Federal Judiciary

UPDATE: Executions allowed to resume

By Akin Gump Supreme Court Practice Group

UPDATE 7:01 p.m. Tuesday

The Supreme Court, after an informal moratorium that lasted for more than seven months, on Tuesday cleared the way for executions to resume in the U.S.  The first order allowed an execution this evening in Georgia.  In a brief order, the full Court denied a request to postpone the execution of William Earl Lynd by lethal injection.  In the same order, the Court also denied Lynd’s accompanying petition for review of his case on the merits.  The text of the order can be found here.

Following is a post from earlier Tuesday:

The Supreme Court is expected to act shortly on a plea to postpone an execution of a death-row inmate, scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight — the first action the Court will be taking on a scheduled execution since it, in effect, put an end to an informal moratorium.  William Earl Lynd is scheduled to die by lethal injection for the murder of his girlfriend.

In a stay application (07A880), found here, Lynd’s attorneys sought a delay of the execution until the Supreme Court acts on a newly filed appeal challenging the testimony of a medical examiner in his case.  The petition (07-10760) can be downloaded here.  The state’s opposition to delaying the execution and its request for denial of the petition is here. A reply by Lynd’s counsel is here.

Full post as published by SCOTUSBLOG on May 06, 2008 (boomark / email).