Judge denies Oklahoma death row inmate’s request for stay

By SEAN MURPHY
The Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A federal judge in Oklahoma has denied a death row inmate’s request for a stay of execution. Judge Stephen Friot on Tuesday denied the request from inmate Bigler Stouffer II. The 79-year-old Stouffer is scheduled to receive a lethal injection on Dec. 9. He was convicted and sentenced to die for the 1985 killing of schoolteacher Linda Reaves. Stouffer argued that the state’s current three-drug protocol poses the risk of subjecting him to unconstitutional pain and suffering. Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt could still grant clemency to Stouffer after the state’s Pardon and Parole Board recommended that the governor commute his death sentence.