A federal appeals court has halted the execution of Missouri death row inmate Russell Bucklew hours before his scheduled lethal injection.
Bucklew - who murdered a man in front of his kids, kidnapped and raped his ex-girlfriend, and shot at a cop - argued a birth defect would make a lethal injection too painful.
A federal judge on Monday rejected his claim that the execution would be unconstitutionally cruel because a medical condition - large masses in his head that cause hemorrhages - could prevent the drug from circulating properly and might prolong his death.
The judge faulted Bucklew for not suggesting an alternate execution method that could be carried out humanely, but in an appeal to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals filed Tuesday, defense lawyers said that's impossible to do.
'Mr. Bucklew's lawsuit is based on the unique risks to him arising from the unstable and untreatable vascular tumors that fill his head, neck and throat,' they wrote in the appeal.
'Because of these unique risks - which create a substantial likelihood of hemorrhaging, choking, airway obstruction and suffocation - lethal injection with any drug will likely violate Mr. Bucklew's rights under the Eighth Amendment.'
The Missouri Attorney General's office questioned why Bucklew, who has known about his condition for years, waited until two weeks before his execution to raise his concerns.
With less than eight hours to go before the lethal injection, the appeals panel voted 2-1 to stay the execution.
Bucklew, 46, had been scheduled to become the first inmate executed since the bungled lethal injection of Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma - a debacle that prompted the White House to order a review of state procedures.
Lockett appeared to regain consciousness and struggle in pain while strapped to the gurney midway through the injection, which involved a new three-drug protocol.
Prison officials said at the time that his vein collapsed, but an investigation into what went wrong has not been completed.
Lockett's death brought more attention to the controversy over state policies that keep their lethal-injection suppliers - often less-regulated compounding pharmacies - anonymous.
Bucklew's challenge cited Missouri's drug secrecy but was more focused on his vascular disorder, which his lawyers argued would 'almost inevitably lead to a bloody, prolonged and excruciating execution.'
'I'm worried it could be painful,' Bucklew told the Associated Press from prison last week.
'I'm worried about being brain-dead. I understand the family (of the victim) wants closure, but we're victimizing my family here, too.'
The children of Bucklew's victim, Michael Sanders, had planned to be in the death chamber if the execution went forward.
Sanders was killed because he opened his home to Bucklew's ex-girlfriend after she was repeatedly threatened by Bucklew. Bucklew later escaped from jail and attacked the former girlfriend's mother with a hammer.
'It's up to God what God does with him,' Sanders' mother, Dorothy, told the Southeast Missourian newspaper.
'I don't forgive the guy, because I don't think I could ever do that, even though I'm supposed to. I'll just be glad when it's over with and leave the rest of it up to God and let him take care of it.'
She said that while her grandsons will be at the prison in Bonne Terre, she won't witness the execution.
'I have no interest in that,' she said. ' ... I never asked for the death penalty anyway. All I wanted was for him just to be locked up.'
First published May 20 2014, 7:10 AM
Tracy Connor
Tracy Connor is a senior writer for NBC News. She started this role in December, 2012. Connor is responsible for reporting and writing breaking news, features and enterprise stories for NBCNews.com. Connor joined NBC News from the New York Daily News, where she was a senior writer covering a broad range of news and supervising the health and immigration beats. Prior to that she was an assistant city editor who oversaw breaking news and the courts and entertainment beats.Earlier, Connor was a staff writer at the New York Post, United Press International and Brooklyn Paper Publications.Connor has won numerous awards from journalism organizations including the Deadline Club and the New York Press Club.She lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.
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