Stephen Mobley was executed by the State of Georgia for the murder of John Collins
According to court documents Stephen Mobley would rob a pizza shop and in the process shot and killed manager John Collins
Stephen Mobley would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Stephen Mobley would be executed by lethal injection on March 1 2005
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When Was Stephen Mobley Executed
Stephen Mobley was executed on March 1 2005
Stephen Mobley Case
Georgia executed a man Tuesday who killed a pizza shop manager during a three-week robbery spree 14 years ago. Stephen A. Mobley, 39, was given a lethal injection at the state prison in Jackson for the Feb. 17, 1991 murder of 24-year-old John Collins. He was pronounced dead at 8 p.m.
A federal court issued a brief stay Tuesday evening, then withdrew it. Last-minute appeals failed, leading to the state’s second execution this year.
Mobley issued a lengthy final statement just before he was executed. “I would be remiss not to also acknowledge and make amends to my family and my friends,” he said. “They know who they are. There are those that say I am a bigger person than I used to be, and I appreciate that. “The opportunity I have been given, I atone for what sins I committed.” He was asked if he wanted a last prayer. “Absolutely,” he said. After the prayer, the fatal chemicals were injected and Mobley died.
Mobley was convicted of murder, armed robbery, aggravated assault and firearm possession in the death of Collins at a Domino’s Pizza in Oakwood, 45 miles northeast of Atlanta. After emptying the cash register and shooting Collins in the head, Mobley committed six additional armed robberies at restaurants and dry cleaners over a three-week period, court records say. He was arrested following a high-speed chase as he fled the scene of an attempted armed robbery, and the gun used in the murder was found along the roadway, court records say.
Prior to the murder, Mobley had been convicted of at least seven other crimes, including credit card theft and burglary, that were committed between 1983 and 1986, prison records show.
In recent days, Mobley’s lawyers filed a flurry of motions in several courts seeking a stay of execution. A clemency petition filed before the state parole board was denied Friday. Mobley’s lawyers argued that the parole board in its decision to deny clemency relied on claims that while in jail Mobley tattooed his back with the word “Domino,” hung a Domino’s Pizza box in his cell and sexually assaulted another inmate.
The lawyers say there is no evidence of such a tattoo, the pizza box was hung only to cover a vent and no charges have ever been filed regarding the alleged assault. They also say that suggestions Mobley has since covered up the tattoo with another tattoo amount to “wild speculation.” Court records say evidence presented during Mobley’s sentencing hearing included testimony that he did tattoo the word “Domino” on his shoulder, sexually assaulted another inmate on two occasions while in pretrial detention, and threatened a guard by saying he “looked more and more like a Domino’s delivery boy every day.” Mobley’s attorneys on Monday night secured an affidavit from the alleged assault victim, who said he was not raped by Mobley. Prosecutors, however, cited previous testimony in which the victim said that he was raped. The lawyers argued that the “consideration of and reliance on untruthful and physically unsupported rumors” by the parole board violated Mobley’s due process rights.
There was no one in the witness room from the victim’s family, which largely supported his bid for clemency. In his statement issued through the prison earlier Tuesday, Mobley thanked his relatives for their support through his “seemingly unending struggle.”
About a half hour before the execution, six guards led Mobley into the chamber and strapped him down. He was animated, smiling and laughing and talking with the warden. He chatted also as two nurses inserted the needles into his arm, and followed the procedure very closely. One of two friends who were among the witnesses waved to Mobley, and he smiled. He mouthed the words “thank you.”
Prison officials said Mobley ate a final meal of steak, fries, two quarts of ice cream and soda.
http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/ap_newfullstory.asp?ID=55676
