"Judges stay Dec. 3 execution of Washington inmate," is the AP report via the Seattle Times.
Federal and state judges have indefinitely delayed the scheduled Dec. 3 execution of Darold Stenson for the 1993 shooting deaths of his wife and a business partner in Clallam County.
The separate stays were issued Tuesday by judges in federal court in Yakima and in Clallam County Superior Court.
U.S. District Judge Lonny Suko issued his order in a conference call with lawyers. State Attorney General Rob McKenna said his office was asking an appeals court to vacate Suko's order and allow the execution to proceed as scheduled.
Stenson's lawyers this week asked Suko for a temporary restraining order blocking the execution on the grounds that the state last month revised its procedure for administering lethal injections, without previously announcing any changes or going through a rule-making process.
Furthermore, they argued that their client has Type 2 diabetes with veins that are difficult to access, making it more likely that he would suffer pain that constitutes unlawful cruel and unusual punishment.
Without the judge's intervention, they argued, Stenson "will die at the hands of an unreviewed, untested, never-before-implemented lethal injection policy which is likely to cause him severe pain."
"Judges delay execution of Sequim double-murderer; new witness surfaces in 15 year-old case," is from the Peninsula Daily News.
Stenson, 55, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection Dec. 3 at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla for murdering his wife and business partner in 1993 on his exotic bird farm southeast of Sequim.
Williams was one of two judges to order a stay on Tuesday.
In a separate court ruling in Yakima, U.S. District Judge Lonny Suko issued a stay of execution on Tuesday in a conference call with lawyers.
Stenson's federal case lawyers asked for a temporary restraining order blocking the execution because the state revised its procedure for administering lethal injections last month without previously announcing any changes or going through a rule-making process.
Williams ordered the stay to permit additional DNA testing, reversing his original ruling on Friday against the stay because a new witness came forth after Friday's hearing, saying that he had been told Stenson was framed.
On Friday, Williams said his court didn't have the authority to grant the stay of execution requested by Stenson's Seattle lawyers Robert Gombiner and Sheryl McCloud.
On Tuesday, he ordered a review of DNA testing within 60 days, even though he said Stenson's defense "presents no evidence at this juncture which would justify a new trial, or even raise a reasonable doubt about his guilt."
A DNA review hearing has been set for Jan. 28 in Clallam County Superior Court.
Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly said her office will seek a review of the Clallam County decision in the state Supreme Court.
Karl Keys at Capital Defense Weekly currently list five other scheduled executions in December.
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