Killer in Mississippi gets last-minute reprieve from lethal injection

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court halted an execution in Mississippi on Tuesday, less than an hour before a convicted killer was scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection.

The last-minute reprieve for Earl Wesley Berry is the third granted by the justices since they agreed late last month to decide a challenge to Kentucky’s lethal injection procedures. Justices Samuel Alito and Antonin Scalia would have allowed the execution to go forward.

Berry was convicted of kidnapping a woman in 1987 and beating her to death before dumping her body in the woods. His execution was planned for 7 p.m. EDT.

The Supreme Court has allowed only one execution to go forward since agreeing to hear the Kentucky case. Michael Richard was executed in Texas on Sept. 25.