The execution of a Missouri man who killed a Mid-Missouri woman and her two children is on hold indefinitely as the U.S. Supreme Court decides whether to review the case.
Mark Christeson still could be executed if the justices decide not to hear his appeal, which cited concerns that his attorneys were ineffective and missed a deadline for a 2005 appeal with a federal court by almost four months. Most people up for execution appeal to a federal court.
The high court issued a late stay of execution on Tuesday, just hours before Christeson was scheduled to die by injection. That stay will remain in place until the court decides whether another review is necessary.
"Every capital defendant deserves federal court review to ensure the guarantee of rights protected under the U.S. Constitution," his new attorney, Jenny Merrigan, said in a statement. "For years, Mark Christeson has been in danger of falling through the cracks and being deprived of that crucial level of judicial review."
The Missouri attorney general's office advised against a review in a court filing, defending a lower court's decision that there was no legitimate reason to replace Christeson's lawyers.
The U.S. Supreme Court denied another appeal from Christeson that challenged the state's planned use of a made-to-order execution drug produced by an unidentified compounding pharmacy.
Christeson, 35, would have been the ninth inmate executed in Missouri this year, matching an all-time high for the state set in 1999. He will be transferred from a holding cell at the execution facility and back to prison in the next few days to wait for the court's ruling, said Missouri Department of Corrections spokesman Mike O'Connell.