Leeland Braley is the only prisoner on Georgia’s death row for a Pike County crime. Braley was convicted of killing Kelli Hammond during a robbery at her Zebulon insurance agency in September 1998. Braley, whose trial was held in Monroe County, was condemned to the ultimate punishment despite pleas from his lawyer to spare his life. Defense attorney Tammy Jacobs told jurors, ‘Executing Lee Braley won’t bring Kelli Hammond back. The death penalty has not stopped senseless killings. Mercy can be yours. My client was never violent before this episode.’ Hammond was the daughter of former county commission chairman Jerry Hammond and well-loved local teacher Cheryl Hammond. There are 110 prisoners condemned to death in Georgia prisons, according to a statistical profile of death row inmates released this month by the Department of Corrections. Almost all condemned prisoners are housed in Jackson at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison. The one woman sentenced to death is at Metro State Prison in Atlanta. One man facing a death sentence is at Georgia State Prison in Reidsville. Murder is the primary offense for 109 of the condemned prisoners on Georgia’s death row while kidnapping is the primary offense for one. For the full article, read the Tuesday, August 25 print edition.
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