The Georgia Supreme Court is asking state lawmakers to fund a new clerk who would only work capital cases.

Chief Justice Carol Hunstein on Wednesday urged lawmakers to approve the request for about $80,000 to hire a new capital case docket clerk for those cases.

She said "I don't think anyone outside the judiciary understands how complicated and complex these cases are."

Georgia executed four people in 2011, including Troy Davis, whose claims of innocence attracted international attention.

Corrections officials this week set an execution date for Nicholas Cody Tate for the 2001 murders of a woman and her 3-year-old daughter. He is set to die by lethal injection at the end of the month.

Tags: Georgia, Supreme Court, Death Penalty Clerk