State Court Asked To Stop Scheduling Executions

Wednesday, October 3rd 2007, 3:09 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Attorney General Drew Edmondson is asking the state Court of Criminal Appeals to delay setting executions. Edmondson wants the state court to wait until the U.S. Supreme Court issues a ruling on whether lethal injections are constitutional.

The U.S. Supreme Court is considering a case from Kentucky, which claims lethal injection in that state violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

The case is expected to establish a national standard for executions.

Edmondson asked the state court Wednesday to delay setting an execution date for Oklahoma death row inmate Terry Lyn Short even though the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Short's final appeal.

An execution date is usually ordered in Oklahoma 60 days after an inmate loses his final appeal.

Short was convicted of killing Ken Yamamoto in Oklahoma City in 1995.