Appellate court denies execution stay for Alabama inmate

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — An appellate court won’t halt the upcoming lethal injection of an Alabama inmate who had asked to be put to death with nitrogen gas.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday denied an execution stay for Christopher Lee Price.

Price is scheduled to be executed by injection Thursday for the 1991 stabbing death of pastor Bill Lynn. Alabama has authorized nitrogen as an execution method but has not used it.

Price’s attorneys argued the sedative used in lethal injections has been linked to problematic executions, and Alabama has agreed to execute other inmates by nitrogen hypoxia.

Appellate judges said Price did not have an equal protection claim because all inmates had an opportunity to select nitrogen as their preferred execution method and Price missed that deadline.