Supremes spare killer

Midnight reprieve

The US Supreme Court spared the life of an Arkansas inmate minutes before his was set to die Monday night.

Just before midnight, Justice Samuel Alito declined to lift a stay of execution that had been issued by state judges, and referred the case to the full Supreme Court, ArkansasOnline reported.

The decision to maintain the stay for Don Davis capped a chaotic day of legal wrangling in state and federal courts to clear the primary obstacles Arkansas faced to carrying out its first executions since 2005.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who had set multiple executions for this week, said the state would to continue to push for the other lethal injections to be carried out. Two inmates are set to be put to death on Thursday.

“While this has been an exhausting day for all involved, tomorrow we will continue to fight back on last-minute appeals and efforts to block justice for the victims’ families,” he said.

The US Supreme Court ruling came hours after the state had cleared two of the main obstacles to resuming executions.

The 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a federal judge’s ruling blocking the executions over the use of midazolam, a sedative used in flawed executions in other states.

The state Supreme Court also lifted a lower-court ruling preventing the state from using another lethal injection drug that a supplier said was sold to be used for medical purposes, not executions.

Davis was sentenced to death for the 1990 murder of Jane Daniel.

She was killed in her home after Davis broke in and shot her with a .44-caliber revolver.