Georgia sets execution for man convicted of killing doctor

Published April 26, 2017

In this undated photo released by the Georgia Department of Corrections, J.W. Ledford Jr., poses for a photo. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said in a news release Wednesday, April 26, 2017, that 45-year-old Ledford, a death row inmate convicted of killing a 73-year-old doctor, is scheduled to die May 16 at the state prison in Jackson, Ga. (Georgia Department of Corrections via AP) (The Associated Press)

A Georgia death-row inmate convicted of killing a 73-year-old doctor is set for execution next month.

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said in a news release Wednesday that 45-year-old J.W. Ledford is scheduled to die May 16 at the state prison in Jackson. Ledford was convicted of murder in the January 1992 stabbing death of his neighbor, Dr. Harry Johnston, near his home in Murray County, in northwest Georgia.

A Georgia Supreme Court summary of the case says Ledford told police he stabbed Johnston after the older man accused him of stealing and hit him. Ledford told police he then hid Johnston's body and robbed Johnston's wife at knifepoint.

Ledford would be the first inmate executed this year in Georgia. The state executed nine inmates last year.

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