[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA

[Rick Halperin]

May 25




ALABAMA----impending execution

Stay lifted; Tommy Arthur to be executed tonight


The U.S. Supreme Court's stay of execution has been lifted for convicted Muscle 
Shoals murderer Tommy Arthur. Arthur is set to be executed late Thursday.

Arthur was originally scheduled for death by lethal injection at 6 p.m. The 
U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay within an hour of that time.

The stay was lifted after about 10:30 p.m.

Arthur, 75, was convicted of the 1982 murder for hire of Troy Wicker in Muscle 
Shoals. He has maintained his innocence all along and had already dodged 
execution seven times before Thursday.

His attorneys tried to delay execution an eighth time by filing paperwork 
claiming there are potential problems with the drugs used during execution.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the stay request. The motion 
then went to the Supreme Court where it was signed by Justice Clarence Thomas.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall then filed a motion for the stay to be 
lifted.

Arthur declined to eat his breakfast or his last meal on Thursday. He requested 
family photos in the execution room with him.

(source: WSFA news)