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Release of Convicted Murderer Willie Doyle

State paroles officials on Thursday notified local prosecutors that they will release convicted murderer Willie Doyle on Wednesday in what District Attorney Meg Heap called a “travesty” taken over her office’s strongest protests.
The scheduled release of Doyle reignited local concerns that surfaced late last year when state Board of Pardons and Paroles officials at first decided to release him, then reconsidered in the face of local opposition.
 
Chatham County Chief Assistant District Attorney Greg McConnell told officials in January that Doyle, 55, should never be released, calling the decision “unbelievable.”
 
“This is my formal request that the board never release Willie Doyle back into society,” McConnell asked the board in late December.  The board’s newest notice said simply that Doyle’s “effective date of parole” was April 20, calling it “a final decision to parole.”
 
“The Parole Board has considered this case thoroughly and has determined Doyle’s release is compatible with the welfare of society,” Board Spokesman Steve Hayes said Thursday evening.
 
“It is a travesty,” Heap said Thursday evening. “He raped and sodomized a 64-year-old woman. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. While in prison, he committed new crimes. Our office fought to keep him in there. He doesn’t deserve to walk the streets of Savannah.
 
“We are terribly disappointed in the decision of the board to parole him.”
 
Doyle, then 17, was convicted in Chatham County Superior Court on June 21, 1978, in the slaying of Janie B. Franklin, 64, at her home during a burglary.
 
Then-district attorney Andrew J. Ryan III was prepared to ask a jury to impose the death penalty.
 
Doyle and four others were charged with burglary, armed robbery, aggravated sodomy and murder.
 
Testimony showed that after being robbed of $1.50 at knifepoint, she was repeatedly sexually assaulted, and stomped to death. Her body was left naked and smeared in lipstick.
 
Judge George E. Oliver sent the case to a jury for sentencing and it recommended life in prison. Oliver imposed sentence of life plus two, 20-year terms to run consecutively.
 
Board officials in January said that Doyle entered the prison system at age 17 and served 38 years in prison.
 
While Doyle had 144 disciplinary infractions, “most of those occurred in the ’80s,” Board Chair Terry Barnard said.
 
The scheduled parole of Doyle and several other state inmates ignited local reaction, which, in turn, led to proposed changes. Former Savannah alderman Tom Bordeaux said the board’s actions at that time were “absurd. It’s just stunning.”
 

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