Alabama inmate gets a 7th stay of execution
Source: USA Today / MSN
ATMORE, Ala. — The U.S. Supreme Court stayed the execution Thursday of a long-time death row inmate so justices could have time to consider questions that he raised about his method of execution.
Hours earlier, the court had asked to review briefings filed in the case raising the question of whether Thomas Arthur could argue for an execution method not explicitly authorized in state law. Arthur's lawyers also filed a challenge to Alabama's death-penalty sentencing scheme, saying it was unconstitutional based on a federal Supreme Court ruling in January.
The justices did not appear to address the sentencing challenge but granted the stay to give them time to consider his challenge to the execution method: Arthur's lawyers said he should be allowed to proposed alternative methods of execution, such as a single-dose of pentobarbital or firing squad, which he said would be more humane than the current lethal injection methods.
Arthur, first sentenced to death in the early 1980s, has outlived seven execution dates. Arthur's execution Thursday was delayed just hours before it was to take place.
Read more: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/alabama-inmate-gets-a-7th-stay-of-execution/ar-AAjScLM
Why not just commute it to life without parole at this point?
