Gregory Paul Lawler

Last meal for condemned cop killer released

ATLANTA — A Buckhead man set to die this week for killing an Atlanta cop nearly 20 years ago has requested a rib-eye steak for his last meal.

Gregory Paul Lawler, 63, faces an Oct. 19 execution for the October 1997 slaying of Atlanta Police Officer John Sowa. The State Board of Pardons and Parole meets on Oct. 18.

According to prison officials, Lawler requested a rib-eye steak, baked potato with sour cream, asparagus, dinner rolls with butter, French onion soup, strawberries, pistachio ice cream, milk and apple juice for his last meal.

According to prosecutors, Lawler opened fire on Sowa and  Officer Patricia Cocciolone after they went to his apartment while trying to help his drunken girlfriend get home. Officers encountered the woman after she was arguing with Lawler in a nearby parking lot, according to authorities.

Lawler was arrested after an hours-long standoff. He was convicted and sentenced to death in 2000.

If executed, Lawler will be the seventh inmate executed in Georgia this year and the 44th inmate put to death by lethal injection in the state.

The Georgia Supreme Court on Jan. 27, 2003, unanimously affirmed Lawler’s convictions and death sentence. The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6, 2003, denied Lawler’s request to appeal; the nation’s highest court declined another appeal this year.

Meanwhile, the State Board of Pardons and Parole will meet tomorrow to consider whether to grant clemency to Lawler.

Media witnesses for the execution are Jon Lewis of WSB-AM, Greg Land of The Daily Report, Rhonda Cook of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Kate Brumback of The Associated Press.