Federal appeals court temporarily halts Oklahoma executions

By SEAN MURPHY
Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A federal appeals court has granted a stay of execution for two Oklahoma inmates who were scheduled to receive lethal injections in the coming weeks. A three-member panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit issued the stays Wednesday for death row inmates John Marion Grant and Julius Jones. The court ruled that a federal district judge in Oklahoma erred when he removed Grant, Jones and three other inmates from a federal lawsuit challenging Oklahoma’s lethal injection protocols. U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot removed the five inmates because they did not select an alternative method of execution. Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor said he plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.