17 June 2017 :

Once again, Georgia jury declines to give death sentence. For the 2nd time this year, a defendant accused of killing a Georgia law enforcement officer faced a capital trial and did not receive a death sentence. On Wednesday, after just 30 minutes of deliberation, a jury sentenced Christopher Calmer to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the Sept. 14, 2014, fatal shooting of Monroe County sheriff's deputy Michael Norris. No Georgia jury has imposed a death sentence in more than 3 years. The last capital sentence was handed down in March 2014 by a Richmond County jury. In the only other death-penalty trial this year, Michael Bowman was convicted of killing off-duty Griffin police officer Kevin Jordan in May 2014. But after jurors found Bowman to be guilty but mentally ill, prosecutors chose to no longer pursue a death sentence and allowed Bowman to be sentenced to life without parole. There were 3 death-penalty trials - 2 in Fulton County and 1 in Newton County - in 2016, but in all cases the defendants received sentences of life without parole.