11th Circuit Stays Ferguson Execution

AP posts, "New Stay Granted After Emergency Request Denied By Supreme Court," by Tamara Lush and Curt Anderson.  It's via Huffington Post.

A federal appeals court on Tuesday night blocked the scheduled execution of a mass killer convicted of eight slayings that jolted South Florida in the 1970s. Florida officials immediately asked the U.S. Supreme Court to lift the stay.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' decision came during a flurry of court rulings over claims that 64-year-old John Errol Ferguson suffers from mental illness so severe he cannot be executed. Ferguson, a paranoid schizophrenic with delusions he's the "prince of God," had faced a planned lethal injection at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Florida's death chamber.

The Supreme Court, which earlier Tuesday rejected Ferguson's emergency appeal, did not immediately rule on the state's motion to lift the stay. The appeals court set a schedule for motions that, if it stands, would likely delay the execution at least until the first week of November.

In Washington, the nation's high court noted that Chief Justice John Roberts took no part in the case. There was no further explanation.

"South Florida mass killer John Errol Ferguson gets last-minute reprieve," is by David Ovalle for the Miami Herald.

A federal appeals court granted a last-minute request Tuesday to block the scheduled execution of John Errol Ferguson, convicted of killing eight people in South Florida in the 1970s.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the 64-year-old Ferguson’s 6 p.m. execution by lethal injection after his attorneys argued he should not be executed because he suffers from severe mental illness.

Florida officials immediately asked the U.S. Supreme Court to lift the stay. The Supreme Court, which earlier Tuesday rejected Ferguson’s emergency appeal, did not immediately rule on the state’s motion. The appeals court set a schedule for motions that, if it stands, would likely delay the execution at least until the first week of November.

Eartlier coverage of John Ferguson's case begins at the link.