Tennessee lethal injection back on schedule

As noted in this post, earlier this week a Tennessee execution scheduled for this coming Wednesday had been stayed by a federal district court.  However, according to this news story, “Sedley Alley is headed to ‘death watch’ after a federal appeals court lifted a stay Friday night that could have spared him from execution.”  The article notes that an appeal to the full Sixth Circuit is in the works, as would also surely be a petition to the Supreme Court.  This distinct account of the Sixth Circuit ruling suggests the panel felt that Alley’s claim was brought too late.

The article also details that Alley is pressing a DNA claim and has a request for a reprieve pending: “The state Probation and Parole Board will meet at 10 a.m. Monday at Riverbend to hear Alley’s arguments that the governor should give him a reprieve and either order the DNA tests or allow time for a federal appeals court to decide whether Alley has a right to test the evidence.”

Some recent related posts:

• How could (and should) Congress clean up the lethal injection mess?
• The partial de facto moratorium created by Hill
• Another state halts an execution due to lethal injection litigation 
• Still more lethal injection litigation
• Lots of lethal injection talk
• More lethal injection drama in Ohio
• Lethal injection litigation developments