Execution halted for fourth of eight men set to die in Arkansas

Reuters
Inmate Stacey Johnson is shown in this booking photo provided March 25, 2017. Courtesy Arkansas Department of Corrections/Handout via REUTERS

(Reuters) - A divided Arkansas Supreme Court on Wednesday halted the execution of an inmate who had been scheduled to die on Thursday.

The court's 4-3 decision to stop the execution of Stacey Johnson, 47, brought to four the number of inmates to get at least a temporary reprieve amid an effort by the state to put eight inmates to death in a period of 11 days this month.

Governor Asa Hutchinson set the unprecedented schedule due to one of the drugs in the state's lethal injection mix expiring at the end of the month.

(Reporting by Steve Barnes in Little Rock, Ark.; Writing by Sharon Bernstein; Editing by Peter Cooney)