The Latest: Georgia set to execute man who killed officer

JACKSON, Ga. – The Latest on the scheduled execution of Georgia inmate Gregory Paul Lawler (all times local):

5:25 p.m.

Court challenges are still pending for a man facing scheduled execution, condemned for the 1997 killing of an Atlanta police officer.

Gregory Paul Lawler, 63, is scheduled to receive an injection of the barbiturate pentobarbital on Wednesday evening at the state prison in Jackson. He was convicted in the October 1997 shooting death of Officer John Sowa and in the critically wounding of Officer Patricia Cocciolone.

A spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Corrections said Lawler had visits Wednesday from one family member, a lawyer and a paralegal. She said he also ate a meal he requested that included a ribeye steak, baked potato with sour cream, French onion soup, strawberries and pistachio ice cream.

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11 a.m.

A man convicted of killing an Atlanta police officer and wounding a second officer with an AR-15 rifle is scheduled to be the seventh person executed by the state this year.

Gregory Paul Lawler, 63, is set to die by injection of the barbiturate pentobarbital on Wednesday evening. He was convicted in the October 1997 slaying of Officer John Sowa and for critically wounding Officer Patricia Cocciolone.

If the execution is carried out, Lawler would be the seventh inmate executed in Georgia this year, the most in a calendar year in the state since the death penalty was reinstated nationwide in 1976. Georgia executed five inmates last year and five in 1987.

Georgia is one of five states that have carried out executions this year for a total of 16 nationwide. Texas has executed seven inmates, while Alabama, Florida and Missouri have executed one apiece.

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