Execution Date Set for Cobb County Murderer

Commissioner: Timothy C. Ward

Director of Public Affairs: Joan Heath

Virgil Delano Presnell, Jr. to be executed on May 17

FORSYTH, Ga. – The Cobb County Superior Court has ordered the execution of convicted murderer Virgil Delano Presnell, Jr.  The court ordered the Georgia Department of Corrections to carry out the execution on a date between May 17, 2022 and May 24, 2022.  Commissioner Timothy C. Ward has set the date for Tuesday, May 17, at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson at 7 p.m.

Presnell was convicted in Cobb County for the 1976 kidnapping and murder of an eight-year-old girl and the kidnapping and rape of a ten-year-old girl.  If executed, Presnell will be the 54th inmate put to death by lethal injection.

Media interested in a photograph of Presnell and a listing of his crimes may visit the GDC website (https://gdc.georgia.gov).

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.