Missouri execution is back on, says appeals court
The full 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals late Tuesday lifted a stay of execution for Russell Bucklew that had been granted three hours earlier by a three-judge panel of that court. Attorneys for Bucklew appealed to the US Supreme Court.
A group of death penalty opponents hold a vigil outside St. Francis Xavier College Church, hours before the scheduled execution of Missouri death row inmate Russell Bucklew, Tuesday, May 20, 2014, in St. Louis. A federal appeals court has lifted the stay of execution for Bucklew granted just hours before he was scheduled to die for killing a Missouri man in 1996.
Jeff Roberson/AP
BONNE TERRE, Mo.
A federal appeals court has ruled that Missouri can proceed with its planned execution of a convicted killer, despite concerns that his medical condition could cause him to suffer during lethal injection.
The full 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals late Tuesday lifted a stay of execution for Russell Bucklew that was granted hours earlier by a three-judge panel of that court. Attorneys for Bucklew appealed to the US Supreme Court.
Bucklew is scheduled to die at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday for killing a southeast Missouri man in 1996. He suffers from a rare medical condition that his attorneys claim could cause him great pain during the execution process.
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