Arkansas Supreme Court grants stay of execution for one condemned inmate
(Reuters) - The Arkansas Supreme Court on Friday granted an emergency stay of execution to one of two inmates scheduled to die by lethal injection on Monday, court documents show.
The stay came in the case of Bruce Ward, 60, who was convicted of murdering a convenience store clerk in Little Rock and sentenced to death in 1990.
A U.S. judge in Little Rock has yet to make a separate ruling on plans by Arkansas to hold an unprecedented series of seven executions in 11 days this month. The inmates argued the state's rush to the death chamber was unconstitutional and reckless.
(Reporting by Steve Barnes in Little Rock; Writing by Frank McGurty; Editing by Bill Rigby)
