"Supreme Court refuses to halt Mo. execution," is the AP report, via the Kansas City Star.
The U.S. Supreme Court late Tuesday refused to halt the execution of a Missouri inmate, and moments later, Gov. Jay Nixon denied clemency.
The moves appeared to clear the way for the execution of John Winfield, scheduled for 12:01 a.m. at the state prison in Bonne Terre. Winfield was convicted of killing two women, and blinding another, in a 1996 shooting in St. Louis County.
Winfield's attorneys had appealed to the Supreme Court over concerns that a prison worker dropped plans to write a letter in support of clemency due to intimidation from staff; and concerns about the secretive process Missouri uses to obtain its lethal injection drug.
The four Supreme Court orders are Winfield v. Steele, Winfield v. Lombardi - which notes a dissent by Justice Sotomayor, Winfield v. Steele, and Winfield v. Missouri.
Earlier today, the full 8th Circuit Court lifted a stay of execution issued by the federal district court and affirmed by a three-judge panel of the 8th Circuit.
Earlier coverage of John Winfield's case begins at the link.
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