Georgia death row inmate dies of cancer

Nearly 30 years after he was sentenced to die, the condemned prisoner in Augusta, Ga., has died not at the hands of the state but of cancer.

Jack H. Potts, who received the death sentence in 1975, died Friday of liver cancer at the Augusta State Medical Prison, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

"On the one hand, he can claim victory because the state didn't execute him, but he still has to face the final, ultimate judgment," said county District Attorney Penny Penn. "At least we're not spending any more money on appeals."

Potts was convicted of kidnapping auto mechanic Michael Douglas Priest and of killing him in a remote field. Potts was sentenced to die four times, twice on the kidnapping charge and twice for the slaying. But those convictions were overturned by federal judges, the report said.

The county then retried Potts and sentenced him to die the second time in 1988. He was retried and re-sentenced two years later but those sentences were being appealed in state court.

"I didn't know he was ill," said longtime defense lawyer Millard Farmer, who had represented Potts.

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