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Tommy Arthur |
MONTGOMERY, Alabama --- Lawyers for the state and for death row inmate Tommy Arthur are fighting in court over whether Arthur will be the first inmate Alabama has put to death since 2013.
The long-running case has heated up lately as the state presses to carry out a sentence for a man first convicted of capital murder in 1983.
In December, the Alabama Supreme Court, in response to a request from the state, set the date for Arthur to die by lethal injection as Feb. 19.
But a federal judge ruled Jan. 5 that a stay on Arthur's execution issued by a federal appeals court in 2012 remains in effect.
State lawyers dispute that ruling by U.S. District Judge W. Keith Watkins of the Middle District of Alabama.
They filed a motion last week asking Watkins to change his order, arguing that the stay applied only to Arthur's execution scheduled for March 29, 2012.
Arthur has challenged the new drug combination the state wants to use, claiming it violates his right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. He claims that the first drug, a sedative, won't prevent him from suffering and pain from the two drugs that follow, which are to stop his breathing and his heart.
Source: al.com, Mike Cason, January 12, 2015