Today's Lakeland Ledger reports, "Florida High Court Upholds Execution of Eddie Wayne Davis for Murder of Lakeland Girl," by Suzie Schottelkotte.
The Florida Supreme Court denied an appeal Monday seeking to halt the execution of condemned killer Eddie Wayne Davis.
Davis is scheduled to die Thursday for the 1994 murder of 11-year-old Kimberly Ann Waters in Lakeland.
The state's high court upheld last week's ruling by Circuit Judge Donald Jacobsen, who rejected Davis' argument that his possible blood disorder, called porphyria, may interact with the drugs used in lethal injection and cause him extreme pain.
"3 days before execution, Waldrip appeal denied," is by Rhonda Cook for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Three days before his scheduled execution, condemned murderer Tommy Lee Waldrip lost an appeal filed in Fulton Superior Court while a federal judge is still considering the killer’s challenge that the state law that keeps secret information about the lethal injection drug and the identities of those involved with securing it.
Fulton Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled late Monday the issues Waldrip raised in his appeal had already been decided by state and federal courts ruling in the case of another Death Row inmate — Marcus Wellons, who was executed June 17.
Waldrip had said without knowing the identity of the pharmacist who made a special batch of pentobarbital for his execution set for 7 p.m. Thursday or identity of the doctor who prescribed it, there was no way to verify the drug’s safety. That could put him at risk of a painful death, which would violate his Eighth Amendment protection from cruel and unusual punishment, his lawyers said.
U.S. District Judge William O’Kelley heard a similar argument from Waldrip’s lawyers Monday morning. O’Kelley had not ruled by late Monday afternoon.
Earlier coverage from Florida and Georgia, at the links. Related posts are in the execution date category index.
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