CINCINNATI: The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the state of Ohio's request to lift a stay of execution for a man who had been scheduled to die by injection Tuesday in the stabbing and beating death of a woman in 1985.
The Supreme Court did not explain its decision Monday, which left in place an emergency stay granted by a federal appeals court panel blocking the execution of Jerome Henderson. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier Monday refused the state's request for a hearing by the full court.
Bob Beasley, a spokesman for the Ohio attorney general's office, said the panel's ruling seems inconsistent with the appeals court's decision in a similar death penalty case several weeks ago. In that case, the court reversed a lower court order that would have delayed an execution.
Henderson was informed Monday night of the Supreme Court decision, but prisons spokeswoman Andrea Dean said she was not aware of his reaction.
Prior to the ruling, the state had proceeded Monday with preparations for the execution, moving Henderson to the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, where executions are carried out.
Dean said Henderson will remain in Lucasville until Tuesday morning, although he will be moved from the death house into another area of the prison. He then will be taken back to the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown, which houses Ohio's death row.
Henderson had spent Monday writing letters and watching television, Dean said. Henderson also received his requested special meal, which included barbecued pork and chicken, macaroni and cheese, collard greens and corn bread with butter.
Henderson, 47, was convicted in July 1985 of aggravated murder, aggravated burglary and attempted rape in the death of Mary Acoff, 26, in her Cincinnati apartment earlier that year.
Henderson had sought to join a constitutional challenge of lethal injection. Arguments in that case are scheduled to be made in the 6th Circuit on Thursday.
Henderson's attorney, David Stebbins, said earlier Monday that he assumed the appeals court's refusal to lift the stay meant the judges welcomed Henderson into that challenge, which claims the method is cruel and unusual.
The court had said a majority of the 13 active judges did not vote for the full-court hearing; however, the court did not explain its ruling and did not say how many of the judges who voted were in favor of lifting the stay.
"The 6th Circuit (judges) said the stay is appropriate, or at least they saw no reason to overturn it," Stebbins said.
A message seeking comment was left with Stebbins after the Supreme Court handed dowm its ruling.
The Ohio Supreme Court on Thursday denied a separate motion for a stay of execution filed by Stebbins, and on Monday denied a similar motion filed by the public defender's office, Stebbins said.
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