2 Death Row Inmates Granted Stays Of Execution From US Appeals Court

A little more than 24 hours before Oklahoma was set to execute a prisoner for the first time in six years, a stay of execution was granted to two death row inmates.

Death row inmate John Grant was scheduled to be put to death at 4 p.m. Thursday.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit on Wednesday granted a partial motion and stay of execution for Grant and Julius Jones.

The five death row inmates are fighting a federal judge’s ruling from Monday that refuses to delay their executions.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot released an order that ensures evidence and documents from the scheduled execution be preserved. It also allows the legal teams fighting for an appeal to have a medically-trained witness attend the execution of any of the inmates involved in the suit and someone to observe the state medical examiner’s autopsy after. 

The attorneys for the death row inmates asked that one part of the three-drug combination, specifically the paralytic, not be used to preserve evidence. That motion was denied.