The Latest: Alabama inmate seeks execution stay

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The Latest on the scheduled execution of an Alabama inmate (all times local):

Noon

An Alabama inmate is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to halt his upcoming lethal injection.

Forty-six-year-old Christopher Lee Price is scheduled to receive a lethal injection Thursday evening for the 1991 stabbing death of a pastor.

Price’s attorney asked justices to stay the execution to review whether a lower court erred in rejecting his bid for a stay after he asked to put to death by nitrogen hypoxia.

Price’s attorney wrote that Alabama’s lethal injection drug combination has been linked to botched executions, and Alabama law allows the use of nitrogen.

Although Alabama has authorized nitrogen as an execution method, the state has argued that it is not ready to use it. The state said Price missed a deadline to select it as his preferred execution method.

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12:10 a.m.

A man convicted of the sword-and-dagger stabbing death of a pastor is set to become the second person executed in Alabama this year, barring a last-minute stay.

Forty-six-year-old Christopher Lee Price is scheduled to receive a chemical injection Thursday evening for his conviction in the death of Bill Lynn. The 57-year-old pastor was killed in a Dec. 22, 1991, robbery while preparing Christmas gifts for his grandchildren. Prosecutors said Lynn was at his Fayette County home when power was cut and the pastor went out to check the fuse box and was killed.

Lynn’s wife testified she looked out a window and saw a person dressed in black in a karate stance, holding a sword above her husband’s head. An autopsy showed that Lynn had been cut or stabbed more than 30 times.