USA - Georgia. Judge Thomas Wilson stayed the execution of Nicholas Cody Tate, 31, white, planned for the same night

Butts County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wilson said Tuesday evening that the planned execution of Nicholas Cody Tate, 31, white,  is stayed until further order of the court. Tate had originally been scheduled to be put to death by injection at 7 p.m. the same night for the December 2001 murders of Chrissie Williams and her 3-year-old daughter Katelyn during a violent robbery at their home culminating in their slayings. Authorities later arrested the Tate brothers in Oklahoma. All three pleaded guilty. Chad and Dustin were sentenced to life in prison while Nicholas was sentenced to death in November 2005. He filed a motion for a new trial a year later, but in 2009 had a change of heart. That's when he said he wanted to waive all future appeals, and the judge accepted his request, finding him to be coherent and articulate. His attorneys went ahead with a direct appeal, and the Georgia Supreme Court rejected their arguments. On Monday, the State Board of Pardons and Paroles considered Tate's case and then denied clemency, setting Tate's execution on course without delay. But Tuesday Tate signed his petition for habeas corpus, which is expected to take months, if not years, to be litigated. Judge Wilson then signed an order halting Tate's execution, about an hour before he was to be taken to the lethal-injection chamber.