Dawn wrote to us asking, "In what order does the justice system determine the fate of a person's death on death row...How do some people stay on death row for 20 years?"
Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney Howard Simms, says a defendant's right to appeal can lengthen his or her time on death row.
"You never wanna get it wrong as a prosecutor. You especially don't want to get it wrong if it's a death penalty case, because that is the ultimate punishment," he said.
Simms says if someone requires a public defender in a death penalty case, they're assigned to a lawyer in Atlanta. He says the office can have a build-up of cases that can cause a delay even before a conviction.
"After somebody is convicted and sentenced to death though, you have what amounts to a built in process," he explained.
Once convicted, Simms says you can have a direct appeal with the Georgia Supreme Court. If that doesn't overturn your ruling, you can move on to a state habeas corpus appeal process.
Simms says that's filed initially with a court in Butts County where Georgia's death row is located. It can move from there back to the Georgia Supreme Court, and then possibly to the U.S. Supreme Court.
If the state habeas corpus ruling doesn't go in your favor, you can then move on to a federal habeas corpus appeal. Simms says that would begin in the U.S. district court in your district, then move to the 11th Circuit Court and end finally in the U.S. Supreme Court again.
Simms says at any time during those years of appeals or after, someone can file motions for things like new evidence, witnesses who have changed testimony, or petitions for clemency.
He says he wishes it didn't take as long, but the procedure serves a purpose.
"If you get executed in Georgia, then you've had every available opportunity to show that you were in fact not guilty, and every court had denied it," said Simms.