Clemency Denied for Andrew Cook

ATLANTA (AP) – The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles has denied clemency in the case of a death row inmate set to be executed on Thursday.

The board on Wednesday denied a request by Andrew Allen Cook to stay his execution and commute his sentence to life in prison without parole. The board met Tuesday in Atlanta and heard from friends and family of Cook.

Cook was convicted in the 1995 slayings of two Mercer University students. Grant Patrick Hendrickson and Michele Lee Cartagena were shot several times as they sat in a car at Lake Juliette.

Cook didn’t know either victim, and authorities say the crime was random.

The board did not say why it denied Cook’s clemency request. Tuesday’s hearing was not open to the public or media.