US prisoner escapes execution as deadline passes with appeal pending


A prisoner sentenced for murdering a Pentecostal pastor 27 years ago in the southern US state of Alabama was spared death Thursday because final approval for his execution arrived too late.
Christopher Lee Price, 46, had been sentenced to die by lethal injection at 6:00 pm (2300 GMT) Thursday, but his attorneys challenged the state's execution process and his case went to the US Supreme Court.
The death warrant expired at midnight, and the Supreme Court's decision allowing the execution to proceed came only at 2:00 am Friday, local media reported.
"This evening, the state of Alabama witnessed a miscarriage of justice," Governor Kay Ivey said in a statement.
Price and an accomplice were found guilty of the December 1991 slaying of Church of Christ pastor Bill Lynn.
Price's attorneys requested that their client be executed by forced inhalation of nitrogen, a method deemed less painful than lethal injection.
Nitrogen inhalation, used for slaughtering animals, causes death by hypoxia, or lack of oxygen.
Alabama and a handful of US states approved this method in 2018 to address the shortage of components needed for lethal injections, but has yet to put it into practice.
But the state refused, and Price's lawyer's filed a final legal petition on Thursday presenting a new study supporting their arguments.
By mid-afternoon, a federal judge in Alabama ruled that Price's execution should be postponed for 60 days to study the merits of the case.
Alabama immediately appealed, lost, and then the case went to the Supreme Court, which finally issued an approval in a split 5-4 decision.
Short link: https://tipnews.com/u/OTA2Mzc=
See also:
Related articles
Nearly 6,000 US sexual assaults reported to Uber in 2017 and 2018

Nearly 6,000 instances of sexual assault, including more than 450 cases of rape, were reported to Uber in the United States in 2017 and 2018, the ride-sharing company said in a report on safety released Thursday.It is the first time that Uber has released the
US attorney general meets Mexican president on crime

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Thursday he had a "good meeting" with US Attorney General William Barr to discuss strategies to fight a surge of violent crime in Mexico.The meeting came after US President Donald Trump last week vowed to de
Indian police shoot dead suspects in rape-murder

Indian police on Friday shot dead four detained gang-rape and murder suspects as they were re-enacting their alleged crime, prompting outrage but also wild celebrations.The men, who had been in custody for a week, were shot early Friday morning as they tried t
US indicts 'Evil Corp' hackers with alleged Russian intelligence ties

A Lamborghini-driving Moscow hacker who called his operation Evil Corp and allegedly has ties to the Russian FSB intelligence service was indicted by US authorities Thursday for the cybertheft of tens of millions of dollars.An indictment unsealed in Pittsburgh
HELLO, PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO RATE THIS POST US prisoner escapes execution as deadline passes with appeal pending