Thursday, November 15, 2007

High Court Stops Child Killer's Execution


JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday stopped the execution of convicted child killer Mark Schwab.

The move by the high court was widely expected as it considers the appeals of two Kentucky inmates challenging the same lethal toxic three-drug combination used in Florida.

A federal appeals court ruled earlier Thursday that the execution by lethal injection could proceed.

The court is considering the appeals of two inmates in Kentucky who have challenged lethal injection as cruel and unusual punishment.

Florida uses the same drugs.

Schwab's execution was set for 6 p.m.

It would have been the state's first since the botched execution of Angel Diaz last December.

It took Diaz 34 minutes to die -- twice as long as normal -- because guards pushed the needles through his veins.

Schwab was convicted in the 1991 death of an 11-year-old boy. Schwab had been released from prison on a sexual assault sentence a month before the boy was killed.

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