UPDATE: Terrell was denied clemen­cy on Dec. 7 and exe­cut­ed just before 1:00 a.m. on December 9. The Atlanta Journal Constitution report­ed that it took a nurse an hour to find a vein for the lethal injec­tion IV and that, as the exe­cu­tion drug was being admin­is­tered, Terrell mouthed the words: ​“Didn’t do it.” EARLIER: After three tri­als, Georgia is set to exe­cute Brian Keith Terrell (pic­tured) on December 8, unless the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles grants him clemen­cy in a hear­ing at which he will present claims that he is inno­cent. Terrell’s lawyers say that no phys­i­cal evi­dence links him to the mur­der and that this con­vic­tion and death sen­tence are a prod­uct of pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al mis­con­duct and false and mis­lead­ing tes­ti­mo­ny. The key tes­ti­mo­ny against Terrell came from a wit­ness whom defense inves­ti­ga­tors say now admits to hav­ing lied to save him­self. Terrell’s first tri­al end­ed in a mis­tri­al when jurors could not agree on whether he was guilty. The sec­ond result­ed in a con­vic­tion that was lat­er over­turned by the Georgia Supreme Court. The third tri­al con­clud­ed with a con­vic­tion and death sen­tence. Physical evi­dence from the crime scene leaves sub­stan­tial ques­tions as to Terrell’s guilt: foot­prints found near the vic­tim’s body were small­er than Terrell’s feet, and none of the 13 fin­ger­prints found by inves­ti­ga­tors matched his fin­ger­prints. Terrell was con­vict­ed pri­mar­i­ly on the tes­ti­mo­ny of his cousin, Jermaine Johnson, who spent a year in jail fac­ing the threat of the death penal­ty before he made a deal with pros­e­cu­tors to tes­ti­fy against Terrell in exchange for a five-year sen­tence. Johnson has told defense inves­ti­ga­tors that police and pros­e­cu­tors pres­sured him to give false tes­ti­mo­ny against his cousin. Terrell’s lawyers say that pros­e­cu­tors also pre­sent­ed mis­lead­ing tes­ti­mo­ny that a neigh­bor had said she had seen Terrell at the mur­der scene, when in fact she had told author­i­ties that he was not the man she had seen. At Terrell’s tri­al, the pros­e­cu­tor empha­sized the impor­tance of Johnson’s tes­ti­mo­ny, say­ing dur­ing his clos­ing state­ment, ​“If you nev­er heard any­thing about Jermaine Johnson in this case, if he had nev­er tes­ti­fied, would you have enough infor­ma­tion to make a deci­sion in this case? You wouldn’t.” 

Terrell’s lawyers are also seek­ing a stay of exe­cu­tion in fed­er­al court rais­ing ques­tions con­cern­ing defects in drugs sup­plied to Georgia for oth­er exe­cu­tions and the secre­cy sur­round­ing the state’s exe­cu­tion process. (K. Brumback, ​“Georgia man set to die for killing of mom’s friend; defense attor­neys say he’s inno­cent,” Associated Press, December 5, 2015; ​“Clemency Hearing to be Held for Georgia Death Row Inmate,” Associated Press, December 7, 2015; R. Cook, ​“Brian Keith Terrell appeals to fed­er­al court to stop exe­cu­tion,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, December 7, 2015; R. Cook, ​“Georgia Executes Brian Keith Terrell after strug­gling to find vein,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, December 9, 2015.) See Innocence.

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