ATLANTA, Ga. (WALB) – The state’s highest court has rejected an appeal from Ray Jefferson Cromartie for new DNA testing and a new trial.

In its release the court wrote:

The Clerk of this Court is directed to transmit the remittitur in this case immediately. Upon electronic receipt of the remittitur via this Court’s docketing system, the Clerk of the Superior Court of Thomas County is directed to file the remittitur immediately.

Because jurisdiction has rested in this Court during the pendency of Cromartie’s application for discretionary appeal and will continue to rest in this Court until the remittitur is filed in the trial court, see OCGA §§ 5-6-35 (h), 5-6-45 (a), Cromartie’s motion for a stay of execution pending disposition of the application we now deny is dismissed as moot.

All the Justices concur, except Justice Warren, who did not rule.

About lunchtime Friday, WALB received a release from Ray Cromartie’s legal team. It is reprinted here, without alteration:

Today, the Georgia Supreme Court denied death row prisoner Ray Cromartie’s application for appeal of the trial court’s denial of his extraordinary motion for a new trial and associated motion for DNA testing. Mr. Cromartie is scheduled for execution on October 30, 2019.

Statement of Shawn Nolan, counsel to Ray Cromartie: “With the clock ticking, there is still time to prevent an unjust execution if the courts recognize Ray Cromartie’s civil right to get the DNA evidence tested before his scheduled execution on October 30th. Mr. Cromartie has maintained that he did not shoot the victim and that matters because under Georgia law he could have received a sentence less than death. The only way to know for sure is to test the DNA, which is what we are asking the federal court to order. The victim’s daughter has repeatedly requested that Georgia officials test the DNA before an execution is carried out in her father’s name. Hopefully, the courts will recognize that halting Mr. Cromartie’s scheduled execution in order to allow time to test the DNA is the right cause of action for justice, is in the public interest, and in accordance with the wishes of the victim’s daughter.” – Shawn Nolan, Attorney for Ray Cromartie; Chief, Capital Habeas Unit, Federal Defender for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania – October 25, 2019

Elizabeth Legette, whose father Richard Slysz was the victim in Mr. Cromartie’s case, asks the Justices of the Georgia Supreme Court to require DNA testing of the evidence in this letter: https://tinyurl.com/y5p787op Elizabeth Legette asks Georgia prosecutors to test the DNA evidence in this letter: https://tinyurl.com/y67tvums [Please note, due to the personal and sensitive nature of the topic, Ms. Legette prefers to let her letter speak for itself and is not able to accommodate interview requests.] Mr. Cromartie’s Complaint in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia can be accessed here: https://tinyurl.com/y3ucc7sp

Today’s Order from the Supreme Court of Georgia can be accessed here: https://tinyurl.com/y4uo9nfc

Petition from Concerned Members of the Thomas County Community to Bradfield Shealy, District Attorney of the Southern Judicial Circuit of Ga., and Sabrina Graham, Senior Assistant Attorney General: https://tinyurl.com/yyhc5n56 Mr. Cromartie’s Appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court for DNA Testing (“Application for Discretionary Appeal from Denial of Motion for Postconviction DNA Testing and Extraordinary Motion for A New Trial”) can be accessed here: https://tinyurl.com/y3lmguds Mr. Cromartie’s Extraordinary Motion for A New Trial and for Postconviction DNA Testing can be accessed here: https://tinyurl.com/y4t3oqel Mr. Cromartie’s Post-Hearing Brief in support of Extraordinary Motion for a New Trial and for Postconviction DNA Testing can be accessed here: https://tinyurl.com/y6mfsyrm

Background on Mr. Cromartie’s Case and Request for DNA Testing

Mr. Cromartie is a Georgia death row prisoner seeking DNA testing to prove he was not the shooter in the tragic crime for which he received the death sentence. Although the case yielded extensive physical evidence that could point to the actual shooter, Mr. Cromartie was convicted and sentenced largely based on two elements: the testimony of Corey Clark and a single fingerprint. Mr. Cromartie now seeks testing of the extensive physical evidence that could prove he was not the shooter. As Mr. Cromartie’s DNA Motion states regarding a related shooting that contributed to his death sentence in this case, “There was no physical evidence tying Mr. Cromartie to the Madison Street Deli shooting, there were no witnesses to the shooting, and the surveillance video was of too poor quality to identify the shooter.” (Extraordinary Motion for A New Trial and for Postconviction DNA Testing, p. 6) Two men, Corey Clark and Thaddeus Lucas, admitted they were involved in the robbery that led to the tragic shooting in the case.

However, when Mr. Clark was charged with capital murder, he claimed that Mr. Cromartie was the shooter. Mr. Clark and Mr. Lucas offered “key testimony” (DNA Motion, p. 6) for the State against Mr. Cromartie. Both men are free today while Mr. Cromartie remains on death row. Mr. Lucas was sentenced to serve ten years. (DNA Motion, p. 7) Following his release from prison in 2005, Mr. Clark “has since been convicted of aggravated assault for which he served a two-year state prison sentence. He has been wanted by state parole since shortly after his second release from prison in 2014.” (DNA Motion, p. 24, footnote 17) Mr. Cromartie’s jury deliberated for three days and was reportedly deadlocked at one point, according to media reports. Although the District Attorney had offered Mr. Cromartie a plea deal that would have resulted in parole eligibility after seven years, Mr. Cromartie insisted he was not the shooter and did not plead guilty. (DNA Motion, p. 8) At the time of Mr. Cromartie’s trial, the technology to test the extensive physical evidence in this case simply didn’t exist, but now does.

The State has never done DNA testing on the evidence it possesses, which includes the murder weapon, shell casings from the shooting, and clothing likely worn by the shooter, among other items. At trial, the State presented a fingerprint indicating that Mr. Cromartie had been outside the store but did not offer any scientific or physical evidence to show that he was ever inside the store or that he was the shooter. At a recent hearing in the case, experts in molecular genetics and crime scene analysis testified on behalf of Mr. Cromartie in support of DNA testing’s potential to provide information about the identity of the shooter. The DNA Motion includes an exhibit from one of these expert witnesses, Dr. R. Thomas Libby, a preeminent molecular geneticist and DNA expert with over twenty years of experience in state-of-the-art DNA testing. Dr. Libby’s testimony and declaration are that the available evidence could be DNA tested and it is possible such testing could show who actually committed the crime for which Mr. Cromartie was sentenced to death. (DNA Motion, pp. 22-23) The Georgia General Assembly and Georgia Supreme Court have determined that DNA testing of the type Mr. Cromartie seeks can be appropriate for death-sentenced prisoners (see Post-Hearing Brief pp. 16-18). Georgia courts have granted postconviction DNA testing to at least three other prisoners in similar legal postures as Mr. Cromartie. (see Post-Hearing Brief pp. 23-24)

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Cromartie is scheduled for execution by lethal injection on Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. He was sentenced to death in 1997 for the murder of Richard A. Slysz, a store clerk in Thomasville.