Judge Lawton Stephens of the Western Judicial Circuit on Monday denied Mize’s request for a hearing on the motion, but he did not rule on the motion itself. An appeal to the state’s highest court is therefore premature.

In today’s order, the Georgia Supreme Court states the stay will automatically expire 24 hours after the judge rules. Mize, 52, was due to be put to death tonight at 7:00 p.m. by lethal injection for the 1994 murder of Eddie Tucker in Oconee County.

Some background on Mize from the Athens Banner-Herald:

Mize, who led a small group authorities said was related to the Ku Klux Klan, was convicted in December 1995 of killing 34-year-old Eddie Tucker of Hull.

In October 1994, a few members of the group - and Tucker, who had filled out an application to join - went into the Northwestern Oconee County woods, supposedly to camp, after Tucker and another group member failed to follow Mize’s orders to burn down a purported crack house in Athens.

Mize killed Tucker with a shotgun blast, prosecutors said.