Georgia preparing to execute man who killed Atlanta officer

ATLANTA (AP) — A man convicted of killing an Atlanta police officer and wounding a second officer with an AR-15 rifle is scheduled to be the seventh person executed by the state this year.

The disorder also caused him to behave in a way that may seem inappropriate when he testified at his trial and again when he was interviewed recently by investigators for the State Board of Pardons and Paroles, his lawyers wrote in a clemency application.

Because of his autism, they wrote, he "has often been mistakenly perceived as cold, callous, or remorseless."

Legal challenges remain pending in the courts, including one that challenges the constitutionality of the death penalty because of a "change in societal standards of decency."