Arkansas Supreme Court justices declined Thursday to speed up a lawsuit over the state's lethal injection procedures, in effect stopping an execution scheduled for next week.
Death-row inmate Frank Williams Jr. was scheduled to be executed Tuesday, but a Pulaksi County judge's ruling in his case over the state's lethal injection policies put the procedure on a legal hold. The state attorney general's office appealed to justices to hold an expedited hearing to remove the barrier.
In a single-page order Thursday, justices denied the request for a speedy hearing and refused a request by Williams' lawyers to send the case to the Arkansas Court of Appeals instead. Associate Justice Tom Glaze recused from the case.
Matt DeCample, a spokesman for Gov. Mike Beebe, said he had just heard of the ruling and had no immediate comment. Earlier Thursday, Beebe told The Associated Press if the legal issues surrounding Williams' execution were not resolved by Friday afternoon, he'd postpone it.
Julie Brain, a federal public defender representing Williams, did not immediately return a call for comment Thursday.
Gabe Holmstrom, a spokesman for the state attorney general's office, said the ruling stopped Williams' planned execution. He said there were no plans to take the case before the U.S. Supreme Court.
"We are disappointed, but respect the court's decision," Holmstrom said. "We remain confident that when the Supreme Court does rule, it will be favorable to the state."
Lawyers for Williams, 42, challenged changes made to the prison system's lethal-injection procedures after a U.S. Supreme Court decision in April found Kentucky's execution method constitutional. Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox ruled last week that Arkansas' new procedures cannot be implemented without public review, in accordance with the state's Administrative Procedure Act.
In 1992, Williams was a work-release prisoner who labored at the Lafayette County farm of Clyde Spence. Spence fired Williams from his job on the farm after he broke a tractor there. Williams later returned and shot Spence to death with a .25-caliber pistol.
Williams would be the first person executed in Arkansas since 2005 and the first in Beebe's tenure, which began in 2007.