Last minute order halts Georgia execution

ATLANTA, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- A judge in Georgia signed an order halting the execution of condemned killer Nicholas Cody Tate just hours before he was scheduled to die.

Authorities said Tate suddenly decided to challenge his execution after refusing to do so for years, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Wednesday.

Tate was scheduled to die by lethal injection Tuesday evening for the slayings of Chrissie Williams and her 3-year-old daughter Katelyn in 2001. He pleaded guilty in 2005 to shooting Williams in the head and slitting the throat of her daughter and waived a trial by jury.

Tate said he had gone to the victims' home to steal money, weapons and drugs.

"I choose to waive any and all future appeals," Tate told a judge during one hearing.

He changed his mind Tuesday and signed a petition for habeas corpus that is expected to take months, possibly years, to litigate, the Journal-Constitution reported.