"Ga. court halts Andrew Cook's scheduled execution," is the AP report by Christina A. Cassidy, via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The Georgia Court of Appeals has temporarily halted Thursday's scheduled execution of a Georgia inmate convicted of killing two college students.
Andrew Cook is one of two Georgia inmates who had been scheduled to die by injection this week. Warren Lee Hill's execution was put on hold Tuesday, less than an hour before he was set to die.
In a combined legal challenge before the court, attorneys for Cook and Hill argue the state is violating the law by using pentobarbital in executions without a prescription.
The state filed court motions on Wednesday asking the Court of Appeals to deny Cook's request for a stay and lift the one granted in the Hill case. The state argues the prescription challenge is frivolous and seeks to have the case moved to the Georgia Supreme Court for an expedited review.
In its order, the court said it issued the stay so there would be time to consider their appeal.
The Georgia Court of Appeals order in Cook v. Owens is available in Adobe .pdf format. The emergency motion for stay is also available.
The Macon Telegraph reports, "Cook wins temporary stay, but state presses for execution." It's by Joe Kovac Jr.
Lawyers for condemned killer Andrew Allen Cook, in a flurry of appeal efforts Wednesday, continued their legal fight to keep him from being put to death Thursday night.
Wednesday evening, the Georgia Court of Appeals temporarily halted his scheduled 7 p.m. Thursday execution.
Word of that move came hours after Cook, 38, was denied clemency by the state Board of Pardons and Paroles.
Earlier coverage from Georgia involves the case of Warren Hill, at the link.
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