Georgia man who murdered ex-girlfriend refuses to appeal execution

JACKSON, Ga., Nov. 11 (UPI) -- Despite facing execution, Steven Spears has repeatedly refused to appeal his death sentence in Georgia -- instead requesting a "large meat pizza" for his last meal.

Spears is set to be executed at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in Jackson's Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison. He was convicted in 2007 of choking to death Sherri Holland, his ex-girlfriend, after breaking into her home in 2001.

The attorney representing Spears, Allyn Stockton, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution his client has rejected his attempts to appeal, or even to meet, for more than a year.

If Spears is executed, it would be the first time Georgia has executed a convicted murderer who never voluntarily appealed his trial, conviction or sentence. An automatic appeal was filed on his behalf after he was convicted and sentenced to death.

"I sent a letter [saying], 'Please let us fight for you. There is something worth fighting for,'" Stockton said, adding that he received no answer.

Stockton has gone to the prison in attempts to speak to Spears but the inmate refused to come outside.

On Thursday, the Georgia Department of Corrections said Spears requested pizza for his last meal. He will be Georgia's eighth execution via lethal injection in 2016.

Spears has repeatedly admitted he killed Holland. He told authorities he warned her at the beginning of their nearly three-year relationship that if she ever left him and replaced him, he would kill her.

"If I had to do it again, I'd do it," Spears said following his arrest, according to police.

Spears said he thought of multiple ways of killing Holland: electrocuting her, beating her to death, suffocating her and shooting her, according to court documents.