Virgil Delano Presnell, Jr. Execution Media Advisory

Commissioner: Timothy C. Ward

Director of Public Affairs: Joan Heath

Inmate’s last meal

FORSYTH, Ga. – Condemned murderer Virgil Delano Presnell, Jr. is scheduled for execution by lethal injection at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 17 at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson. Presnell, Jr. was sentenced to death in 1976 for the kidnapping and murder of an eight-year-old girl and the kidnapping and rape of a ten-year-old girl. 
Media witnesses for the execution are Kate Brumback, Associated Press – Atlanta Bureau, Shaddi Nasser Abusaid, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, and John (Chart) Riggall, Marietta Daily Journal.

Presnell, Jr. requested a last meal of four hamburgers, four french fries, two vanilla milkshakes, four sodas, eight-piece bucket of chicken, potato salad and two pints of vanilla ice cream.

There have been 75 men and one woman executed in Georgia since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. If executed, Presnell, Jr. will be the 54th inmate put to death by lethal injection.  There are presently 37 men and one woman under death sentence in Georgia.

The Georgia Diagnostic & Classification Prison is located 45 minutes south of Atlanta off Interstate 75.  From Atlanta, take exit 201 (Ga. Hwy. 36), turn left over the bridge and go approximately ¼ mile.  The entrance to the prison is on the left.  Media covering the execution will be allowed into the prison’s media staging area beginning at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday.

About the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC)

The Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) has one of the largest prison systems in the U.S. and is responsible for supervising nearly 47,000 state prisoners. It is the largest law enforcement agency in the state with approximately 9,000 employees. For more information on the GDC, call 478-992-5247 or visit https://gdc.georgia.gov.