A prisoner’s life was spared just hours before his scheduled execution – with his sentence changed to life without parole.

Jimmy Fletcher Meders was meant to receive the lethal injection at 7pm on Thursday, but the Georgia state board of pardons granted him clemency at about 1pm.

He is the sixth Georgia death row inmate to have a sentence commuted by the board since 2002. The last to have one commuted was Tommy Lee Waldrip on 9 July 2014.

The 58-year-old was convicted of murder and sentenced to death for the killing of Don Anderson, a convenience store worker, who was killed in October 1987.

Meders had chosen his last meal and was set to eat 10 chicken strips, two bacon cheeseburgers, fries, soda, and a pint of vanilla ice cream.

His attorney Mike Admirand said: “The board’s critically important role in showing mercy in these rare circumstances cannot be overstated.

“By taking this action, this parole board has made real the intent of the jury to sentence Jimmy to life without parole, and not death.”

The board looked at Meders’ lack of a criminal record before the killing and his 30 years on death row with only one minor infraction, as well as the fact the jury had wanted to sentence him to life without parole when they made their decision.

On the night of the killing, 13 October 1987, Meders had been drinking with three men – Randy Harris, Bill Arnold and Greg Creel.

Meders, Arnold and Creel then ended up at the convenience store at 2.30am – and while they were there, Mr Anderson was fatally shot in the chest and head, and $30 was taken from the till.

Meders said at trial that all three men went inside, Arnold shot Mr Anderson and told Meders to take the money.

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But both Arnold and Creel blamed Meders for shooting him and taking the money.

Harris, who was not at the store, told the court Meders told him he “blowed a man’s head off over $38”.

Meders was the only one charged in the robbery and the killing. He was sentenced to death in 1989.

Four years later, there was a change in the law which allowed a sentence of life without parole for capital cases.

This clemency application argued the jurors had wanted that option.

Jurors had sent a note to the judge 20 minutes into deliberations which read: “If the Jury recommends that the accused be sentence to life imprisonment, can the Jury recommend that the sentence be carried out without Parole?”

Meders’ lawyers also found six jurors who are still alive and remembered the deliberations for the case for their client.

In similar cases in Georgia now, juries rarely seek the death penalty.

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