USA - Georgia. The Board of Pardons and Paroles commuted Tommy Lee Waldrip's death sentence

The state Board of Pardons and Paroles commuted Tommy Lee Waldrip's death sentence to life without parole. Waldrip, 68, was set to be executed at 7 p.m. tomorrow for the murder of 23-year-old Keith Evans, who was about to testify against Waldrip's son in a re-trial of an armed robbery case. The board does not give a reason for its decision. Members vote individually and only the chairman, who collects the ballots, knows how each one decided. The decision required a simple majority, three out of five members. But 1 issue raised before the board was that the sentences for Waldrip, his son and Waldrip's brother, all convicted of murdering Evans on April 13, 1991, were not proportional. Howard Livingston, Waldrip's brother, and his son John Mark Waldrip were tried separately. Only Tommy Lee Waldrip was sentenced to die. John Mark Waldrip and Livingston are serving life sentences. John Mark Waldrip was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole even though he pulled the trigger to fire buckshot into Evans' face and he is the one who used a blackjack to beat the 20-year-old to death. John Mark Waldrip has been eligible for parole since 1998. This was the 5th time since 2002 that the board has commuted the sentence of a death row inmate. The most recent one was on April 12, 2012, when the board commuted the death sentence of Daniel Greene.