MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - A federal judge has stayed the lethal injection of an Alabama inmate in order to have an independent medical expert review his claims that he is too sick to be executed.
Chief U.S. District Judge Karon Bowdre made the ruling Tuesday.
A lawyer for Doyle Lee Hamm has argued that lethal injection would be unconstitutionally cruel because lymphoma and hepatitis C have compromised Hamm’s veins. His lawyer also argued it would be inhumane to execute someone battling cancer.
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Bowdre said the expert will review if Hamm’s conditions affect “central-line access.”
The state had argued there was no evidence that Hamm’s condition had worsened to the extent that he could not be executed.
Hamm was scheduled to be executed Feb. 22 for the 1987 murder of motel clerk Patrick Cunningham.
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