Murderer Scotty Garnell Morrow Executed

Attorney General Chris Carr’s office sent over the following statement regarding the execution this evening of Scotty Garnell Morrow.

The lawfully ordered execution of Scotty Garnell Morrow for the murder of Barbara Ann Young and Tonya Rochelle Woods was carried out this evening at 9:38 p.m. at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Center in Jackson, Georgia. The sentence was carried out after the United States Supreme Court denied Morrow’s request for a stay of execution.

Information on Garnell’s crime and trial/appeals can be found at this link, as summarized by the Georgia Supreme Court.

Barbara Ann Young began dating Scotty Morrow in June 1994 and she broke up with him in December 1994 because of his abusive behavior. At 9:52 a.m. on December 29, 1994, Morrow telephoned Ms. Young at her home, but she told him that she wanted him to leave her alone. After hanging up, Morrow drove to Ms. Young’s home and entered without permission. Ms. Young was in the kitchen with two of her friends, Tonya Woods and LaToya Horne. Two of Ms. Young’s children, five-year-old Christopher and eight-month-old Devonte, were also present. There was an argument in the kitchen and Ms. Woods told Morrow to leave because Ms. Young did not want to have anything to do with him anymore. Morrow yelled, “Shut your mouth, bitch!” and pulled a nine-millimeter pistol from his waistband. He shot Ms. Woods in the abdomen and Ms. Horne in the arm. The bullet that struck Ms. Woods severed her spinal cord, paralyzing her from the waist down.

Ms. Young fled down the hallway and into her bedroom. Morrow caught her in the bedroom and beat her on the head and face. She managed to flee back to the hallway where Morrow grabbed her by the hair and shot her point-blank in the head, killing her. From his hiding place in a nearby bedroom, Christopher saw Morrow kill his mother. Morrow returned to the kitchen. Testimony as to clicking noises and the fact that a live cartridge was found on the kitchen floor indicate that he either reloaded his pistol or cleared a jam. He then placed the muzzle of the pistol an inch from Ms. Woods’ chin and killed her with a shot to the head. The medical examiner opined that, although she was paralyzed, Ms. Woods had not lost much blood at that time and was probably still conscious when the fatal shot was fired. Morrow also shot Ms. Horne two more times, in the face and the arm, and fled after cutting the telephone line.

Despite her injuries, which included a shattered palate, permanent deafness in one ear, and nerve damage in an arm, Ms. Horne managed to get to her feet and run to a neighbor’s house. She and Christopher told the responding police officers that Morrow was the shooter. Morrow confessed after his arrest and the murder weapon was found hidden in his backyard. At trial, Morrow admitted that he shot the victims because he “wanted [Ms. Woods] to shut up.”

While Mr. Garnell Morrow leaves death row tonight, the number in Georgia awaiting execution remains unchanged. This week, Gwinnett County stepmother Tiffany Moss was sentenced to death for starving her 10-year-old stepdaughter to death and trying to burn the girls body in a trash can. If justice takes as long for her as it did for Ms. Young and Ms Woods, then we can expect her execution in the year 2044.