Georgia sets execution for man convicted 45 years ago

By KATE BRUMBACK
Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia man convicted of killing an 8-year-old girl and raping a 10-year-old girl more than 45 years ago is scheduled to be executed next month. Georgia Department of Corrections Commissioner Timothy Ward announced Wednesday that Virgil Delano Presnell Jr. is set to be executed on May 17 at the state prison in Jackson. Presnell, who’s 68, is accused of abducting and attacking the two girls as they walked home from school on May 4, 1976. He was convicted in August 1976 on charges including malice murder, kidnapping and rape and was sentenced to death. His death sentence was overturned in 1992 but was reinstated in March 1999.