Pa. judge halts execution scheduled for Dec. 2

EASTON, Pa. (AP) — A judge has halted a Pennsylvania man’s Dec. 2 execution so he can join lawsuits challenging the state’s use of lethal injection.

The ruling today in Northampton County Court allows Michael Ballard to join a pair of lawsuits that claim the state’s injection formula and protocols violate state law.

The 41-year-old Ballard says he’s accepted that he’ll be executed but he’s concerned about the method.

Ballard pleaded guilty to killing his ex-girlfriend and three others in Northampton in June 2010.

Only three people have been executed in Pennsylvania in recent decades. The last was in 1999.