Alabama delays execution of man convicted of 1991 killing

ALABAMA: Alabama spared a death row inmate from the execution chamber shortly before midnight on Thursday after the US Supreme Court did not overturn a temporary stay by a lower court, state officials said.

“The state will not move forward with the execution of Christopher Price tonight,” Samantha Banks, a spokeswoman for the Alabama Department of Corrections, said in a statement to Reuters.

A US appeals court temporarily halted the execution earlier on Thursday of Price, 46, convicted of killing a minister and wounding his wife with a sword and dagger while robbing their home three days before Christmas in 1991.

A three-judge panel of the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a delay of 60 days that a district judge in Mobile, Alabama, had granted in the case of Price.

On Thursday night, the Alabama Attorney- General’s Office filed an emergency motion with the US Supreme Court, asking it to overturn the stay of execution.

Without word from the Supreme Court, prison officials called off the execution shortly after 11.30pm local time, because the death warrant required that the process be started before the warrant expired at midnight, Banks said.

Price was convicted and sentenced to death in 1993 in the killing of William Lynn, a minister, in his home in Bazemore, Alabama, on Dec 22, 1991.

Price’s at torneys argued that lethal injections had been botched in the past, causing a painful death and that execution by nitrogen hypoxia was a better alternative.

The appeals court, in a threepage ruling, cited questions of jurisdiction between itself and the district judge that have emerged in legal arguments filed by lawyers in the case.

“In light of the jurisdictional questions raised by the parties’ motions, we stay Price’s execution until further notice of this court,” the court ruled.

Ly n n w a s a s s emb l i n g Christmas presents for his grandchildren after he and his wi fe, Bessie, returned home from church when two men shut off electricity in the home and attacked the couple with a sword and dagger, according to court documents.

Lynn died of his injuries, while his wife survived wounds to her head, hands and chest.

Price was captured seven days later and admitted that he took part in the robbery, but said he did not hurt the couple, according to court documents.

Kelvin Coleman, who was accus e d o f b eing P r ic e’s accomplice, pleaded guilty to murder and robbery and is serving a life sentence without parole, authorities said. — Reuters