Baze, Emmett orders lead to death row stay
on Oct 18, 2007 at 10:35 pm
Relying on two recent orders of the U.S. Supreme Court, the Georgia Supreme Court on Thursday blocked the scheduled execution of Jack E. Alderman, sentenced to die for mudering his wife in hopes of collecting on a life insurance policy. Alderman, scheduled to die at 7 p.m. Friday, had challenged the use of the lethal injection method of capital punishment.
The state court’s order issued at about 4 p.m. can be found at this site under “Recent Press Releases” for this date, with a press release followed by the order.
It noted the Supreme Court’s agreement on Sept. 25 in Baze v Rees  to rule on the constitutionality of the lethal injection method, and the Court’s order on Wednesday to postpone a scheduled execution in Virginia (Emmett v. Johnson).
Because of those orders, the Georgia tribunal said, Alderman could not have reasonably raised the issue while his last post-conviction challenge was pending. It said the execution was stayed “until further order of this Court.”
Just two days earlier, before the Supreme Court had issued the stay in the Virginia case, the Georgia court had refused a stay to Alderman.
Its order Thursday contributed to the spreading impression that the actions of the Supreme Court, although not directly imposing an actual moratorium on execution by lethal injection, zre having an effect similar to that.
