Death-row inmate Tommy Arthur's Thursday execution has been stayed by a federal judge in Montgomery.
The order this morning from Judge Keith Watkins said that Arthur has met his burden and is entitled to a stay.
"Arthur's February 19, 2015, execution date is stayed pending a trial and final decision on the merits of his claims," the order states.
A trial will be held in U.S. District Court May 5-6 on objections Arthur's attorney's raised to the lethal injection methods the state plans to use for the execution.
A spokeswoman for the Alabama attorney general's office said it had not comment on the stay.
Last week, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals said the 2012 stay preventing Arthur's death has expired.
The Alabama Supreme Court in December scheduled Arthur, 73, for execution Thursday. However, a federal judge ruled the 2012 stay issued by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals remained in place.
Lawyers for the state attorney general's office last month asked that the 2012 stay be lifted, arguing it applied only to Arthur's previously set execution date and Arthur's challenge to the lethal injection procedure the state used at that time.
Alabama in September adopted a new drug combination that uses midazolam hydrochloride as the sedative to render a prisoner unconscious at the start of an execution.
Arthur's lawyers have argued the new drugs should not be used until a court has time to review them.
Arthur has challenged the state's various drug combinations as potentially cruel and unusual.
Arthur was sentenced to die for the 1982 murder-for-hire of a Muscle Shoals man.
On the day of the murder, Arthur is said to have walked away from a work release program in Decatur and driven to Muscle Shoals.
Source: Decatur Daily, Feb. 17, 2015
