Texas is scheduled to carry out an execution on Wednesday involving LeJames Norman, 40, who was convicted in the fatal shootings of three people in 2005. Meanwhile, a separate execution planned for the same evening in Georgia has been temporarily halted by a judge.
Norman was sentenced to death for the murders of Samuel Roberts, 24, Tiffani Peacock, 18, and Celso Lopez, 38, who were shot inside a home they shared in Edna, a rural town approximately 100 miles southwest of Houston. The killings occurred during an attempted robbery driven by the belief that cocaine was present in the residence, though no drugs were ultimately found. Norman and an accomplice, Ker’Sean Ramey, fatally shot the three victims multiple times. Norman is set to be executed by lethal injection using pentobarbital at 6 p.m. CDT at the Texas state penitentiary in Huntsville.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles recently declined to recommend clemency or a temporary reprieve for Norman. Following the denial of a stay by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Monday, Norman’s legal team has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court for review. Notably, the Supreme Court declined to hear one of Norman’s appeals in 2017, which questioned the competence of his trial attorneys. Ramey, also sentenced to death for his role in the shootings, is scheduled for execution next week.
In Georgia, the planned execution of Stacey Humphreys, 53, has been put on hold. Humphreys was convicted of malice murder and related offenses for the 2003 killings of Cyndi Williams, 33, and Lori Brown, 21. The victims, working as real estate agents in Powder Springs, a suburb of Atlanta, were forced to strip and surrender their bank PINs before being fatally shot in a model home sales office. Humphreys admitted to using the victims' financial information to withdraw over $3,000, citing financial pressures related to payday loans and vehicle payments.
Humphreys’ execution had been set for 7 p.m. EDT at the Georgia State Prison near Jackson. However, a judge granted a stay late Tuesday after his attorneys filed a petition under a new state law that allows prisoners who can demonstrate a connection between their crimes and past abuse to seek resentencing. State officials have indicated they will appeal the stay quickly, with the judge signaling the possibility of lifting the stay if an appellate court rules that Humphreys is not entitled to a hearing prior to the execution time.
Humphreys’ legal team has also raised other arguments for resentencing, including claims of jury bias involving a juror who allegedly lied and coerced others during deliberations, and procedural concerns over clemency review, as one parole board member was recused due to a conflict of interest. The board denied clemency earlier this week.
Texas leads the country in executions, with this being the state’s fifth so far this year, while Georgia has not carried out any executions in 2026. Florida remains the nation's busiest in terms of executions, accounting for more than half of the 25 carried out nationwide to date.