MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday postponed the execution of an Alabama man convicted of using a sword and dagger to fatally stab a pastor in 1991 as he prepared Christmas gifts for his grandchildren.
U.S. District Judge Kristi K. DuBose issued the 60-day delay two hours before the scheduled lethal injection of 46-year-old Christopher Lee Price. Price’s attorneys argued that Alabama’s lethal injection drug combination has led to “botched” executions and asked that Price instead be put to death by nitrogen hypoxia, a method the state has authorized but not used.
Dubose said although the state “certainly has an interest in carrying out the execution as expeditiously as possible, a short sixty-day stay will not substantially harm this interest.”
The state could appeal and try to get the stay lifted to carry out the execution later in the evening. Alabama has until midnight to carry out the execution or state attorneys will have to seek a new execution date from the Alabama Supreme Court.
Price was scheduled to receive a chemical injection Thursday evening for killing pastor Bill Lynn. The 57-year-old victim was slain during a Dec. 22, 1991, robbery while he prepared Christmas gifts at his home.
Prosecutors said Lynn was at his Fayette County home getting toys ready for his grandchildren when the power was cut. Lynn went outside to check the fuse box when he was killed, according to court filings.
Lynn’s wife, Bessie Lynn, testified that she was in an upstairs bedroom watching television when she heard a noise. She said she looked out a window and saw a person dressed in black in a karate stance, holding a sword above her husband’s head. Lynn, a Church of Christ minister, had returned home with his wife from a church service before the slaying.
Bessie Lynn said she went outside to help her husband, but two men ordered her back in the house and demanded money and any jewelry and weapons they had. After being arrested, Price initially told police he had been involved in the robbery but said it was an accomplice that killed Bill Lynn. An autopsy showed that Lynn had been cut or stabbed more than 30 times.
After Lynn’s murder conviction, a jury recommended a death sentence by a vote of 10-2.
A second man, Kevin Coleman, pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to life in prison.
Lawyers had attempted to overturn the death sentence on the grounds that his appointed defense lawyer was ineffective and failed to mount a robust defense, including failing to conduct a background investigation, during the penalty phase of the trial. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case.
In last-minute legal filings Thursday, Price’s attorneys argued that Alabama’s lethal injection drug combination has been linked to “botched” executions while the state has agreed to execute other inmates by use of nitrogen hypoxia after authorizing its use last year.
Attorneys for the state responded that Price waited too late to raise the issue and there wasn’t any proof that evidence would prove his claim.
According to the state, 48 of the more than 170 inmates on death row have elected to be put to death by nitrogen hypoxia. As states have had trouble obtaining lethal injection drugs, Alabama in 2018 authorized nitrogen hypoxia as an alternative for carry out death sentences. Proponents of the change argued nitrogen would be readily available and hypoxia would be a painless way to die.
Alabama has carried out one execution so far this year. In February, inmate Dominique Ray was executed for the 1995 murder of a 15-year-old girl.
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