ST. LOUIS — The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule Wednesday on two petitions regarding Missouri death-row inmate Herbert Smulls, the Missouri attorney general's office said.
Smulls' execution was temporarily stayed late Tuesday with an order from the high court signed by Justice Samuel Alito. It was sent about 2 1/2 hours before Smulls was scheduled to die at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.
Missouri statutes allow executions to occur at any time on the day they are scheduled; that's why the state always sets the execution time for a minute after midnight, in case there are court delays. If the U.S. Supreme Court decides in favor of the state, the execution could occur later Wednesday. Witnesses to the execution were told to report to the Bonne Terre prison by noon and await the high court ruling.
Smulls' lawyer, Cheryl Pilate, made last-minute pleas Tuesday to spare his life, focusing on the state's refusal to disclose the name of the compounding pharmacy that produces the lethal-injection drug, pentobarbital, for use in the execution. But Missouri has argued that the compounding pharmacy is part of the execution team and therefore its name cannot be released to the public.
Smulls, 56, was convicted and sentenced to death for killing a St. Louis County jeweler and badly injuring his wife during a 1991 robbery.