Stacey Humphreys will not be executed Wednesday, Sept. 16.

The Georgia Supreme Court upheld Cobb Superior Court Judge Tyler Browning's order halting the execution of the 53-year-old convicted double-murderer, Fox 5 Atlanta reported. The high court's decision came at about 3 p.m., hours after Cobb District Attorney Sonya Allen's office filed notice of an appeal.

Browning issued the stay late Tuesday, Sept. 15, less than 24 hours before Humphreys was scheduled to die by lethal injection at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, the Marietta Daily Journal reported.

The ruling opens a new legal fight over whether Georgia's Survivor Justice Act (SJA), signed by Gov. Brian Kemp in May 2025, applies to death row inmates. The law allows people convicted of crimes to seek reduced sentences if they can show domestic or childhood abuse was a "significant contributing factor" to their offenses.

The case

Humphreys was convicted in 2007 of malice murder for the November 2003 killings of Cyndi Williams, 33, of Acworth, and Lori Brown, 21, of Powder Springs.

The two real estate agents were working in a model home at a new subdivision in West Cobb. Humphreys forced them to strip and hand over their bank PINs before fatally shooting both in the back of the head, according to trial evidence reported by WRDW. He then withdrew more than $3,000 from their accounts.

Humphreys was on parole for a 1993 felony theft conviction at the time and had been released from prison 13 months earlier.

The Sept. 15 hearing

The stay came hours after the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles denied Humphreys clemency Tuesday morning. That closed hearing was led by board Chair Joyette Holmes, a former Cobb County district attorney, with only four of five members present. Board member Kimberly McCoy was ordered to recuse herself because she had previously worked as a victim advocate in the Cobb DA's office on Humphreys' case, according to WABE.

Defense attorney Brian Kammer then argued before Browning that Humphreys suffered severe childhood abuse, including frequent beatings, cigarette burns, a fractured skull at age 3 and repeated sexual abuse. Kammer told the court that abuse did "severe damage to his mental health" and contributed to his crimes.

Senior Assistant Attorney General Sabrina Graham argued the SJA does not apply. She told the court she has worked capital cases for more than two decades.

"In every single death penalty case I've had the exact same evidence: family abuse, mental health disorders contributed to the crime. Every single one of them," Graham said, according to the Marietta Daily Journal.

The law's author, state Rep. Stan Gunter, R-Blairsville, agreed. He told the Georgia Recorder the law was intended for people who retaliated against their abuser or were coerced into crimes, not for someone abused decades before committing an unrelated offense.

What the order means

Browning's order found Humphreys is entitled to a hearing under a "plain interpretation" of the law but did not weigh in on the merits of his abuse claim or alter his sentence. The order gives the state approximately 60 days to prepare arguments before that hearing.

The ruling flagged two unresolved legal questions: whether the SJA applies to a death row inmate sentenced by a jury who did not commit the crime against an abuser, and whether the law can be reconciled with state statutes that mandate death sentences after jury recommendations.

Johnnie Tuggle, who was engaged to victim Lori Brown, told Fox 5 Atlanta: "I don't think that negates the choices he made, the decisions he made in Lori and Cyndi's lives that he took."

What comes next

Humphreys' death warrant is active from noon Wednesday, Sept. 16, through noon Wednesday, Sept. 23. It is unclear from Browning's ruling whether he would consider lifting the stay before the warrant expires.

A full hearing under the Survivor Justice Act has not been scheduled. The case could set a precedent for all 33 inmates on Georgia's death row.