Robbie James Lyons (July 10, 1972 – December 5, 2003) was convicted of the 1993 murder of Stephen Wilson Stafford and in 2003 was executed at Central Prison in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Finally, four days before the murder of Stephen Stafford, Lyons was arrested a third time for failure to appear in court, for which he was released on a $50 bond.
After the U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition for a writ of certiorari in Lyons's case on 6 October 2003, the state of North Carolina set an execution date of 5 December 2003.
As was customary, North Carolina governor Mike Easley reviewed pleas for clemency; prior to the execution he met both with Lyons's defense attorneys and members of Stafford's family.
Reverend Jesse Jackson also wrote to Mike Easley just prior to Lyons's execution, also pleading for a commutation of the death sentence.