Stocking Strangler says attorney has cancer and isn’t qualified hours before execution

Among the last-minute barrage of court motions regarding convicted “Stocking Strangler” Carlton Gary’s impending execution came two that were unusual:

The convicted serial killer set for execution at 7 p.m. Thursday filed motions in Butts County, Ga., home of Georgia’s death-row prison, claiming one of his lead attorneys, Michael McIntyre, is not qualified to represent him, and asking the court to appoint another counsel.

Gary also said his lead attorney John “Jack” Martin has cancer. Martin declined to comment.

Gary has filed such motions before when he felt his representation was insufficient, and the attorneys weren’t communicating with him as frequently as he would like.

Prosecutors said Gary legally cannot file his own motions while he has appointed counsel representing him.

Gary is to be executed for three of the seven rapes and stranglings of older women in Columbus in 1977 and 1978. The killer always used a ligature, usually the victims’ knotted stockings, earning him the moniker “Stocking Strangler.”

The state Board of Pardons and Paroles denied Gary clemency after a daylong meeting Wednesday. Absent some action by the federal courts on his last-minute appeals, he is to die by lethal injection at the state Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson.

This story was originally published March 15, 2018 at 12:26 PM with the headline "Stocking Strangler says attorney has cancer and isn’t qualified hours before execution."