• Press Release

Georgia Must Stay Marcus Wellons’ Execution

June 17, 2014

Contact: Gabe Cahn, [email protected], 202.776.7700, c: 202.412.1678, @AIUSAmedia

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – In response to the scheduled execution of Marcus Wellons in Georgia tonight, Amnesty International USA Executive Director Steven W. Hawkins issued the following statement:

“Tonight in Georgia, Marcus Wellons will be put to death using a single dose of pentobarbital, a drug we know little about. The secrecy surrounding the drugs used for lethal injections may lead to Wellons’ immense suffering in the moments before he dies, a potentially stark reminder of the horrid events that took place in Oklahoma’s death chamber less than two months ago.

“If Georgia has its way, Marcus Wellons will not only be the first man executed since the botched execution of Clayton Lockett, but the most recent exercise of an increasingly scrutinized and supremely unjust death penalty in the United States. The authorities in Georgia must do what is right and stay the execution, before it is too late.”

Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 3 million members in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.